Hi Deb, When I first tried to work out who the Mrs George RYDER could be, I looked on the QLD BDM site (not even thinking that it could have been another State - as I am in Qld and got the book here) but the Elizabeth you mention is who I thought could be the Mrs. mentioned. As you are related, perhaps you know all the descendants then. I believe the book I found it inside of is called "The Royal Family in Wartime" written / compiled in 1945. It fell out and landed at my feet, as if to be "found" after all these years ... There is a short note inside the cover - Gran dear, with love and all good wishes for Christmas, Sal 1946. (Sally ? Maybe) The only other wording that may give an indication where the Certificate was issued, is the letters under The Australian Red Cross Society - (B.R.C.S.) Maybe the Certificates were posted from Melbourne to all worthy ladies. It does mention "capable Red Crossite" Do you know if your Elizabeth was in the Red Cross ? Does that help at all :-) Cheers, Debbie in Warwick, not far from you :-) -----Original Message----- From: aus-qld-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:aus-qld-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Deborah Brian Sent: Monday, 12 October 2009 10:06 AM To: aus-qld@rootsweb.com Cc: canpeg1984@gmail.com Subject: Re: [AUS-QLD] RYDER - Red Cross Society Hi Debbie, I see from your link that Lady Helen took over the ballroom at Government House in Melbourne for this charity work. Would I be right in assuming that the Mrs George RYDER referred to must have been resident in Melbourne during WWI? I have a Mrs George Ryder of the period (my great-grandmother, born Elizabeth Jane Thompson Mackay ADDLEY), but I believe she would have been resident in southeast Queensland at this time (was at Southport in the 1903 ER). As this may be quite a common name, I wonder if there is any additional contextual information you can share with the list? It's great that you've found the certificate, and that such a document has survived in such a way, and it would be wonderful to see it make its way to the right family - thanks for thinking to share your discovery with the list! Cheers, Deb, in Brisbane PS - have copied to the address you suggest

Hi Debbie, Sorry not to get back to you sooner - I've been asking around the family to see if anyone was aware of Granny Ryder having done work for the Red Cross. Nothing conclusive either way, but if you've not heard from any other potential relatives, and you're happy for me to have the certificate, please contact me off-list and I can make arrangements to send you a self-addressed envelope, etc. My plan would be to talk further to the Red Cross archives (more of that below) to try to confirm if we have the right Mrs George RYDER, and to make a high-res digital copy of the certificate for anyone who is interested in following this up further. I hope you don't mind, but I made a brief, preliminary enquiry with the Red Cross archivist in Melbourne, asking if they perhaps had a list of recipients of these certificates. I thought they may have Mrs George RYDER's address, or other identifying information. No such luck, but it seems these certificates are only fairly rarely preserved, so they're interested in knowing more, and perhaps seeing a scanned copy. It may even be that they would want to acquire the certificate itself, and perhaps that would be the safest place for it. In any case, if you are happy for me to follow up from here, please do get back to me off-list. Happy to keep you posted on any progress, too, if you're interested. I'll paste in the response from the Red Cross archivist below, for your information, and for anyone else on the list who has an interest in this wartime Red Cross work. All the best, Deb, in Brisbane - d.brian@uq.edu.au ________________________________________ Hello Deborah, Thank you for you enquiry regarding a World War I Service Certificate awarded to Mrs George Ryder. These certificates were produced at the end of World War I and presented to everyone who had served the Red Cross in some way. In most cases, a name and a number of years service is written in to the appropriate spaces on the certificate. I have not seen one with the amount of extra detail you describe. If you are able to provide an image of the certificate, that might supply a useful clue. Unfortunately very few records of these certificates have survived, but as they were usually produced locally in each State, I will forward your enquiry to my Archive colleagues in Queensland in the hope that they can provide some assistance. Regards, Moira Drew Archivist ________________________________________ From: Deborah Brian [mailto:d.brian@uq.edu.au] Subject: Query re: Red Cross volunteer work during WWI Good afternoon, I've just had an email from someone on our Queensland genealogy list who has found a certificate of appreciation issued on behalf of the Red Cross by Lady Helen Munro Ferguson to a Mrs George Ryder for "Five years of enthusiastic and capable work, in the Sewing Circle and for Special Days" around the end of World War I. I am trying to discover whether this Mrs George Ryder was my great-grandmother Elizabeth Jane Thompson Mackay Ryder (nee Addley), who was likely resident in Southport or Brisbane during the war. Is there any way of discovering from the Red Cross archives to whom these certificates may have been issued? I was hoping there may be membership lists or similar for these sorts of charitable groups. I'd be grateful for any advice or suggestions you may be able to offer. Many thanks, Deb