The Matrons' Council for Great Britain and Ireland was established in 1894 during the campaign for the registration of nurses and was disbanded c.1955. [1]
Margaret Huxley (1854–1940) was a founder member. [2] as was Isla Stewart (1856-1910) [3] . Agnes Karll (1868–1927) of Germany was named an honorary member for her role in nursing reform and advancing the nursing profession. [4]
The council was represented on the Central Committee for the State Registration of Nurses in 1908. [5]
The Matrons' Council regularly reported their activities in The British Journal of Nursing up to 1956, [6] however around this time the Council disbanded [1]
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a registered trade union and professional body in the United Kingdom for those in the profession of nursing. It was founded in 1916 as the College of Nursing, receiving its royal charter in 1928. Queen Elizabeth II was the patron until her death in 2022, King Charles III continued the royal connection and became patron in 2024. The majority of members are registered nurses; however student nurses and healthcare assistants are also members. There is also a category of membership, at a reduced cost, for retired people.
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is a federation of more than 130 national nurses associations. It was founded in 1899 and was the first international organization for health care professionals. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
Ethel Gordon Fenwick was a British nurse who played a major role in the History of Nursing in the United Kingdom. She campaigned to procure a nationally recognised certificate for nursing, to safeguard the title "Nurse", and lobbied Parliament to pass a law to control nursing and limit it to "registered" nurses only.
Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps was the nursing branch of the British Army Medical Services.
Dame Ellen Mary Musson, was Chair of the General Nursing Council for England and Wales. Her nursing career began in 1898. She served prominently at St Bartholomew's Hospital, West Smithfield, London.
Dame Alicia Frances Jane Lloyd Still, was a British nurse, teacher, hospital matron and leader of her profession. She was one of the leaders in the campaign for state registration of nurses. Following the Nurses Registration Act 1919, she was a member of the General Nursing Council (1920-1937). As chairwoman of the General Nursing Council's first Education and Examinations Committee she helped establish the first national examination standards for the registration of nurses.
St Leonard's Hospital is a hospital in Hoxton, London.
The Maida Vale Hospital for Nervous Diseases was a hospital that existed in west London from 1867 to 1993.
The history of nursing in the United Kingdom relates to the development of the profession since the 1850s. The history of nursing itself dates back to ancient history, when the sick were cared for in temples and places of worship. In the early Christian era, nursing in the United Kingdom was undertaken by certain women in the Christian Church, their services being extended to patients in their homes. These women had no real training by today's standards, but experience taught them valuable skills, especially in the use of herbs and folk drugs, and some gained fame as the physicians of their era. Remnants of the religious nature of nurses remains in Britain today, especially with the retention of the job title "Sister" for a senior female nurse.
Margaret Rachel Huxley (1854–1940) was an English nurse who introduced structured, scientific nursing training in Ireland. Her initiatives led to the establishment of the first nursing school in Dublin. She was involved in numerous organisations promoting professionalism in nursing and campaigning for nurse registration throughout the British Isles.
Rosalie Dreyer was a Swiss-born naturalised British nurse and administrator. Immigrating to England at the age of eighteen, she trained as a nurse in London and worked her way through the ranks to become matron, principal matron and chief matron-in-charge of the Nursing Service of the London County Council. Dreyer was a pioneer in the development of Britain's public-funded nursing service.
Edith Smith OBE, ARRC was a British nurse and matron for over thirty years of a central London teaching hospital ,Westminster Hospital, and as such was prominent in the development of the nursing profession in the UK.
Hilda Marjorie Simpson, OBE, FRCN was a pioneer in nursing research and founder of the Royal College of Nursing Research Society.
Margaret Elwyn Sparshott was a British nurse. She was the principal matron of Manchester Royal Infirmary, and of the Territorial Force Nursing Service at Manchester, England. During the First World War, she used 2nd Western General Hospital as a base, and had the assistance of St John Ambulance, the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VADs) and the Red Cross. Within this framework she was responsible for the running of twenty-two large auxiliary hospitals, including the field hospitals for the war wounded, in Stockport, Salford and Manchester. Her duty extended to coping with increased patient numbers during the 1918–1920 flu pandemic.
Margaret Currie Neilson Lamb FRCN (1907–1992) was the first nurse to chair the General Nursing Council in Scotland.
Peggy Dina Nuttall OBE, OStJ, FRCN (1917–2008), as editor and later director of Nursing Times was one of the most influential nurses of the 20th century.
Birmingham and Midland Skin and Urinary Hospital which was initially known as the Birmingham and Midland Skin and Lock Hospital, was a specialist hospital in Birmingham.
The Society of Registered Male Nurses was founded in 1937 with six members including Mr Edward J. Glavin. Prior to the Society there were a number of small agencies that placed trained male nurses, often from the co-operative movement such as the Male Nurses (Temperance) Co-operation. Male nurses also joined unions, such as the National Asylum Workers' Union, but the professional nursing organisations in the United Kingdom were exclusively female.
Lucy Wilson Wamsley was a hospital matron and Lady Inspector for the Local Government Board. Before the First World War she held the prestigious post of Principal Matron in the Territorial Force Nursing Service for five years and organised and ran the First Northern Military Hospital.