After the training, Pope became the superintendent of the
Columbia Hospital for Women, at Washington D.C., where she opened a school for nurses. In October 1899, after completing nursing studies at Bellevue Hospital in
New York City, Pope volunteered for nursing service in the
Second Boer War. Placed in command of the first group of nurses to go overseas, she served for more than a year in South Africa. For the first five months she and four other volunteer nurses served at British hospitals north of
Cape Town. After, Pope and another sister proceeded north to
Kroonstad where, despite shortages in food and medical supplies, they took charge of a military hospital and successfully cared for 230 sufferers of
enteric fever. On September 21, 1901, She returned there in 1902 with the
Canadian Army Nursing Service as senior sister in charge of a second group of 8 Canadian nurses. She served at a hospital in
Natal until the end of the war in May that year. On October 31, 1902, she became the first Canadian to be awarded the
Royal Red Cross, awarded to her for meritorious and distinguished service in the field. In 1908 Pope was appointed first matron of the
Canadian Army Medical Corps. In 1917, aged 55, Pope, although in poor health went to work near
Ypres and served for the remainder of the
First World War until 1918. ==Later life==