First World War Head Nurse Honoured with a Blue Plaque
25 Jun 2014 04:25 PM
Dame Maud McCarthy, has
been honoured with an English Heritage Blue Plaque at her former home in
Chelsea, London.
Australian-born Maud McCarthy
(1858-1949) was an army Matron-in-Chief on the Western Front during the First
World War. She was responsible for the entire nursing operation on the Western
Front, from the English Channel to the Mediterranean. By the end of the war,
she was in charge of over 6,000 British, Commonwealth and American
nurses.
Minister for The First World War
Centenary, Helen Grant said:
“It is almost impossible
to imagine the task that Dame Maud McCarthy faced during the First World War.
The scale of the challenge confronting her, and the calm determination and good
sense she brought to it, can only be seen as heroic. So it is entirely right
that her home in London should be marked with an English Heritage blue plaque,
and all the more so for it to happen this year, the centenary of the outbreak
of the war that saw her finest hour.”
Florence Nightingale
(1820-1910), Mary Seacole (1805-1881) and Edith Cavell (1865-1915) are among
the other nurses to have received London Blue Plaques from English Heritage in
recognition of their achievements and their association with buildings in the
capital.
Further
Information