Purple plaque to pioneering nurse
A PRESTIGIOUS Purple Plaque is to be unveiled today for a “pioneering and courageous” nurse and a champion of her profession who grew up in Abertillery and went on to become one of the first British nurses to volunteer to help the wounded in the Spanish Civil War.
The plaque for Thora Silverthorne, outside Abertillery Museum, is the ninth under the Purple Plaques scheme. The scheme aims to mark the often unsung achievements of women from Wales and to help tell their inspiring stories to the next generation.
Miner’s daughter Ms Silverthorne spent her early life in Abertillery. Her father, an NUM official, was sacked after the General Strike of 1926 forcing the family to leave Wales as he sought new work. Her family are proud of their roots and they are “absolutely thrilled” to be able to attend the unveiling in Thora’s hometown.
Daughter Lucy Craig, said: “I’m so excited – and proud – that my mother is being honoured. She was born in the town and lived there for the first 17 years of her life – years in which the culture and values of
Wales had a profound impact on her. Her lifelong socialist beliefs were honed not just by her very politically aware family, but by that wider community.”
Sue Essex, chair of Purple Plaques Wales, said: “After training as a nurse at the Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, Thora courageously volunteered to go to Spain with other British medic. Not only this, but on her return to the UK, Thora went on to found the first truly grassroots union for nurses, the Association of Nurses, which was only the second nurses’ organisation in Britain.”