Jean Gillies Skidmore was born in Lucknow in 1886. She was living in Wollongong when she enlisted in December 1916.
Nurse Skidmore embarked in Melbourne in January 1917 and proceed to India, where she served in the Colaba and Victoria War Hospitals in Bombay. She nursed injured soldiers on her return to Australia in early 1919. Her appointment was terminated in June that year, when she married.