Bishop was then granted a three-week leave to England. As he strode down the gangplank at Folkestone on 2 May 1916, he stumbled and fell onto his sore knee. Three other soldiers behind him toppled over him to compound his injury. Resolved not to miss his holiday, Bishop limped through his leave. Just before he returned to France, he turned himself in to have his knee treated at the hospital at Bryanston Square. Once hospitalized, he was informed that he would face a medical board on 26 May to determine his further fitness for service. As Bishop awakened from a nap, he found a well-dressed elderly woman at his bedside. Lady St. Helier insisted she knew his father from a reception in Canada, and thus was a family friend. Lady St. Helier was widely known for both her wide circle of influential friends, and for her charitable tendencies. The latter attribute had brought her to the hospital. Now she used her influence to remove Bishop from hospital and install him as one of her guests in her four-story mansion where he mingled with, and charmed, her social circle..[1]
After Bishop faced a medical board, he was sent back to Canada to recuperate on home leave.[2] In four months of aerial combat, he had not fired his machine gun at the enemy.[3] However, he received local acclaim in Owen Sound for his service. Then too, the Burdens overcame their objections to Bishop's suit, and agreed to their daughter's official engagement. She was presented with an actual engagement ring.[4]