Margaret Elwyn Sparshott
British nurse (1870–1940) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Margaret Elwyn Sparshott CBE RRC (4 August 1870 – 9 October 1940) was a British nurse. She was the principal matron of Manchester Royal Infirmary, and of the Territorial Force Nursing Service at Manchester, England. During the First World War, she used 2nd Western General Hospital as a base, and had the assistance of St John Ambulance, the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VADs) and the Red Cross. Within this framework she was responsible for the running of twenty-two large auxiliary hospitals, including the field hospitals for the war wounded, in Stockport, Salford and Manchester. Her duty extended to coping with increased patient numbers during the 1918–1920 flu pandemic.
Margaret Elwyn Sparshott | |
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Born | (1870-08-04)4 August 1870 |
Died | 9 October 1940(1940-10-09) (aged 70) Beckenham, Kent, England |
Nationality | British |
Years active | 1895–1929 |
Parent |
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Medical career | |
Profession | Matron |
Institutions | |
Sparshott was one of the instrumental founding members of the Royal College of Nursing. As a member she campaigned for appropriate pay and training systems for nurses, and was its president in the early 1930s. Sparshott never married, and her dedication to her career brought her appointment as Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), the award of the Royal Red Cross, her name on a nurses' training establishment, and a blue plaque in her honour, affixed to the wall of Manchester Royal Infirmary.