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Some Special Interests => Occupation Interests => Topic started by: ggrocott on Thursday 29 March 07 13:06 BST (UK)
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Have found an ancestress on the 1881 census - Elizabeth Chapman born 1819 (in Chelsea according to the 1881 but that is not consistent!). She is shown as a nurse S M S. Can anyone tell me a little more about what this means - does SMS stand for something (senior medical sister, perhaps?) - is it a rank or a particular hospital? She is living in Edmonton, London at the time.
Gill
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Just had a look on GENUKI for you Gill. See:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LIN/occupations.html
Apparantly up until 1919 anyone could call themselves a Nurse, but putting SMS (Subsidiary Medical Services) after it, meant that they had had some medical training.
Romilly.
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Thank you Romilly - I learn something new every day!
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No probs Gill!
If I'm stuck on something...I find that someone on here will invariably come up with an answer:-)
Where would we be without RC?
Romilly. ;)
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Up until 1919 anyone could call themselves a Nurse. Putting Nurse SMS (Subsidiary Medical Services, i.e. anyone other than a properly qualified medical doctor) on a census form would have been an attempt to indicate that one was properly experienced and employed and not just the woman-up-the-road-who "did".
In 1919 the Government introduced a Bill which was passed and became law as the Nurses Registration Act December 23rd 1919. The Act laid down certain standards and The General Nursing Council (GNC) was required by the Act to 'form and keep a Register of Nurses for the sick. The register was opened on 30 September 1921 and was divided into the general part, reserved for female nurses, with supplementary parts for fever nurses, male nurses, mental nurses (with a special section for nurses for mental defectives) and sick children's nurses.
By 1925 the first state examinations had been held, and the first nurses were admitted to the register by examination.
Stan
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Hi Stan,
I guess that must mean that Florence Nightingale wasn't a qualified Nurse!!
(Interesting info though).
Cheers, Romilly.