Doris Ada Barton was born on March 27, 1901, in St. Helens, Lancashire, England. She was the fourth of eleven children; and one of the eight Barton children to reach adulthood. Her parents were William Barton born on December 4, 1871 in St. Helens and Ada Bates born on December 6, 1871, also in St. Helens.
Doris was very active as a girl. She loved to play Rounders, a game similar to baseball. She also played Cricket with the boys and was quite good. Doris recalled a time her mother said she’d never grow up to be a lady, Doris admitted she never did. She was a member of the Girl Guides, here she made many friends and learned important values that were reflected in her life. She had fond memories of her Girl Guides leader, Miss Ellen Heyes. Doris wrote in her journal:
“When the war broke out in 1914 I was a patrole leader in the Girl Guides. The Guide Mistress, Miss Ellen Heyes, was my friend as well as my officer. When the call came for nurses, she took some training and went to France. For two years she worked hard, and then she was taken ill with fever and passed away to her eternal home. Among her possessions send home to her parents was her bible. The nurse, who wrote to her mother, said Ellen had expressed a wish that her bible be given to me. This bible is now my dear keepsake; from its pages I have gleaned much joy and happiness. I use my bible every day, and so my best friend is forever with me.”
Once when Doris was young her family took a trip to the ocean. In her own words this is the story she told:
“The first holiday I seem to remember was when I was about seven or eight years old. We went with mother, my brothers and sisters to Liverpool; from where we took the boat across the ferry to New Brighton. Whilst on the boat we saw down the Mersey great ships that filled us with awe. What wonderful stories we built around them. How we pictured them on the seas sailing to lands unknown. When we arrived at New Brighton we were eager to take off shoes and stocking and wade out to the fort were the coast guards were. The tide was far out when we started to wade and we reached the fort with almost dry feet. We began to climb the rock which was leading to the wall, and eventually scaled the wall. We did not notice that the tide was coming in until we were at the top of the wall, then it was impossible for us to get back. Sheer terror took as and we scrambled down the inside of the wall and ran for a kind of boat house where we found the coast guards. The men must have seen how frightened we were for they were very kind to us and rowed us back to the shore. For a long time after that day we felt we were heroes, but perhaps our parents must have felt otherwise.”
