Mona Grey

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Mona Elizabeth Clara Grey

FRCN (24 September 1910 – 27 May 2009) was a British nurse who was named Northern Ireland's first Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) in 1960.[1]

Mona Elizabeth Clara Grey

Born1910
Died2009
OccupationNurse leader
EmployerRoyal College of Nursing Department of Health (Northern Ireland)

Biography

Grey was born and raised in

Bombay. There, her sister died of tuberculosis.[2]

She prepared to be a teacher at

Murree Hills. In the 1930s she moved to London, looking for a teaching post, and in 1933 she took a job at Royal London, then known as London Hospital.[2] It was there that she decided to become a nurse.[3] Whilst at London Hospital she also qualified as a midwife.[1]

Grey subsequently played a significant role in restructuring its health services in Northern Ireland. In 1960, she was appointed chief nursing officer in

University of Ulster, and received an honorary doctorate from the university in 1999. She died in Holywood, County Down on 27 May 2009 aged 98.[2]

Royal College of Nursing

In 1946 Grey was tasked by the Royal College of Nursing to establish a Northern Irish branch. As part of this she undertook a number of fundraising efforts to pay for an office for the college, including writing plays and pageants for fundraising performances in the 1950s, and persuading the Governor of Northern Ireland Baron Wakehurst to allow the holding of a charitable event at Hillsborough Castle.[1]

Grey was the first salaried secretary of the RCN in Northern Ireland and served as leader of the college prior to her appointment as CNO. She was appointed an OBE in the 1952 New Year Honours. She was appointed Honorary Vice-president of the RCN in 1996 and Fellow of the RCN in 2004.[4]

Awards and honours

Legacies

  • The Mona Grey Endowment Fund (Queen's University Belfast)
  • The Mona Grey Prize (Manchester University)
  • The Sarah Thewlis Good Citizen Award[5]
  • The Mona Grey Scholarship (London South Bank University)

References

  1. ^
    independent.co.uk
    . Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 31 March 2020. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help
    )
  3. . Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  4. ^ Ford, Steve (30 May 2009). "Tributes paid to Northern Ireland's first CNO". Nursing Times. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  5. ^ Sarah Thewlis Good Citizen Award profile, suttonguardian.co.uk; accessed 5 July 2015.

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