Find Ancestors

hi

I am trying to find out more about this lady who was a friend of my mother.
All I know is that she qualified as a State Registered Nurse (SRN) at St Mary's, Portsmouth in 1942 - I have her nursing badge.

Any ideas ?

Look for a possible birth...........follow through on it

The only UK birth with a matching name is this:
Sep 1889 Simmons Constance Adelaide Dartford 2a 450
however that would put her at 53 when qualifying as a nurse i.e. this record is unlikely to be a match.

If not adopted, she might have been a young widow.

Subsequent marriages?

First Name CONSTANCE A
Last Name SIMMONS
Gender Female
Year 1955
Spouse HUGHES
Image Quarter 4
Country England
County Shropshire
District WELLINGTON (SHROPSHIRE)
Page 512
Line Number 32

To David S Hughes
............

Also a 1975 Kensington marriage to a person carrying the Simmons surname - if a younger generation, they may be still living

So you haven't considered the 1913 birth in Portsmouth?

Marriages Mar 1910 (>99%)

SHEPHERD Adelaide Victoria Brentford 3a 233
SIMMONS Charles Morris Brentford 3a 233

1911 census

Person: SIMMONS, Adelade Address: 69 Cardiff Road North Derby Road North End Portsmouth Hampshire

SEXTON, Charles Head Married M 30 1881 Engine Smith E R A London Pimlico VIEW
SEXTON, Margaret Wife Married6 years F 29 1882 Hants Portsmouth VIEW
SEXTON, Margaret Daughter F 3 1908 Hants Portsmouth VIEW
JEAN, John Watson Boarder Single M 22 1889 Fitter E R A Jersey St Heliers VIEW
SIMMONS, Adelade Boarder Married ONE YEAR F 24 1887 London Bermondsey VIEW

Death

Name: SIMMONS, Adelaide Victoria
Registration district: Portsmouth
County: Hampshire
Year of registration: 1969
Quarter of registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
Date of Birth:24 May 1886
Volume no: 6B
Page no: 1127

2 Constance A Simmons births more recent than the 1889 one shown. I should think that the 1913 one in Portsmouth suggested by Reggie looks a good bet (though not certain) if she trained in Portsmouth and the Edmonton birth probably married in Edmonton

Civil Registration event: Birth

Name: SIMMONS, Constance A
Registration district: Edmonton
County: Middlesex
Year of registration: 1911
Quarter of registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
Mother's maiden name: Nelson
Volume no: 3A
Page no: 1099

Civil Registration event: Marriage

MarriageFinder: Constance A Simmons married Reginald A Warner
Name: SIMMONS, Constance A
Registration district: Edmonton
County: Middlesex
Year of registration: 1932
Quarter of registration: Jan-Feb-Mar
Spouse's last name: Warner
Volume no: 3A
Page no: 1268


Civil Registration event: Birth

Name: SIMMONS, Constance A
Registration district: Portsmouth
County: Hampshire
Year of registration: 1913
Quarter of registration: Oct-Nov-Dec
Mother's maiden name: Shepherd
Volume no: 2B
Page no: 650

If Detectives marriage is correct, and the 1913 birth is also correct, then there is this possible death
Civil Registration event: Death

Name: HUGHES, Constance A
Registration district: Birmingham
County: Warwickshire
Year of registration: 1962
Quarter of registration: Jan-Feb-Mar
Age at death: 49
Volume no: 9C
Page no: 866

A female child born 1957, Wellington, Shropshire - same RD as the Hughes/Simmons marriage. If the 1913 birth, then Mum would have been 44 ish at the time.

mmmm ... I thought this would be easy.

There is also a Constance Adelaide Simmons Wigley from Oz who was a nurse and may have been in the UK 1937-

I guess I shall have to see what archives the hospital has. It has been demolished and replaced with new buildings which usually means a hunt for the archives.

thank you for your suggestions

I think that at that time all nurses had to be registered with the General Nursing Council.

