Study Guide : A Rose for the ANZAC Boys: Central Characters

MIDGE:

• Margaret Macpherson was referred to as 'Midge'
• Orphaned daughter of a New Zealand sheep farmer.
• Mother died when she was a baby.
• Her father died from contracting diphtheria.
• Sent to live with an Aunt and Uncle she did not really know in UK - by her brother Doug, after her father died
• Attends Miss Hollington's School for Young Ladies, Surrey - England as a  boarder. 
• Receives a letter from the War office informing her that her brother Tim was posted missing  
•  Eulalie Jean Macpherson is her Aunt (Aunt Lallie) 
• Misses the family farm "Glen Donal" in New Zealand.
• Doug is her older brother.
• Tim is her twin brother.
• Midge is very proud of having two brothers in uniform, and a cousin too, as well as an aunt who is a nurse.
• Leaves school and goes to France to 'do her bit'

 

ANNE:

• Daughter of an Earl
• Midge's friend at her boarding school 
• Concerned about her 'spots' on her face.
• Leaves School and goes to France.

 

ETHEL:

• Daughter of a Yorkshire wholesale grocer and Quaker.
• Ethel's mother is dead
• Midge's friend at her boarding school.
• Ethel has the idea that all three of them could go to France and provide cocoa and sandwiches from train stations as the 'boys' wait for the hospital trains to arrive & depart from the platform. 
• Leaves school and goes to France.

 

AUNT LALLIE:

• Eulalie Jean Macpherson 
• Called Aunt Lallie by her niece & nephews
• Nursing Sister in the armed forces.
• Midge is her niece.

 

TIM:

• Twin Brother to Midge.
• Was too young to enlist in 1914 (16 years old)
• Lied about his age, so he could 'do his bit' like his older brother, Doug
• Enlisted as a private under the name 'Timothy Smith'
• Is posted Missing (Gallipoli -1915)

 

DOUGIE:

• Enlisted in Army
• Older brother to Midge & Tim

 

GORDON: (Captain Marks)

• Meets Midge while she is working at the train platforms
• Asks Midge if he can write to her

 

HARRY:

• Midge meets Harry while working in France.

 

MISS DAVIES:

• Midge's former Governess in New Zealand. 
• Midge writes letters to her.

 

DOWAGER DUCHESS of SUTHERLAND: (MILLICENT) 

• When War was declared, she sailed to France and established the Millicent Sutherland Ambulance.

 

DUCHESS OF WESTMINSTER: 

• The Duchess of Westminster was the first women ambulance driver that Midge saw working in France.
•  Midge first sees the horror of war when injured soldiers are taken from the ambulance that the Duchess of Westminster was driving.

 

LACHIE: 

• Great Grandson to PA

 

PA:                     

• Fought in WWI,                           
• He was deaf as a result of an injury during World War  I
•  Great Grandfather (PA) to Lachlan
• On ANZAC day in 1975, he placed a single rose among the wreaths at the local cenotaph (public memorial) for those killed in war.