Joan Grigg
Edward Grigg | |
---|---|
Children | 3, including John |
Parent | (father) |
Joan Alice Katherine Grigg, Baroness Altrincham (
Life
Grigg was born in the country house called Hartham Park near Corsam in Wiltshire. She was the first and last child of Ann (born Beauclerk) and John Dickson-Poynder, 1st Baron Islington. Her father volunteered his time to a hospital and her mother took an interest in nursing.[1] In 1910, her father became Baron Islington and Governor of New Zealand.[2]
During the
In 1923 she married a Liberal Member of Parliament Edward Grigg.
Like her parents and building on her wartime experience she took an interest in hospitals in Kenya[1] (and this reflected well on her husband).[3] She disagreed with her husbands views of white rule. She found the social life at Government House in Nairobi dull although she was befriended by Karen Blixen who was then a Danish farmer (but who would in time write Out of Africa about her time in Kenya.)[1]
She decided she was going to do something and she created the Lady Grigg Welfare League and the Lady Grigg Maternity' in 1926 (or 1927) in Pumwani.[4] She intended to create nursing and midwifery services to Kenyans irrespective of their race. That same year the league funded a welfare home for Arab and African children in Mombasa. The facility in Pumwani in Nairobi was also known as the African Maternity and Child Welfare Hospital and Training Centre. She wrote a letter to The Times which attracted donations but may were earmarked for European hospitals. The league had created hostel facilities for trainee nurses for Europeans, but had also established welfare facilities for Indians and importantly maternity facilities for Africans. African women could have difficult and sometimes fatal births to female circumcision which was practised at that time.[1]
Death and legacy
Grigg died in Tormarton Court.[1] The Maternity unit she founded in Nairobi is now much expanded and is called the Pumwani Maternity Hospital.[4]
Private life
She married the politician Edward Grigg.[5]
They had three children:
- John Edward Poynder Grigg, 2nd Baron Altrincham (15 April 1924 – 31 December 2001), a journalist and author
- Hon. Annabel Desirée Grigg, (b. 19 November 1931),
- Anthony Ulrick David Dundas Grigg, 3rd Baron Altrincham (b. 12 January 1934).
References
- ^ . Retrieved 2021-01-24.
- . Retrieved 2021-01-24.
- ^ . Retrieved 2021-01-24.
- ^ a b "Pumwani Maternity Hospital | Nairobi City County". 2019-07-02. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
- ^ "Joan Alice Katherine (née Dickson-Poynder), Lady Altrincham; Edward William Macleay Grigg, 1st Baron Altrincham - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 2021-01-24.