Angels of Mercy in our Midst
Delia Maude Dayton
(1887-1970)
Delia Maude Dayton was born on June 23rd 1887 in Little Britain, to Mr. and Mrs. Charles J. Dayton. The family lived on a farm just north of the village along Concession 6, near the intersection of Salem Road and Eldon Road – a neighbourhood known colloquially as “Gabtown.” Maude was apparently destined to be a nurse, for on April 3rd 1916, while living at La Corona Hotel on Guy Street, in Montréal, she enlisted with the Canadian Army Medical Corps.
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No. 2 Canadian General Hospital, Le Treport, ca. 1917, Library and Archives Canada, e007150694
Following the war, Maude returned to Little Britain, where she lived at the family farm with her brother, Stanley Dayton (1895-1990). “Two-Step Stan,” as he was known by locals due to his eccentric gait, was a famously frugal fellow who drove a Model “A” Ford and sold subscriptions to the Lindsay Daily Post. Long-time Little Britain resident Bev Starr remembers Maude as being a “nice, very stately woman” who measured about 5’ 6” and “always wore a hat.”
While in France, Maude served in the No. 2 Canadian General Hospital at Le Tréport, and in the No. 2 Stationary Hospital at Abbeville. A September 7th 1917 letter to Mrs. W. Yeo of Little Britain describes ball games and other sporting contests; travels to England and Ireland; and the various needs and wants of soldiers in her care. One of the more unusual requests made was for a gramophone. “I have watched the effect of music on these men and it works wonders and does far more good than medicine,” Maude writes, suggesting that the Ladies’ Aid or Red Cross branch at home send her a few dollars so that she might purchase a gramophone for the men.
Maude died in the Lindsay Private Hospital on July 14th 1970, aged eighty-three, and is buried near her parents and brother in the Little Britain Christian Cemetery. Her dress uniform later found its way into the collection of the Victoria County Historical Society.
Resources:
"Little Britain Nursing Sister Tells of Her Work In France,” Lindsay Post, September 7 1917.
Conversations with Little Britain-area residents at the Lindsay Central Exhibition, September 21-25 2016.
