Mexborough and Swinton May 12, 1939
“Going Abroad – Can I?”
Surprise for Wombwell Parents Girl’s Post In Lithuania
Having given her parents five days notice, a Wombwell girl embarked last Saturday on a thrilling adventure. “Absolutely thrilled,” according to her last letter home she set sail for Lithuania, the new Baltic country which has been , very much in the news of late.
The traveller is Miss Ruth Marshall, second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Marshall, of Hough Lane. Wombwell. She has gone to be nurse-governess to the four-and-a-half years old daughter of a Lithuanian doctor at Kaunas. Miss Marshall hoped that her parents would give their consent, but went in any event.
Miss Marshall is a former pupil of the Senior School, Wombwell, and is well remembered by her fellow pupils as a girl of spirit and courage. At fourteen and a half she left home to take a post in London, and since that time has been very little in Wombwell.
About a year ago she took up nursing at a hydro and later joined the staff of a hospital at Farnborough, Kent. While at the hospital she made friends with another girl who had been nursing in Lithuania, and the two began to talk of plans for going back. Eventually the companion received intimation that the post she had previously held was again open to her, and she decided to take it on condition that Miss Marshall would go with her. Miss Marshall jumped at the opportunity, and through the Lithuanian Legation in London secured the situation to which she has gone. The two girls will be in the same town and therefore will be company for each other.
Short Notice.
Mr. and Mrs. Marshall know their daughter as a self-reliant girl, but they were not a little surprised to hear that she was “going abroad next week,” subject to the consent of her parents, which was necessary because she will not be 21 years of age until the 30th of this month. The parents were given five days in which to make up their minds and forward her birth certificate. Ruth had practically made up their minds for them, so they gave their consent.
She wrote to say she was “absolutely thrilled” at the prospect. With a brother to see her off, she left Victoria Station, London, last Saturday afternoon to travel via Ostend, Cologne, Berlin and East Prussia to Kaunas. Miss Marshall has never been out of England before. Part of her duty will be to teach her charge the English language. She has had experience with children as a leader in the Girl Guide movement at Beckenham, Kent.
Mr. and Mrs. Marshall have three other children. Their daughter, Nellie (19), is a probationer nurse at St. Andrew’s Hospital, Row, London: Vera (24), is also nursing in London, and their son. Mr. James Marshall, is a school teacher at Carshalton. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall expect a letter this week-end to say that Ruth has arrived safely at her destination.