This is the current site for them which would not show anything in a search going back that far but it may be an aidea to contact them and see if they can point you in the right direction for old records?

http://www.nmc-uk.org/

Best of luck,

Dea Xxx

You said initially that she 'qualified in 1942'.....are you now saying that your statement was not accurate?

The GNC national registration scheme was not in effect in 1942 - there was no national health service,

The details for C.A.S. qualification as a nurse are certain - as I have said I have her nursing badge hallmarked in sterling silver 1942.

I am following up the various suggestions.

Buying the 1913 birth cert would seem to be the simplest solution

Perhaps I have misunderstood but I believe that there was voluntary registration on force during the late 1800's but around 1919 the Nurses Registration Act was finally passed and Registration then came into force??

1905-1920

National Council of Nurses formed.
The First World War results in large numbers of unmarried women, many of whom devote their lives to nursing.
College of Nursing founded in 1915. (See entries on Cooper Perry and Royal College of Nursing)
1919 sees the Nurses Registration Act and the establishment of the Ministry of Health.[2]

The pressure for state registration grew throughout the 1890s but was undermined by disagreements within the profession over the desired form and purpose of the regulatory system. In 1902, the Midwives Registration Act established the state regulation of midwives and, two years later, a House of Commons Select Committee was established to consider the registration of nurses.

The committee reported in 1904 and set out a detailed and persuasive case for registration. However, the government sat on the report and took no action. Over the next decade, a number of private member's bills to establish regulation were introduced but all failed to achieve significant support in Parliament.

The First World War provided the final impetus to the establishment of nursing regulation, partly because of the specific contribution made by nurses to the war effort and also as a reflection of the increased contribution of women more generally in society. The College of Nursing (later the Royal College of Nursing) was established in 1916 and three years later persuaded a backbench Member of Parliament (MP), Major Richard Barnett, to introduce a private members bill to establish a regulatory system. The bill was finally passed in December 1919 and separate Nurses Registration Acts were passed for England/Wales, Scotland and Ireland, which was still part of the United Kingdom at the time. These acts established the General Nursing Council for England and Wales and the other bodies which survived intact until the legislative changes in 1979 which were to create the UKCC and the National Boards of Nursing. Ethel Gordon Fenwick was the first nurse on the English register.

Dea x

EDIT:
1919 – The UK passes the Nursing Act of 1919, which provides for registration of nurses, but it will not become effective until 1923

Dea x

Apparently these registers are available at National Archives in Kew:

The Nurses Registration Act of 1919 ended many years of conflict within the profession, and for the first time set standards for training, examination, and registration. From 1922 the General Nursing Council produced a yearly register of all trained nurses who had satisfied them that they had reached the required standard for admission, and copies of these registers for England and Wales are available to view at The National Archives, Kew, in class DT10. They give details of all women admitted to the Register and who had notified them of their continuing wish to practice by the September of the year prior to that of publication. The early registers give:

Number on the Register
Surname
Forenames
Permanent home address
Training hospital with dates and qualification obtained

As a condition of the Nurses Registration Act 1919, many existing nurses were entered on the first registers, although they did not comply with the strict conditions of training that were enforced later. This means that many women who trained as early as 1890 are on the register of nurses, as long as they were still active in nursing in 1922.

For information about the location of Registers for nurses registered in Scotland or Ireland, and several other sources related to nurses, see the Royal College of Nursing site here:

Royal College of Nursing - Tracing Nurses


Dea x

Dea...Couldnt have written it better myself...!

Rollo...When you say you have her "Nursing Badge" is it her Registration Badge...(should have her Reg No.on the back) or her Hospital Badge...?


Records for St Marys are held at Portsmouth Museums and Records Office.
According to the Welcome Library they include Staff records.

Thank you Erin! - Let's just hope that Rollo comes back and follows it through! ;-)

There is lots of info out there - One useful site is :

http://www.scarletfinders.co.uk/7.html

It is extremely useful for WW1 nurses but has lots of advice and links to later ways to track down nurses details.

A particularly good one is the British Journal of Nursing searchable through that site.

Dea Xxx