ESSEX-UK-L Archives
Archiver > ESSEX-UK > 2004-07 > 1090361551
From:
Subject: Re: DISTRICT NURSING TRAINING IN PRE-1900
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 18:12:31 EDT
In a message dated 02/07/2004 05:37:21 GMT Daylight Time,
writes:
However, I need to point out that even on the 1881 Census you can find
references to Nurse, Nurse Domestic, Monthly Nurse, District Nurse (SMS)(*)
and numerous references to District Nurse.
Hi Frank
At
_http://www.jcn.co.uk/journal.asp?MonthNum=06&YearNum=1998&Type=search&ArticleID=56_
(http://www.jcn.co.uk/journal.asp?MonthNum=06&YearNum=1998&Type=search&ArticleID=56) there is an article about the history of District Nursing
in Lancashire. Although it is limited to Lancashire, with a bit of Yorkshire
and Cumberland thrown in, it does give some useful info. The first District
Nurse was a Mrs Robinson, employed by a William Rathbone to look after his
wife who was dying of TB. After the wife died, Rathbone (a wealthy Liverpool
ship owner) employed Mrs R to look after the 'poor sick' in the area. There is
no date in the article, but the implication is that this took place in the
1860/70s, because "During the 1860's and 1870's district nursing developed in an
ad hoc way, albeit with nurses who had undergone some sort of training in
both hospital and home."
In 1889 money from the Women's Jubilee Fund went towards extending district
nursing schemes and many district nursing schemes were started in the latter
part of the 19th century. In order to affiliate to the Queen Victoria Jubilee
Institute, associations had to prove they had reached a recognisable
standard.
As for your question about someone from Rayleigh being trained, this is a
bit more problematic. At _http://home.online.no/~jorigo/legacy/bloor/47.htm_
(http://home.online.no/~jorigo/legacy/bloor/47.htm) the subject was in training
in Alexandra College, Crowstone Road, Westcliff in 1910, so it looks to me
as if there were nursing schools.. Having said that, many workhouses had
sanatoriums which provided rudimentary care for the poorer members of the local
parishes and they would have required nurses with some kind of training. I know
that places like Greenwich workhouse sanatorium had an arrangement with (I
think from memory) St Thomas Hospital and trainee doctors and nurses would be
sent to what was then NW Kent for practical experience. Perhaps there was a
similar arrangement for SE Essex?
DaveD
This thread: