Edith Mary Fletcher in her uniform

Edith Mary Fletcher was born on 25 September 1913 in Orange, NSW. Her father, Oscar Ward Fletcher, came to Australia in his twenties, married Jenny Lawrence at Canterbury, NSW in 1912. In 1914, Oscar started a business store in Penrith called Fletchers. Edith trained to be a nurse at Prince Henry Hospital and was registered on 6 October 1938. In March 1939, at 26 years of age, she travelled to England to work as a nurse via the TSS Large Bay steamer. Edith was listed on the UK and Ireland Nursing Register of 1940. In 1939 she was based at Southport, Lancashire and in 1940 was appointed as a nurse to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Birmingham. Edith was enlisted at Tamworth on 25 October 1942 as a Lieutenant with Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) within the AIF (Australian Imperial Force). She was then posted to New Guinea at the beginning of 1942. Edith Mary Fletcher married Captain Richard Erdmann von Tiedemann on 14 November 1945 at St Stephens the Martyr church in Penrith. Edith gave birth to a daughter, Margaret Louise and a son named William Richard. Edith and Richard had moved to 50 Prince Street Mosman by 1977, where Edith stayed until her death on 25 November 1985. Her husband, Richard, died on 24 February 2000.