List of nurses explained

This is a list of famous nurses in history. To be listed here, the nurse must already have a Wiki biography article. For background information see History of nursing and Timeline of nursing history. For nurses in art, film and literature see list of fictional nurses.

A-D

• Lady Harriet Acland (1750–1815), British noblewoman
• Saint Alda (died c. 1309), Italian Catholic saint
• Moyra Allen (1921–1996), helped develop the McGill Model of Nursing
• Allen Allensworth (1842–1914) famous African-American American Civil War soldier who started as a nurse
• Sir Jonathan Asbridge, first president of the UK's Nursing and Midwifery Council
• Charles Atangana (1880–1943), paramount chief of the Ewondo and Bane in Cameroon
• Martha Ballard (1735–1812), American frontier midwife, great-aunt of Clara Barton
• Nita Barrow (1916–1995), 5th Governor-General of Barbados who started as a nurse midwife and public health educator
• Clara Barton (1821–1912), organized the American Red Cross
• Christine Beasley CBE (born 1944), Chief Nursing Officer for England
• Irene L. Beland (1906–2000), American nursing educator, author of Clinical Nursing: Pathophysiological and Psychosocial Approaches
• Ann A. Bernatitus (1912–2003), one of the Angels of Bataan - USN nurses in the Philippines in WW2
• Claire Bertschinger Swiss-British nurse who inspired the Band Aid charity movement
• Mary Ann Bickerdyke (1817–1901), nurse during the American Civil War known as "Mother Bickerdyke"
• Florence Blake (1907–1983), American pediatric nursing professor and author
• Florence A. Blanchfield (1884–1971), superintendent of the United States Army Nurse Corps
• Cecilia Blomqvist (1845–1890), Finnish deaconess
• Kath Bonnin (1911 – 1985) was an Australian army nurse during WW2
• Angela Boškin (1885–1977), first professionally trained Slovenian nurse and social worker in Yugoslavia
• Hilda Bowen (1923–2002), credited with establishing the modern nursing profession in The Bahamas
• Jo Brand (born 1957), British nurse-turned-comedian
• Elsa Brändström (1888–1948), Swedish World War I Red Cross nurse in Siberia
• Mary Carson Breckinridge (1881–1965), founder of the Frontier Nursing Service
• Vera Brittain (1893–1970), WWI nurse
• Mary Francis Bridgeman (1813–1888), nun and Crimean War nurse
• Ellen Johanne Broe (1900–1994) Danish nurse and nursing educator
• Anna Broms (1862–1890), first professionally trained nurse in Finland
• Viola Davis Brown (1936–2017), first African-American to lead a state office of public health nursing in the United States
• Abraão José Bueno (born 1977), Brazilian nurse and serial killer
• Carrie E. Bullock (1887–1962), African American nurse
• Vivian Bullwinkel (1915–2000), lone survivor of the Banka Island Massacre, celebrated by the Australian Service Nurses Memorial
• Elizabeth Burchill (1904–2003) was an Australian nurse, philanthropist and author
• Betsi Cadwaladr (1789–1860), Welsh nurse who worked alongside Florence Nightingale in the Crimea
• Amanda Cajander, (1827–1871), pioneer in the education of deaconesses and nursing in Finland
• Maude E. Callen (1898–1990), American 20th century nurse-midwife
• John Campbell, British nurse, nursing educator, and YouTuber
• Vice Admiral Richard Carmona (born 1949), Surgeon General of the United States
• Dr Peter Carter OBE, British nurse and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing
• Anne Casey, New Zealand-born pediatric British nurse who developed Casey's model of nursing
• Edith Cavell (1865–1915), heroine of World War I
• Maria Cederschiöld (deaconess) (1815–1892), pioneer in the education of deaconesses and nursing in Sweden
• Ellen Christensen (1913–1998), Danish nurse and resistance fighter
• Luther Christman (1915–2011), first male dean of a U.S. nursing program; established the Rush model of nursing
• Dame June Clark (born 1941), Professor at University of Swansea
  • Louise Conring (1824–1891), first professionally trained nurse in Denmark, head of Copenhagen's Deaconess Institute Lady Diana Cooper, prominent social figure in London and Paris, widely acknowledged as the beauty of the century
• Cubah Cornwallis (died 1848), Jamaican nurse and "doctoress" who treated Nelson and William IV when they were stationed in the West Indies
• Paul Crawford (born 1963), pioneer of the field of health humanities
• Evelyn May Cridlan (1889–1961), British nurse and ambulance driver in the First World War
• Harriet Patience Dame (1815–1900), nurse during the American Civil War, served with the 2nd New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry
• Grace Ebun Delano (born 1935), pioneer of reproductive health services in Nigeria
• Jane Delano (1862–1919), founder of the American Red Cross Nursing Service
• Maria de Villegas de Saint-Pierre (1870–1941) founded the Saint-Camille Nursing School and directed the Élisabeth Hospital in Poperinge during World War I
• Edith DeVoe (1921–2000) 1st African-American nurse to serve in the regular Navy, World War II and Korean War nurse
• Marion Dewar (1928–2008), mayor of Ottawa and a member of the Parliament
• Louise Dietrich (1878–1962), suffragist and nurse in Texas
• Dorothea Dix (1802–1887), superintendent of Army Nurses during the American Civil War
• Josephine Dolan (1913–2004), nursing historian and educator at the University of Connecticut
• Mary Donaldson, Baroness Donaldson of Lymington (1921–2003), Lord Mayor of London
• Sister Dora (1832–1878), British 19th century nurse
• Ellen Dougherty (1844–1919), first professionally trained Registered Nurse in New Zealand
• Rosalie Dreyer (1895–1987) Swiss-born, naturalized British nurse and administrator who led the conversion from a volunteer service to the profession of nursing in Britain
• Lucy Lincoln Drown (1848–1934), American nursing educator
• Diane Duane (born 1952) American science fiction and fantasy author
• Lois Dunbar (fl. 1861–1864), American Civil War nurse
• Anka Đurović (1850–1925), Serbian nurse in the first Serbian-Turkish War, the Bulgarian-Serbian War, the First Balkan War, the Second Balkan War, and World War I.

