Josephine Dold was the third daughter of Garson Dold and Mary Jane Lea who married on 8 December 1884 at the Catholic Chapel Bell Green. At the time of their marriage Gerson lived on Bridge Street, Ramsbottom and Mary lived in Rochdale.

Gerson had emigrated from Bavaria as a young man and secured an apprenticeship o a watch maker in Nottingham. The couple began their married life in Edenfield, but had moved to the Blackley area of Manchester by the time Josephine was born in the spring of 1889. When the census was taken in 1891 the family was living at 29 Rochdale Road, Blackley.

 Garson was employed as a watch maker and Mary had a fourth daughter just a few weeks before the census return was made. The family moved to Haymarket Street, Bury at some point and early in 1900 he was sent a receiving order from the Bankruptcy Court. Consequently, by the time the 1901 census was taken, he was back in someone else’s employ.

Living at 94 Marlborough Road, Broughton there were six children, all dependent on Garson’s wage. At some point the family moved to Newgate Lane, Wilmslow and, sadly, Mary died in 1906 just three months after her only son, Leopold.

Probate on Mary’s estate was granted to her brother Peter, the estate amounting to a little over £700 (which would equate to about £100,000 in 2025) so the family was living a financially comfortable life. Mary’s death could have signalled the beginning of the family break-up, and by 1911 the girls were living separately.

The eldest worked as a live-in servant at Tottington, whilst the two youngest were inmates at Holly Mount School nearby. Josephine and her sister Madeline were living with different aunts and uncles. Josephine, was with William and Annie Sinclair at Albert Avenue, Sedgley Park, Prestwich.

This seems to have been a long term solution, William & Annie had no children of their own and Josephine was still with them when she began her nursing service. It is unclear what happened to Garson, but he died in the Nottingham area in 1912.

Josephine was engaged by the Red Cross on 31 May 1916 and served at the Bagthorpe Military Hospital, Nottingham (formerly the Bagthorpe workhouse). During her time there she earned two Scarlet Efficiency Stripes, indicating that she had been employed in military hospitals under War Office control since November 1915 and her service was certificated as 'efficient' by the Matron and Commanding Officer.

As the war drew to a close and Europe came under the grip of the Spanish Influenza epidemic, many nurses exposed to infection through their work, became ill and later developed pneumonia. It was to  pneumonia that Josephine succumbed on 23 November 1918 just a few days after the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front. She was 29 years old. Josephine was taken back to Prestwich and buried in the churchyard of St Paul’s church, Kersal.

Probate of her estate was granted to Josephine’s eldest sister Philippine. On 17 September 2016 Josephine was acknowledged as a casualty of war, largely due to the work of In From The Cold project.