The District Nurse: A Pictorial History
By Susan Cohen
Pen & Sword, 152 pages, £14.99 If you have a district nurse in your family tree, then this new illustrated history by Susan Cohen is a must. It’s far more than a compilation of photographs with captions, because the text provides a comprehensive overview of district nursing over the past 150 years.
Known as Queen’s Nurses, district nurses provided real care in the community, tending to the poor in their own homes. The book explains how the service developed from its origins in working-class Liverpool in the 1860s through to providing school nursing, health visiting, midwifery and maternity services; it also highlights the work of Queen’s Nurses during the two world wars, and how they became an essential part of the National Health Service.
This well-researched book is highly readable and accessible, and the format makes it easy to dip in and out of. It uses wonderfully evocative images from the archive of the Queen’s Nursing Institute to show how the profession of district nursing has changed over the decades. The fascinating illustrations include images of the ever-evolving uniform and the various modes of transport used, together with photographs of the special challenges faced by Queen’s Nurses serving the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and in rural Ireland. A thoroughly absorbing read. Michelle Higgs is an author specialising in social history and family history