[NV027] : Elizabeth at St George's 1955-1965


Group Photo Elizabeth: St. George's 1955-1965 Click photo to read and listen to her story

Elizabeth was born in March 1937 in Wiltshire. Her parents moved to Guildford where she was educated at Guildford County Grammar School for Girls and did O-levels but not A-levels.

One of the governors of St. George’s knew her father and she decided to apply there. Her mother took her up to the interview by train. The interview was conducted by an Assistant Matron. She started at St. George’s in May 1955, aged 18. She had always wanted to be a nurse. Her cousin was Matron at a chest hospital in Leicester. St. George’s nurses used to be called 'The girls in green.'

Elizabeth worked on Grosvenor Ward, a male GU ward, with Mr. Wicks. It was unknown in those days, to have a male Sister. They worked a 48-hour week, with never more than a half-day off at weekends (on Sunday).

She, and colleagues, got a flat in the third year, although the still had free lunches and coffee when on duty. They travelled by bike from Fulham to Tooting. Because they were all three at different hospitals, they had to live in a location that was a similar distance from Hyde Park Corner, Tooting and Wimbledon. There was less traffic then and the bike journey to Tooting used to take about 15-20 minutes.

Elizabeth got her blue dress on Keats Ward, a female medical ward at Tooting. It was a heavy ward, but always a happy ward, which had a very nice, happy Sister. She later worked on Edward Wilson Ward and Ward 17. Ward 17 was a tiny little adult ward, which had German measles and Chicken Pox.

She went to work at Atkinson Morely Hospital which she didn’t like. She hated doing tube-feeds and she had none of her friends with her. After a hard day’s work, she had no colleagues to talk with and take comfort from. She remembers going into theatre and holding a patient’s head while they were doing bur-holes. She also remembers the hypothermia. This was around 1957.

Elizabeth spent one Christmas at the Haughton Hospital in Epsom towards the end of her third year. They all went together as friends. The nurses had to walk around the wards with a bunch of keys. St. George’s weren’t always popular with the other nursing staff, who frequently saw them as snooty Londoners, but they invariably received good responses from the patients.

Elizabeth felt the experiences at Epsom gave the St. George’s nurses an insight into mental illness, how to recognise psychiatric disorder and not to be afraid of it, which was very relevant to their training.

She returned to St. George’s as a Sister. She stayed for a fortnight in the Sisters’ home, where she had a pleasant en suite room before moving into a nearby flat.

She missed doing deliveries, which were then done by medical students, so she decided to go and work at Dorchester Hospital as a Sister for eight months with a friend who was also a St. George’s nurse, where they did deliveries. During the six months before she got married, she transferred to the Royal Surrey Hospital at Guildford.

To read & listen to Elizabeth's experiences whilst at St George's please click on Elizabeth's Story