Dame Ethel Hope Becher (1867 – 10 May 1948) was a British nurse who served as the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

matron-in-chief of the

Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC; known as ''the QAs'') is the nursing branch of the British Army Medical Services. History Although an "official" nursing service was not established until 1881, the corps traces its heritage t ...

from 1910 to 1919, including

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Biography

Becher was born in 1867. Her father was Arthur W. Becher, a colonel in the

Bengal Staff Corps Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

. She attended private school and trained as a nurse at the

London Hospital The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and spe ...

from 1893 to 1899. In 1899, she became a

nursing sister Nursing management consists of the performance of the leadership functions of governance and decision-making within organizations employing nurses. It includes processes common to all management like planning, organizing, staffing, directing and ...

and acting

matron Matron is the job title of a very senior or the chief nurse in several countries, including the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and other Commonwealth countries and former colonies. Etymology The chief nurse, in other words the person ...

during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

, and was awarded the

Royal Red Cross The Royal Red Cross (RRC) is a military decoration awarded in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth for exceptional services in military nursing. Foundation The award was established on 27 April 1883 by Victoria of the Un ...

for her work. In 1903, Becher was appointed as principal matron of the

, the nursing branch of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, which had been established by royal warrant just one year prior. She was promoted to matron-in-chief in 1910, and was stationed at the

. As matron-in-chief, she was responsible for the recruiting and administration of the entire nursing service, and oversaw nurses stationed in many regions, including Macedonia, Malta, Gibraltar, and France. Bechel almost retired at the start of

in 1914, but decided to stay on. She supervised over 10,000 nurses and 9,500 members of the

Voluntary Aid Detachment The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The most important periods of operation for these units we ...

from 1914 to 1918. She was named a Lady of Grace in the

Order of Saint John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

in 1917, and was awarded a

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

to her Royal Red Cross in January 1918, becoming the first person in history to receive the award twice. She was appointed a Dame Grand Cross of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in June 1918. After the end of the war, Becher resigned her position as matron-in-chief in March 1919. The media described her as a "modern

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...

" and wrote that it "would be hard to name any one woman whose part in the great war was more extraordinary". In 1931, Becher founded the United Services Nursing Club, which organized the provision of government grants to nurses who had served in World War I. She died on 10 May 1948.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Becher, Ethel 1867 births 1948 deaths British people of World War I British women in World War I British women nurses Dames Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire English nurses Female nurses in World War I Ladies of Grace of the Order of St John Members of the Royal Red Cross People of the Second Boer War Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps officers World War I nurses

Biography

See also

References