TOPIC:

…...To fly over the Irish Channel and land in her native country in time for her Christmas dinner is the ambitious project of Miss Sheilah O'Neill, a clever lady motorist who last year perturbed Scotland Yard by applying for a licence to drive a motor-cab in the streets of London.
…...She is having an aeroplane specially made for the journey, and is confident of success - after she has taken lessons and made experiments in aviation at Shellbeach.
…...She is a lady of wide experience and much courage. She served throughout the South African War as a nurse, and obtained the Queen's Medal and the King's Medal with two bars.
……"I shall learn flying in a special machine now being built for me, as I have kept a careful record of the various types of machines used in the last year or two. I shall have some ideas of my own introduced in my machine," she remarked to a press representative. "This is of the biplane type, and will weigh under 220lb., with a petrol capacity of about ten gallons."
…...Miss O'Neill will set a fashion in aviation dress for ladies. "No skirts for me," she said with a laugh. "When I go flying I shall wear a tight-fitting costume."
…...She will start her Irish flight from the Scotch coast, and expects to do the trip in about fifty minutes.

Evening Express, Monday 22nd November 1909
…...I found a possible reference to her, but it's said that the S. O'Neill below died.

"Dr. Washbourne came to tell me S. O'Neill (the sick sister you thought me rather heartless about yesterday afternoon) was worse, dying in fact......I think she will certainly live through the night. Dr. Washbourne says decidedly not - we shall see. Doctors don't know ½ as we nurses do."

Source for the above quote - "Katharine Nisbet, ‘Correspondence with Major James Watson (09.03.1901)’ 8412-4-63 NAM. Sister O’Neill did die, but not at that time."

The quote and source appear on page 167 of a thesis by Charlotte Dale - Raising professional confidence: 'The influence of the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) on the development and recognition of nursing as a profession.'
www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/fil...548915/FULL_TEXT.PDF

Can it be confirmed that a Nurse S. O'Neill died during the ABW?

Berenice
According to Palmer, there was one "Sister E.O'Neill of IY Hospital Staff" (AN SR) who died of disease at Pretoria, 12/3/01. Mismatch on first name, however.
Not much help, I an afraid.
Best regards"
IL.

At least it eliminates that possibility, unless the author of the thesis got S. O'Neill and E. O'Neill mixed-up..