Elma Constance Apsley Lowe was born near Wellington in October 1891. She was living in Orange and working as a masseuse when she joined the Australian Army Nursing Service on 1 November 1915. Her younger brother Nigel had enlisted two months earlier.
She embarked from Sydney on HMAT Orsova A67 just 10 days later. Elma served as a masseuse on sea transportation between Europe and Australia for over a year and a half.
In July 1917 Nurse Lowe resigned her appointment due to her marriage to Lieutenant William Leith Gardiner Lamrock of the 3rd Battalion. The couple settled in Tidworth, England, and their first child was born the following year. The family returned to Australia in early 1919. They settled in Crookwell, where three more children were born. Elma and William later relocated to the Central Coast, where Elma died in 1970, aged 78.
Elma’s brother Nigel Burton Apsley Lowe served with the 56th Battalion; he was killed in action in France in March 1917.
