Dame Muriel Betty Powell, DBE (30 October 1914 – 8 December 1978), was a British nurse, hospital matron, nurse educator, public servant, and

Chief Nursing Officer 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 ...

(CNO) for the

Scottish Home and Health Department The Scottish Office was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1999, exercising a wide range of government functions in relation to Scotland under the control of the Secretary of State for Scotland. Following the es ...

(SHHD) 1970-76.Muriel Powell remembered : a profile of her life / by Elizabeth J.C. Scott ; foreword by Catherine McLoughlin. - British Library (bl.uk) Accessed 11/5/2022Nuttal , P. Powell, Dame Muriel Betty (1914–1978) Oxford National Dictionary of Biography. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/50777

Early life

Powell was born , lived and was educated in Cinderford, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.Scott EJ. Dame Muriel Powell (1914–1978): Role Model of a Hospital Matron and Leader of Nursing. Journal of Medical Biography. 2003 Feb;11(1):3-9.https://doi.org/10.1177/096777200301100104 She was the fourth of seven children of Annie (nee Stewart) and Wallace George Powell, a stonemason who set up a house building company. The family were committed members of the local

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church , where the vicar had previously been a chaplain at London at the Middlesex Hospital and

St. George's Hospital St George's Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Tooting, London. Founded in 1733, it is one of the UK's largest teaching hospitals and one of the largest hospitals in Europe. It is run by the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundatio ...

, when it was at Hyde Park Corner. Powell had decided to train as a nurse with a view to becoming a missionary in Africa and applied to St. George's Hospital , Hyde Park Corner , London on the advice of her vicar, the Reverend Gliddon.

Early Nursing Career

Powell entered trained at St. George's Hospital , London in 1934 and qualified as a

State Registered Nurse Nursing in the United Kingdom has a long history. The current form of nursing is often considered as beginning with Florence Nightingale who pioneered modern nursing. Nightingale initiated formal schools of nursing in the United Kingdom in the l ...

in 1936. She then undertook midwifery training at St. George's Hospital , London and in Gloucestershire , attaining her Registered Midwife qualification from the

Central Midwives Board Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

in mid-1939. She first worked at the emergency maternity hospital at Potslip Hall, Gloucestershire and ,on its closure, as a district nurse/midwife for a short time. Returning to London in 1940 she gained her Nurse Tutor Certificate from

Battersea College of Technology Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Bat ...

(1941) and Diploma in Nursing from University of London(1942). Powell was appointed sister tutor at Ipswich Borough General Hospital in 1943 and principal tutor at Manchester Royal Infirmary in1946. She joined the Royal College of Nursing in 1934.

Later Nursing Career

In 1947, aged 32, Powell became matron at

St George's Hospital St George's Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Tooting, London. Founded in 1733, it is one of the UK's largest teaching hospitals and one of the largest hospitals in Europe. It is run by the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundatio ...

, London. Her age reportedly "raised eyebrows" among the medical establishment, which deemed her too young for the position, but she proved her critics wrong and would remain there for 22 years. Powell was part of the government committee that recommended removal of the title "matron" from the National Health Service in 1968. The title has since been gradually reintroduced to the NHS lexicon. She was appointed Chief Nursing Officer in Scotland in 1970. However, it soon became clear that she suffered from dementia, and retired in 1976. She returned to Gloucestershire, where she died in a psychiatric hospital in 1978, aged 64.

Honours and awards

Muriel Powell was appointed In the Queen's Honors' list ,first, as a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1962 and then as a

Dame ''Dame'' is an honorific title and the feminine form of address for the honour of damehood in many Christian chivalric orders, as well as the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British honours system and those of several oth ...

(DBE) in 1968 for her services to nursing, and specifically her membership of the Salmon Committee and including her tenure as matron of St George's Hospital, London.

Legacy

The St George's Nurses League presents the Dame Muriel Powell Award to those who have made important contributions in the field of nursing.

References

Sources

*Thurgood, G. "Muriel Powell Remembered. A Profile of her Life", ''Journal of Nursing Management'' (July 2001) *Scott, Elizabeth J. C. "Dame Muriel Powell (1914-1978): role model of a hospital matron and leader of nursing". ''Journal of Medical Biography'', Royal Society of Medicine publication; (as per the NCBI).

External links

Famous nurses: Dame Muriel Powell Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Muriel (nurse) 1914 births 1978 deaths NHS Chief Professional Officers Civil servants in the Scottish Office Nurses from London British nursing administrators Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Place of death missing People educated at East Dean Grammar School People in health professions from Edinburgh