Catherine Black (nurse)

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Catherine Black
Nurse
InstitutionsRoyal London Hospital
Sub-specialtiesField hospital nursing

Catherine Black, MBE, RRC, SRN (12 June 1878– 7 October 1949), also known as "Blackie", served in World War I and was the private nurse to King George V.

Family and early life

Catherine Black was born on 12 June 1878 in Ramelton, County Donegal in Ardeen House on the outskirts of the town.[1][2] Her father was a linen draper with a prosperous shop in the town.[3][4] Black went to Royal London Hospital to train as a nurse, and it was whilst there that she became friends with Edith Cavell.[5]

World War I service

Black was working as a private nurse in Royal London Hospital when the outbreak of

Poperinghe, Belgium, and subsequently went on to serve at the 41st Stationary Hospital at Sailly-Lorette, nursing soldiers with self-inflicted wounds. She was moved to the No. 5 General Hospital in Rouen and various other clearing stations until the end of the war.[6]

King George V

Sister Black was the private nurse of King George V from 1928 until his death in 1936.[1] She began her service in late 1928 following a serious bout of illness for the King.[7] Black was made permanent in 1930; she was given her own chambers within Buckingham Palace.[8] She was known as "Blackie" to the members of the royal family.

Black objected to the actions of the King's doctor Lord Dawson of Penn in administering a lethal combination of morphine and cocaine to hasten the King's death.[9][10][11] The King's final words, "God damn you!", were addressed to Black as she gave him a sedative on the night before his death.[9]

Later life

Black wrote of her life in the Palace in her autobiography King's Nurse, Beggar's Nurse, in which she also recounted her childhood in Donegal,[12] nursing in Australia, as well as her service in WWI.[1] In reflecting on the experiences of nurses in the war, Black recounted "you went into [a casualty-clearing station] young and light-hearted. You came out older than any span of years could make you."[13]

She died on 7 October 1949 in London.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Catherine Black". Ramelton. Archived from the original on 27 February 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  2. ^ a b "1916 Education Study Pack" (PDF). Donegal County Council. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  3. ^ "Nurse Catherine Black writes about her childhood in Ramelton in the late 1800s From her book 'King's Nurse, Beggar's Nurse'". Ramelton Tidy Towns. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  4. ^ "Life story: Catherine Black, RRC Mvo Mbe | Lives of the First World War".
  5. ISBN 9781473845275
    .
  6. ^
    ISBN 9781851097708
    .
  7. ISBN 9781442236561
    .
  8. ^ "History". Ardeen House. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  9. ^
    PMID 11645856
  10. PMID 11644545
    (Subscription required)
  11. ISBN 9780297867821
    .
  12. ^ "Catherine Black". Ramelton Tidy Towns. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  13. ^ "1918 The Great War: Quotations". 1918: Ireland and the Great War. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
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