The Hospital Ship 'Llandovery Castle' was bound from Halifax, Nova Scotia, for Liverpool, when it was torpedoed on 27 June 1918, 114 miles south-west of the Fastnet Rock, by German submarine U-86. Despite regulation Red Cross lights, the ship was deliberately torpedoed and most survivors, including 14 Nursing Sisters were brutally machine gunned. The 'Llandovery Castle' became the rallying cry for the Canadian troops during the Last 100 Days Offensive of the First World War.

Nursing Sister Fortescue was killed when the 'Llandovery Castle', on which she was serving, was attacked and sunk.
Military Service-
Rank: Nursing Sister
Age: 40
Force: Army
Unit: Canadian Army Medical Corps
Division: "Llandovery Castle" (Hospital Ship)
Honours/Awards: Mentioned in Despatches (MiD), British Award/Decoration

A graduate nurse, she enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 22 April 1915 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Youngest daughter of the late Joseph Fortescue (1833 - 1899), Chief Factor, Hudsons Bay Company, and his wife, Sarah Jane (née Mason) Fortescue who was the daughter of the late Rev. Mason, D.D., of Northumberland [the couple married on 14 Sept 1864 in York Factory, Northwest Territories, Canada]; granddaughter of the late Matthew Fortescue, County Court Judge, of Totnes, Devon.
She attested that her next-of-kin was her sister, Miss Gertrude Edith FORTESCUE of St. Catherine's Street West in Montreal; Margaret was also the sister of Matthew, Annie Maude Mary, Caroline Elizabeth, Hugh, Frances Eleanor, Charles Le Geyt FORTESCUE, John Percival, Joseph Edward Barrington and George Godfrey.

Nursing Sister Margaret Jane Fortescue is commemorated on Page 409 of Canada's First World War Book of Remembrance.

**From De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour 1914- 1924-
----FORTESCUE, MARGARET JANE, Nursing Sister, Canadian Army Medical Corps,
Youngest daughter of the late Joseph Fortescue, Chief Factor, Hudsons Bay Company, by his wife, Sarah Jane, daughter of the late Rev. Mason, D.D., of Northumberland; and granddaughter of the late Matthew Fortescue, County Court Judge, of Totnes, Devon;
b. Hudson's Bay, Canada, 1879; educ. Dawlish, County Devon; was trained as a Nurse at Montreal General Hospital; volunteered for foreign service, and joined the Canadian Red Cross In 1915; served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from 18 May, 1915, being posted to various hospitals and casualty clearing stations there; Was posted to H.M. Hospital Ship Llandovery Castle 5 June, 1918, and was lost when that ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Irish Sea on the 27th of the same month.
The Director of Medical Service, London, wrote: ". . . Sister Fortescue was untiring in her efforts to do everything humanly possible for the sick and wounded under her care," and a former patient, a private in the Canadian Army; "Little Mother" (the name bestowed upon her by the patients whom she nursed) earned the V.C. as much as any man in the Army. …….. .. Four years' untiring labour and fearless devotion, often caring for the wounded and dying in sound of guns and while bombs crashed through the hospital roof; through cold and heat, by days and dreary nights of ceaseless care, Nursing Sister Fortescue was ever brave and unafraid, knowing nothing else save the doing of her duty, no matter what the cost. We who received her tender ministrations have the proud and reverent memory of a good woman." She was mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette, 28 May, 1918) for gallant and distinguished services, and devotion to duty, at No. 3 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station; unmarried**

The Hospital Ship 'Llandovery Castle' was bound from Halifax, Nova Scotia, for Liverpool, when it was torpedoed on 27 June 1918, 114 miles south-west of the Fastnet Rock, by German submarine U-86. Despite regulation Red Cross lights, the ship was deliberately torpedoed and most survivors, including 14 Nursing Sisters were brutally machine gunned. The 'Llandovery Castle' became the rallying cry for the Canadian troops during the Last 100 Days Offensive of the First World War.

Nursing Sister Fortescue was killed when the 'Llandovery Castle', on which she was serving, was attacked and sunk.
Military Service-
Rank: Nursing Sister
Age: 40
Force: Army
Unit: Canadian Army Medical Corps
Division: "Llandovery Castle" (Hospital Ship)
Honours/Awards: Mentioned in Despatches (MiD), British Award/Decoration

A graduate nurse, she enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 22 April 1915 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Youngest daughter of the late Joseph Fortescue (1833 - 1899), Chief Factor, Hudsons Bay Company, and his wife, Sarah Jane (née Mason) Fortescue who was the daughter of the late Rev. Mason, D.D., of Northumberland [the couple married on 14 Sept 1864 in York Factory, Northwest Territories, Canada]; granddaughter of the late Matthew Fortescue, County Court Judge, of Totnes, Devon.
She attested that her next-of-kin was her sister, Miss Gertrude Edith FORTESCUE of St. Catherine's Street West in Montreal; Margaret was also the sister of Matthew, Annie Maude Mary, Caroline Elizabeth, Hugh, Frances Eleanor, Charles Le Geyt FORTESCUE, John Percival, Joseph Edward Barrington and George Godfrey.

Nursing Sister Margaret Jane Fortescue is commemorated on Page 409 of Canada's First World War Book of Remembrance.

**From De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour 1914- 1924-
----FORTESCUE, MARGARET JANE, Nursing Sister, Canadian Army Medical Corps,
Youngest daughter of the late Joseph Fortescue, Chief Factor, Hudsons Bay Company, by his wife, Sarah Jane, daughter of the late Rev. Mason, D.D., of Northumberland; and granddaughter of the late Matthew Fortescue, County Court Judge, of Totnes, Devon;
b. Hudson's Bay, Canada, 1879; educ. Dawlish, County Devon; was trained as a Nurse at Montreal General Hospital; volunteered for foreign service, and joined the Canadian Red Cross In 1915; served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from 18 May, 1915, being posted to various hospitals and casualty clearing stations there; Was posted to H.M. Hospital Ship Llandovery Castle 5 June, 1918, and was lost when that ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Irish Sea on the 27th of the same month.
The Director of Medical Service, London, wrote: ". . . Sister Fortescue was untiring in her efforts to do everything humanly possible for the sick and wounded under her care," and a former patient, a private in the Canadian Army; "Little Mother" (the name bestowed upon her by the patients whom she nursed) earned the V.C. as much as any man in the Army. …….. .. Four years' untiring labour and fearless devotion, often caring for the wounded and dying in sound of guns and while bombs crashed through the hospital roof; through cold and heat, by days and dreary nights of ceaseless care, Nursing Sister Fortescue was ever brave and unafraid, knowing nothing else save the doing of her duty, no matter what the cost. We who received her tender ministrations have the proud and reverent memory of a good woman." She was mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette, 28 May, 1918) for gallant and distinguished services, and devotion to duty, at No. 3 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station; unmarried**