Louisa Mc Laughlin

Louisa Mc Laughlin

Louisa Elisabeth McLaughlin (1836–1921) was one of the first British women to serve as a nurse for the Red Cross. Louisa, who often spelled her name MacLaughlin and was familiarly called Louise, is pictured wearing medals awarded by both the French and Germans for running ambulances (as field hospitals were then called) during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. She also wears the Gold Cross of the Order of the Takova marking her work in the Serbo-Turkish war, the prelude to the Russo-Turkish War (1877 – 78). Her partner Emma Maria Pearson (1828–93) was awarded the same medals.