Henrietta Stockdale
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Sister Henrietta Stockdale | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 9 July 1847 Nottinghamshire, England |
| Died | 6 October 1911 (aged 64) Kimberley, Northern Cape, Union of South Africa |
| Known for | Improving nursing training in South Africa |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Anglican |
| Order | Community of St Michael and All Angels |
Sister Henrietta, CSM and AA (9 July 1847 – 6 October 1911) was a British nursing pioneer and Anglican religious sister. Through her influence and pressure the first state registration of nurses and midwives in the world was brought about when the Cape of Good Hope Medical and Pharmacy Act of 1891 passed into law. She was a member of the Anglican Community of St Michael and All Angels.
Sister Henrietta was born on 9 July 1847 at Gringley on the Hill, Nottinghamshire, the eldest of five children of the Revd Henry Stockdale, the vicar of Misterton and later of Bole, and his wife Christine Anne Stockdale née Nicholson.[1] She was confirmed by John Jackson, bishop of Lincoln on 22 March 1863, at Walkeringham. A few weeks previously Edward Twells, the newly consecrated bishop of the Orange River Mission (as the Bloemfontein Mission was then called), visited the Walkeringham Vicarage, where Mr. Stockdale, Henrietta and a cousin of hers met with him. The young Henrietta's missionary enthusiasm was fired by this meeting, and she and her cousin were both made Associates of the Bloemfontein Mission.
"From that time, when she was only fifteen, until her death nearly fifty years afterwards, she gave her prayers, her thoughts, her time, and finally herself to the Bloemfontein Mission, and died in its cause."[2]
Going to South Africa
In 1870 Bishop Allan Becher Webb was made Bishop of Bloemfontein, and before he went out he visited Bole to see Henrietta. A year later the Revd Mr Bevan from the Orange River Mission visited the family and was instrumental in having Herietta's brother go out to the mission at Modderpoort. She followed in due course, responding to a call by Webb for teachers and nurses. Miss Stockdale received some months' training as a nurse at the Clewer Hospital and at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for children. She sailed for South Africa, with other volunteers and in the company of Archdeacon and Mrs Croghan, on 6 March 1874, the same day on which she had, eleven years before, been made an Associate of the Orange River Mission. Landing at Port Elizabeth, the party travelled up to Bloemfontein, where they founded the Community of St Michael and All Angels. When Miss Stockdale was admitted to full membership of the order, about 1875, she took her vows and was henceforth known as Sister Henrietta.
Kimberley and the establishment of Southern Africa's first training school for nurses
Sister Henrietta first went across to Kimberley in the winter of 1876, working as district nurse in the mining camps, and then at Kimberley's new Carnarvon Hospital. She returned to England to recover from typhoid contracted at this time, taking the opportunity to train further at London's University College Hospital. It was on her going back to Kimberley that she established Southern Africa's first training school for nurses at the Carnarvon Hospital. "Inspired and guided by her", wrote Dr Charlotte Searle, "Kimberley nurses moved out to wherever they were needed, establishing hospitals, starting nurses' training schools, and providing nursing care."[3]
Sister Henrietta spent a year as Matron at the St George's Hospital in Bloemfontein (1877), but then returned to Kimberley. In 1880–1881, during the First Boer War, she took charge of the military hospital at Newcastle, Colony of Natal.
State Registration of Nurses
Sister Henrietta registered with the British Trained Nurses' Association in 1890 (she held certificate No 15), and maintained contact with its founder, Mrs Bedford Fenwick, who was an early advocate of State registration of nurses. In South Africa Sister Henrietta persuaded influential figures, notably Dr William Guybon Atherstone of Grahamstown, to back legislation providing for registration of nurses and midwives. This was achieved through the Cape Colony's Medical and Pharmacy Act of 1891.[citation needed]
The Carnarvon and Diggers' Hospitals combined to become the Kimberley Hospital in 1892. Subsidised by the Cape Government, it was enlarged and attracted doctors such as Leander Starr Jameson and John Eddie Mackenzie, who took part in the training of nurses. The Community of St Michael and All Angels withdrew from Kimberley Hospital in 1895, whereafter Sister Henrietta established a maternity nursing home and nursing co-operative at St Michael's Home.[citation needed]
Death
Sister Henrietta died in Kimberley on 6 October 1911, aged 64, and was buried at the Dutoitspan Cemetery. [citation needed]
