Icons of nursing: extended biographies

This story supports the feature 'Icons of nursing' published in the January 2012 issue of RCN Bulletin.

Dame Catherine Hall FRCN, DBE (1922-1996)
Transformational RCN General Secretary 1957-82

Hall trained at the Leeds General Infirmary (1941-44) and rose to the position of assistant matron there before studying nurse teaching and administration in North America. On her return she was assistant matron of the Middlesex Hospital, London, before her appointment as General Secretary of the RCN in 1957.

During the next 25 years she transformed the College from an all female organisation with a membership of 30,000 general trained nurses into a powerful trade union with over 200,000 nurses of all levels. She made the RCN more democratic and open, replacing the traditional branches standing committee with the professional Congress.

Although nurses were awarded record pay rises during Hall’s leadership, her vision for nursing went further than pay, she wanted nursing to be a powerful professional group. She worked with the medical profession to set up the Joint Board of Clinical Nursing Studies, of which she was vice-chair (1970-80).

Her expertise and status was recognised by the government and they appointed her a member of the committee of enquiry into the regulation of the medical profession (1975-77) and she was the first nurse to serve on the General Medical Council (1979-89). Other appointments included Vice-chair of the staff side of the Nurses and Midwives Whitley Council, member of the Commission on Industrial Relations (1971-74), and a member of the World Health Organisation’s expert panel on nursing (1963-83).

From 1980-85 she was the first chair of the new UK Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting.

Dame Elizabeth Cockayne DBE (1894- 1988)
First Chief Nursing Officer 1948-58

Cockayne started her nursing career in Plymouth in 1912 where she trained in fever nursing. She continued with general training at Sheffield Royal Infirmary and midwifery at Birmingham Maternity Hospital, later moved into nurse teaching, and was appointed matron of the West London Hospital in 1923.

In 1936 she became matron of the Royal Free Hospital and held this post throughout the second world war, displaying calm and courage even when buried under rubble. During this time she took on the additional roles of examiner to the nurse training schools of the London County Council and of nurse inspector of munitions factories.

In 1945 she was appointed a member of the government working party on the recruitment and training of nurses (chaired by Sir Robert Wood), which produced a radical report recommending that nurse training be shortened to two years by removing the amount of domestic work in the training. She was appointed first chief nursing officer in the National Health Service and was very successful in ensuring that the nursing voice was heard at policy-making level, not always easy in a time when civil servants and doctors considered they could speak for nurses.

During her career she was a founder member of the RCN Sister Tutor Section, a leading member of the Association of Hospital Matrons, and in her retirement she was an adviser to the World Health Organisation. She was awarded the Florence Nightingale medal by the International Red Cross committee in Geneva.

Trevor Clay FRCN CBE (1936-1994)
RCN General Secretary 1982-89

Trevor left school without qualifications and, after a short time as a trainee salesman, he trained as a nurse at Nuneaton General Hospital in 1954, at a time when few men were accepted for general training. He continued his training as a mental nurse and then started his career as a staff nurse at Guy’s Hospital, in 1960. Clay rose rapidly in the profession and soon moved into administration, by 1974 he was area nursing officer for Camden and Islington Area Health Authority.

In 1979 he was appointed deputy general secretary to Catherine Hall and when she retired in 1982 he was appointed general secretary of the RCN. The 1980s were a turbulent time for the health service and although Clay had a relatively short time as General Secretary (1982-89), he had a high public profile.

He was an enthusiastic trade unionist but believed that the RCN’s no-strike policy was the right one for nurses. After a bitter pay dispute, when the other health service unions threatened and in some cases did strike, the government rewarded the RCN by the appointment of an independent pay review body for nurses. Further struggles involved the introduction of general management (Griffiths report) and a clinical grading structure for nurses.
Clay’s last achievement before he retired was the appointment, in 1984, of the RCN Commission on Nursing Education, chaired by Harry Judge. The report recommended the transfer of nursing education into higher education and paved the way for Project 2000. 

Clay took early retirement in 1989, realising that he was losing his long struggle with emphysema. During his time in office RCN membership rose from 200,000 to 280,000.  His short retirement was devoted to working for his fellow emphysema sufferers.

Monica Baly FRCN (1914-1998)
PMRAFNS 1942-45, RCN Officer 1952-76, Nurse Historian

Baly started her nursing career at Brook Hospital, London, training as a fever nurse and continued with general nursing at the Middlesex Hospital, becoming a registered nurse in 1937.

She joined Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service and served overseas for three years (1942-45), working in a burns unit treating airmen in Italy, for which she was mentioned in dispatches. On her return she trained and worked as a health visitor (1946-47).

She was seconded to the Foreign Office as chief nursing officer for displaced persons in the British zone in Germany (1948-50), where she started a public health training programme for German nurses. In 1952 she joined the staff of the RCN as one of the first area Officers with sole responsibility for the south-western region. During her 24 years with the RCN she was one of the key officers in the College’s most successful pay campaigns in the late 1960s and early ‘70s.

When she retired in 1974 she became a writer and historian, publishing over five books on nursing and nursing history. She was the founder of the RCN History of Nursing Society (1983) and the chair and editor of the Society’s journal for many years. She left £10,000 to the RCN for the establishment of a scholarship in history of nursing. BA (History) 1979, PhD 1984.

Lisbeth Hockey FRCN OBE (1918-2004)
Pioneer researcher of nursing in the community

Born in Austria, Hockey came to England in 1938 to escape the Nazis. She trained as a nurse at the London Hospital and from the start was critical of nursing practices which were based on traditions rather than evidence.

She trained as a district nurse, health visitor and midwife and in 1962 she was appointed by the Queen’s Institute to survey district nursing in London. While carrying out this work she took a degree in economics and produced her first publication ‘Feeling the Pulse’ (1966), which showed that the role of district nurses was misunderstood and that there was little or no communication between the hospital and the community.

She promoted the concept of primary care and the need for an integrated health service. In 1971 Hockey was appointed Director of the Nursing Research Unit at the University of Edinburgh which was her base until her retirement in 1982. Her research and publications were many and she acted as a nurse consultant at home and abroad, always setting a high standard for nursing research.

She received several honorary doctorates from the universities in the UK and overseas.  She was made an honorary fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners in recognition of her work to promote co-operation between general practice and nursing in the community. She was awarded the Queen’s Nursing Institute Gold Medal of Honour and she was an active member of the RCN for many years including during her retirement.