British Empire: Overseas Nursing Association. Cape Badge. Silver. With dated integral brooch bar '1911'
Quote (Exeter and Plymouth Gazette issue of 14 August 1929 );
'The Overseas Nursing Association is advertising for girls "who can rough it and dispense with the paint and powder."
Unquote.
Width: Approx 33mm
Height: Approx 43mm (58mm incl integral brooch bar)
Weight: Approx 28g
Obverse: In centre a representation of a seated Britania with 'Union' shield and a 'Trident', surrounded by legend 'Overseas Nursing Association 1896'
The insignia retaining the original long hinged pin and clasp fittings on reverse of bar
Important: The number in raised relief charcters on the bar refers to the unique enrolled number of the respective nurse, who was engaged by the Overseas Nursing Association. Provision was further extended for long service clasps for periods of 10 years to be issued for wear with the insignia, at which time the ring suspension was customised and a blue riband worn on which the further service clasps were fitted
The origins of the association lie with A Colonial Nursing Association was formed by Lady Mabel Piggott, wife of the procureur and advocate-general of Mauritius (an Indian Ocean Colony), who made a proposal to the Colonial Office that an association should be formed in England to help British communities in the Empire and protectoriates provide themselves with trained nurses. At that time, in many, if not most, of the isoloated colonies, skilled nursing was either unknown, or virtually unobtainable, with British, settlers, officialvials and their families suffering severely as a consequence. British colonial doctors were similarly handicapped in their work, by the absence of trained nurses. Joseph Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, took a personal interest in the proposal, and the following year the Colonial Nursing Association (renamed in 1919 the Overseas Nursing Association) came into being, and the first British nurse to be selected by the association sailed for Mauritius early in 1896
The association, a voluntary body, was head-quartered in London to select nurses as required and initially to meet all costs. A fund-raising committee was then formed to provide for salaries, uniforms and travel expenses. Subsequently the colonies were to take over these costs. Initially conceived as a source of nursing supply to British settlers, the provision and supply of British nurses was extended to indigenous populations in conjunction with their respective Medical Services, for example as recent as 1959, the association was providing nurses to Assam, India. By 1910 some 521 nurses had been sent overseas and in 1918 nurses also began going to the Dominions. By 1929 some 2,532 nurses had been recruited
The Bodleian Library, Oxford, England, holds the official records (including service records of the British nurses recruited) of the Overseas Nursing Association
The listing of overseas colonies and territories that the Overseas Nursing Association provided trained nurses too was extensive, and is a veritable roll-call of the Brtish Empire, and later British Commonwealth of Nations
Condition: Toned EF