EMMA JOSÉ TOWNSEND M.B.E

Various sources describe Emma José Townsend as being a holder of the George Cross which she was not - the George Cross did not come into being until 1940 when it was instituted by King George VI.  The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire  was instituted on 4 June 1917 by his father, King George V, and was awarded for outstanding civil or military services. The Order as a whole has five upper grades (Knight/Dame Grand Cross, Knight/Dame Commander, Commander, Officer and Member) plus a Medal, in Civil and Military Divisions. At the time it was instituted, it was one of the few decorations which could be awarded to women.

Emma Townsend was made a Member of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1932 - in others words an MBE, for an act of great bravery as described in the London Gazette as follows:

From The London Gazette:

6 September 1932

St. James's Palace, SW1

"The King has been graciously pleased to approve of the Award of the Medal of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire to the undermentioned:

For Gallantry

Miss Emma José Townsend

On the 9th May 1932, W. J. Yeomans, a farmer of Kingsbridge, South Devon, murdered one of his sons in the South Hams Cottage Hospital in Kingsbridge. The boy, aged 9, was an inmate under treatment at the Hospital and Yeoman attacked him as he lay in bed, first firing at him with a gun and then striking him with it several times.

Miss Townsend, who was visiting her sister at the Hospital, heard cried of "Help" and went into the ward. She showed great courage in trying to prevent the killing of the boy and behaved most gallantly. In the struggle, Yeoman struck her with the barrel of the gun and cut her head open. It was necessary afterwards to stitch up the wound and she lost a quantity of blood."

Kingsbridge Cottage Hospital in the 1930s

The photographer has waited for the train to pass but forgotten 

to allow the steam to clear before taking his shot!

Before this incident, on that day in May 1932, William Yeomans had already attacked and killed his wife and two of his children. The boy in the hospital had escaped the first onslaught by virtue of being an in-patient at the Cottage Hospital. In spite of Emma Townsend's intervention, this child died two days later. The father was committed to an asylum where he spent the remainder of his life.

Emma Townsend was born in Leicester in 1879 where her father had a painting and decorating business. She trained as a nurse and the 1901 census shows her working in Bradford. At the time of this incident, she was aged 54. She died in the Spring of 1965 in Surrey aged 85.