September 17, 2020
5:30-6:30 BST
Drunkenness and Misbehaviour? A Reappraisal of Nursing before Nightingale
5:30-6:30 BST
On the same day in 1791, the sister, nurse and helper in Luke’s ward St Bartholomew’s Hospital were all sacked for drunkenness. This is what we might expect from the picture painted by Victorian nursing reformers: but a closer examination of the hospital journals reveals a more complicated picture. Women were just as likely, or more likely, to be promoted, praised or pensioned as they were to be dismissed.
In this online talk, Professor Alannah Tomkins from the University of Keele uses hospital and other records to compile data about nursing staff and unpick the life stories of a select few nurses before Nightingale. She finds a diversity of employment experiences that did not generally end in disgrace.
Please register to attend, and a link will be circulated in advance with instructions on how to join the meeting. All tickets must be booked individually.
Image credit: Wellcome Collection
September 23, 2020
6:30-8pm BST
Nursing Myth Busters: Fashion, Fantasy and Female Firsts
Can you sort your Sairey Gamps from your Florence Nightingales? Join the myth busters from Crimson Tea Parties and the RCN Library and Archive Service to find out in this online talk and quiz.
We begin with a talk by Susanna Cordner (London College of Fashion) and Stephanie Wood (Victoria & Albert Museum) looking at the history of nursing through its fashion. What do nursing uniforms over the years tell us about the image of nursing? How are nurses portrayed on film and TV? And why have nursing costumes appeared in such a range of settings over the years, from fancy dress to haute couture?
The talk will be followed by a chance to test your ability to separate fact from fantasy in our Women’s Quiz-tory.
This is a Period Poverty Fundraiser
Tickets are free, but we encourage all attendees to donate at least the price of a packet of tampons to the Bloody Good Period COVID-19 Pad Fund: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/crimson-tea-parties
Bloody Good Period & how the money raised will be used: We get period products to asylum seekers, refugees and those who can’t afford them. Bloody Good Period believe that everyone who has periods, and everyone who cares about someone who has periods, should be able to talk about this bloody stuff. Everyone should have access to the information and products they need. No-one should feel ashamed because of a healthy biological process.
Crimson Tea Parties Presents is a creative platform and event series which highlights and fundraises for women’s charities and is on a mission to dispel female taboos.
Please register to attend, and a link will be circulated in advance with instructions on how to join the meeting. All tickets must be booked individually.
Image: A French hospital for wounded soldiers, World War I: 8.30 am, nurses arrive for work in the rain, then change into their uniforms. Colour lithograph after L. Ibels, 1916. Credit: Wellcome Collection