Georgina Haines

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Georgina Pheobe Herbert Haines
RRC
Born1867 (1867)
Mallow, Co.Cork
Died1959 (aged 91–92)
Worthing, Sussex
Alma materThe London Hospital
Occupation(s)Nurse to King Edward VII and matron

Georgina Phoebe HerbertHaines, R.R.C. (21 June 1867-1959). [1] [2] Haines was a wartime military nursing leader, and nursed King Edward VII during and after his emergency operation for an appendiceal abcess, and became known as the King's Nurse. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Contents

Early life

Haines was born in Mallow in Co.Cork, Ireland in 1868. She was one of at least five children born to Charles Haines, a gentleman farmer and his wife Anne. By 1891 Georgina and another sister were living with one of their married brother's who was a General Practioner and Surgeon near St Pancras in London.

Career

Osborne House c 1910 where the Naval Hospital was based. Osborne House c1910 - Project Gutenberg eText 17296.jpg
Osborne House c 1910 where the Naval Hospital was based.

Haines trained at The London Hospita l under Matron Eva Luckes between 1893-1896. [6] Haines became a private nurse for The London, and nursed influential individuals including William Amelius Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk, 10th Duke of St Albans, who was a member of the Privy Council. [9] In 1902 Sir Frederick Treves specifically requested that she care for King Edward VII during an emergency operation for a appendiceal abscess, which delayed his coronation. [10] Haines became known as ‘The King’s Nurse’. [11] She drove in the delayed coronation procession, and went on the royal yacht with the King and Queen Alexandra, patron of The London Hospital. [3] Later the King requested that Haines became matron of Osborne House for Naval Officers and she held this post from 1903 and during WW1 until 1917. [7] Whilst she was matron at Osborne House Haines was awarded the RRC by the King in 'recognition of her special devotion and competency in nursing invalid soldiers of His Majesty's Navy and Army'. [2]

In 1918 she was appointed matron of St John's VAD Hospital, a large military hospital in Hull and worked there until 1919. [3] Later she opened a nursing home in Bexhill. [3] She was a founding member of the College of Nursing, having joined in 1919. [3] [12] [13] One of her sister's Marcella Olive had trained as a nurse in Ireland, and was registrant 601 on the General Register for nurses. [14]

Retirement and death

After her retirement Haines lived for over twenty years at 43 Littlehampton Road, in Worthing,West Sussex. Her sister Marcella lived a short walk away. Haines died in her home on 23 March 1959. [3] [15] Her funeral was held at The Downs Crematorium in Brighton on 26 March. [15] She left her estate of £8542 to Marcella. [16]

References

  1. ↑ "The King". The British Journal of Nursing . 48 (1253): 266. 6 April 1912 – via Women's Studies Archive.
  2. 1 2 "War Office, March 26 1912". The Edinburgh Gazette (12448): 346. 5 April 1912 – via www.thegazette.co.uk.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Obituary: Miss G.P.H. Haines RRC". The Nursing Times . 55: 914. 25 September 1959 – via Women's Studies Archive.
  4. ↑ "The King's Illness". The Times : 7. 2 July 1902 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  5. ↑ "'Nursing Notes: The King's Nurse'". The Nursing Times . 1: 1. 25 November 1905 – via www.rcn.org.uk.
  6. 1 2 Rogers, Sarah (2022). "A Maker of Matrons"? A study of Eva Lückes's influence on a generation of nurse leaders:1880–1919 (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Huddersfield, April 2022)
  7. 1 2 "'Matrons',". The British Journal of Nursing . 32: 84. 30 January 1904 – via www.rcn.org.uk.
  8. ↑ "The Matron of Osborne House". The Hospital . 35 (904): 225. 23 January 1904.
  9. ↑ Georgina Phoebe Herbert Haines, Private Nursing Institution Register, June 1898–May 1899; RLHLH/N/5/4,100; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London
  10. ↑ Matron’s Report to House Committee, 30 June 1902; House Committee Minutes, 1900–1903; RLHLH/A/5/48, 433; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London
  11. ↑ Matron’s Report to House Committee, 31 August 1903; House Committee Minutes, 1903–1905; RLHLH/A/5/49, 123; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London
  12. ↑ Haines, Georgina, P.H. Register of Nurses, 1916–1923, 15979; The College of Nursing; The Nursing Registers, 1898–1968 [Available at: www.ancestry.co.uk, accessed on 6 October 2025]
  13. ↑ https://rcn.epexio.com/names/1d5c57c5-332b-4416-85e0-ec3ac5b88d41
  14. ↑ Haines, Marcella Olive, Register of Nurses, 1916–1923, 601; The College of Nursing; The Nursing Registers, 1898–1968 [Available at: www.ancestry.co.uk, accessed on 6 October 2025]
  15. 1 2 "Deaths". Worthing Gazette : 18. 25 March 1959 – via www.findmypast.co.uk.
  16. ↑ Haines, Georgina Phoebe Herbert, 1959 Probate Register .
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