Stories from Hospitals Back Home during the First World War (hybrid)
Part of the Shining a Light: A History of Nursing Support Workers: Exhibition
29 Apr 2025, 17:30 - 20:00
Choose event information:
Join our panel of speakers for an evening of talks exploring how in the First World War, volunteers provided nurses with vital support as they cared for sick and wounded soldiers in hospitals back home.
Join us in person to enjoy free refreshments and a chance to look around the ‘Shining a Light: A History of Nursing Support Workers’ exhibition alongside drop-in activities and talks from 6pm-7.30pm. Join online from 6-7.30pm.
If you are joining online you will need access to the internet via a computer or smart phone.
In the First World War, volunteers provided trained nurses with vital support as they cared for sick and wounded soldiers. Known as Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs), they trained for just 6 weeks in first aid, home nursing and hygiene as well as cooking. VADs faced real risks, working close to the battlefields as well as in hospitals back home. They took on a wide range of duties including nursing, administrative tasks, cooking and ambulance driving. Join event chair Professor of Nursing Nicola Ring and our speakers for a fascinating evening of talks exploring the experience of women who ‘stayed behind’ providing care at military hospitals back home.
Speakers include:
- Exploring the unique magazine created by Agatha Christie which gives a vivid insight into the resilience and camaraderie of volunteers at a time of national emergency in their roles as Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs), hear from Ewan O’Neill, Archivist at The British Psychoanalytical Society Archive. Never previously displayed, until this RCN exhibition in London and now in Edinburgh, and on view during the event, the handmade magazine created by a young Agatha Christie when she was a volunteer providing nursing support in the First World War, is on loan from the British Psychoanalytical Society Archive.
- With images and stories from the archives about caring for sick and wounded soldiers in hospitals back home including in the rehabilitation of soldiers at Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh, hear from Dr Alison O’Donnell, on nursing support work during the First World War. Previously an elected member of the Royal College of Nursing History of Nursing Steering Committee, including interim Chair, Alison has helped curate and design exhibitions related to the history collections of the forums within the Royal College of Nursing. Alison volunteers with the RCN Archives, and the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland awarded Alison a Fellowship in recognition of her work in nursing history.
- Event chair, Nicola Ring is a Professor of Nursing in the School of Health and Social Care at Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland. After working in hospital practice (adult and child nursing) and in the community as a health visitor, Nicola moved into nursing education. She is an experienced health researcher however, her absolute passion, is the history of nursing – using evidence from our profession’s past to better understand nursing today.
Drop in activities at the event include:
- Show and Tell showcasing nursing support work during the First World War through objects from the RCN Archives.
- Add your reflections on nursing support work to our creative question panel.
‘Shining a Light: A History of Nursing Support Workers’ exhibition explores the history of nursing support work – from Victorian asylums and wartime volunteers to nursing assistants and care workers today, uncovering the long history and diversity of nursing support work. The exhibition is open for visitors Mondays to Thursdays 10 – 4pm until 29 May 2025.
This event is open to all.
If you have any questions or accessibility needs, please contact us on scotland.library@rcn.org.uk or 0131 662 6163.
Read the full terms and conditions for our events here.
Find out more about the RCN Scotland Nursing Support Worker of the Year Award and Nurse of the Year Awards with nominations for our 2025 awards season now open
scotland.library@rcn.org.uk
RCN Scotland Headquarters (Edinburgh)
42 South Oswald Road
Edinburgh
EH9 2HH
2.5 miles from Edinburgh Waverley Station
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Page last updated - 29/10/2024
