Nursing & Midwifery

Dame Mary Rosalind Paget, 1855-1948

Display No. 42

Dame Mary Rosalind Paget was a campaigner for midwife registration and was the first superintendent of the Queen’s Jubilee Institute for District Nursing, later to become the Queen’s Nursing Institute.

She was the great-granddaughter of William Rathbone and a keen supporter of women’s suffrage; in July 1908, she led 20 members in a suffrage procession under a banner dedicated to Florence Nightingale.

Rosalind Paget, portrait and certificate, 29th October 1903. Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY 4.0

Nursing: portraits and uniforms. Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY 4.0

Florence Nightingale Banner by Mary Lowndes , 1908 © The Women’s Library

Exhibits from ‘Nursing & Midwifery’.

Discover the 200 Exhibits

Nightingale is respected worldwide for her pioneering role in developing the nursing profession, her statistical work, and her evidence-based approach to healthcare. In honour of her bicentenary the World Health Organisation have named 2020 the Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

In our special exhibition, you will find out about objects, people and places which tell interesting stories about Florence’s life and legacy. You’ll discover artefacts from her life, people she both inspired and challenged, and places she helped to shape. There’s many more insights too!

Please click on the different sections of her famous coxcomb diagram to explore various aspects of her life and legacy. We hope you enjoy exploring!