b. ?. d. ? India.
DATE OF AM ACTION: 07/12/1919 Peshawar, India (now Pakistan).
Florence A Emmitt AM
Florence Amy Emmett, the wife of the Peshawar Stationmaster, was severely wounded in the murderous attack, ‘but continued to show the greatest courage by ignoring her own wounds until both her husband and son had been attended to and sent to hospital. There can be no doubt that Mrs. Emmitt’s bravery saved her son’s life and probably her husband’s too.’ She was presented with her Albert Medal by H.M. King George V at Buckingham Palace on 8 March 1921.
AM CITATION:
The KING has been pleased to award the Albert Medal to Mrs. Emmitt, wife of Mr. Frederick Emmitt, Station Master at Peshawar, in recognition of her gallant conduct on the occasion of a murderous attack upon her husband and son in December last. On December 7th, 1919, Mrs. Emmitt and her children were sitting with her husband, who was in bed with fever. The eldest boy, aged 17, had occasion to go into the sitting room, and as he entered that room he found an Indian coming in from the garden. On the boy questioning the man as to what the was doing, the intruder immediately attacked him with an axe, breaking the boy’s fore-arm. The boy closed with his assailant, and on his mother coming into the room, she found that the man, who had dropped the axe, was stabbing; her son with a dagger. She at once rushed to her son’s assistance and seized the man, never relaxing her hold in spite of receiving, a stab in her side. At this stage her husband came from, his sick bed to the rescue; the Indian wrenched himself free from Mis, Emmitt and stabbed Mr. Emmitt in the thigh. Thereupon Mrs. Emmitt again seized the man by the wrist, and in spite of receiving several more wounds on her hand and arm succeeded in getting hold of the handle of the dagger. Eventually, with the aid tof some servants, the assailant was overpowered, and Mrs. Emmitt continued to show the greatest courage by ignoring her own wounds until both her husband and son had been attended to and sent to hospital. All three have now recovered, and their assailant, who proved to be a murderous fanatic, was tried, sentenced, and duly hanged. There can be no doubt that Mrs. Emmitt’s bravery saved her son’s life and probably her husband’s too.
BURIAL LOCATION: UNKNOWN.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: PRIVATELY HELD. SOLD FOR £8,000 IN DECEMBER 2016.
Acknowledgements:
Dix Noonan Webb – Image of Florence Emmett AM’s medal.
Allan Stanistreet – Image of Florence Emmett AM.