Nurses embarking at Marseilles for Serbia. The Mitchell Library, Sir Thomas Lipton Collection, Record 342. With kind permission from ©CSG CIC Glasgow Museums and Libraries Collection: The Mitchell Library, Special Collections.
This is the twelfth edition of the UKAHN Bulletin, and my second as editor. The contents are chiefly drawn, as in earlier years, from the papers offered to our excellent research colloquium, which in 2024 was held at Greenwich University. The papers published in the Bulletin are not consciously themed, but this year the edition coincidentally treats different aspects of nursing in times of conflict.
Among our longer articles, Claire Chatterton considers the life of Mary Stanley (1813-1879) who led a group of nurses to the Crimea in 1854. Stanley’s work in the East was of shorter duration than Florence Nightingale’s and was conducted with much less contemporary public notice. Nonetheless, her contribution to the nursing reform movement, and to philanthropy and care more widely, deserve to be better understood.
Wendy Maddocks analyses the experiences of New Zealand women who were recruited to nurse during the First World War. She finds that wartime service had a long-term negative impact on the women’s life chances, particularly their suffering chronic illness. The conclusions are drawn from unusually robust data.
The First World War also provides a focus for research by Stuart Wildman into the impact of war on civilian nursing services. He draws on a wide range of sources to evaluate the different ways in which war drew resources away from the provincial hospitals, district nursing, the poor law, and mental health care. The consequences of the war effort for patients in early twentieth century asylums were particularly grim.
Shorter articles this year also offer biographical studies. Judi Pettigrew and her co-authors sketch the life of Thomas Costello (1908-1996), a mental health nurse who pioneered occupational therapy at Ballinasloe Hospital in Ireland. Thomas Lipton, the subject of Gavin Wilk’s writing, was not himself a nurse but was instrumental in promoting the work of nursing at the outset of the First World War. Our ‘cover’ image this year derives from Gavin’s research with the Mitchell Library.
November 2023 was a big month for the Royal College of Nursing. Firstly, the RCN launched a new exhibition about the history of nursing provision for children and young people. Antonia Harland-Lang’s short report depicts the origins of the exhibition and trails some exciting news about 2025. Secondly, the RCN’s History of Nursing Forum was awarded the Wikimedia Partnership of the Year award in recognition of the group’s efforts to correct and compose nurse entries for Wikipedia. Sarah Rogers describes the skills and confidence needed to tackle online editing and publication.
The Bulletin concludes this year with two book reviews, both of which relate again to nursing in wartime. Janet Hargreaves reports her enjoyment of A Gypsy and a Rebel: Lillian Urmston in the Spanish Civil War, while Marnie Taylor outlines the value of Jewish Refugees and the British Nursing Profession.
The latter review was made possible by the new and stronger connections between Manchester University Press, specifically its series on Nursing History and Humanities, and UKAHN. We will receive a copy of each new book in the series for review by one of our members, and anyone on the UKAHN mailing list now has access to a discount code for purchasing books in the same series – check your emails for previously-sent details of this code or send us a message to ask for a reminder.
UKAHN historically used Twitter/X for social media communication but in light of world events we have switched enthusiastically to Bluesky instead. Find us and ‘follow’ @ukahn.bsky.social
Our research colloquium in 2025 will take place at Keele University. Keele has a large campus set in the grounds of Keele Hall, with walks through woods and beside lakes. The University is proud of its green credentials, both in terms of its immediate environment and its investment in renewable energies (including a solar farm and two wind turbines). UKAHN will meet in the Old Library of Keele Hall on 25 June 2025. We will be issuing a call for papers in the new year, so look out for further details. See you there!
Alannah Tomkins