E-L

• Sarah Emma Edmundson (1841–1898), Canadian-American author who served with the Union Army in the American Civil War
• Alice Gordon Elliott OBE (1886–1977), Australian nurse and community worker
• Victoria Joyce Ely (1889-1979), Florida's first licensed midwife. Conducted training programs for midwives in the state
• Queen Fabiola of Belgium (1928–2014), worked as a floor nurse in Spain before being crowned Queen of Belgium
• Saint Fabiola (died 399), Catholic saint who cared for the sick and poor
• Helen Fairchild (1885–1918), World War I nurse
• Florence Farmborough (1887–1978), British nurse who kept diaries of her service during World War I as a Red Cross nurse with the Imperial Russian army
• Ainna Fawcett-Henesy, former Regional Adviser on Nursing and Midwifery for Europe for WHO
• Ethel Gordon Fenwick (1856–1947), British nurse who campaigned for a law limiting nursing to "registered" nurses only
• Erna Flegel (1911–2006), Adolf Hitler's nurse
• Alma E. Foerster (1885–1967), American nurse who served in World War I, received the Florence Nightingale Medal (1920) and then worked in the United States Public Health Service
• Edna Lois Foley (1878–1943), American nurse
• Elizabeth Warham Forster (1886–1972), American nurse who served the Navajo Nation and advocated for their retention of traditional medicine practices
• Edith de Magalhães Fraenkel (1889-1969), Brazilian nurse
• Michiko Fujiwara (1900–1983), Japanese nurse who later became a politician
• Genevieve de Galard (1925–2024), French nurse during the French war in Indochina
• Nelly Garzón Alarcón (1932–2019), Colombian nurse, teacher; first Latin American nurse to be president of the International Council of Nurses
• Eliza George (1808–1865), American Civil War nurse
• Abigail Hopper Gibbons (1801–1893), abolitionist activist during the American Civil War
• Helen L. Gilson (1836–1868), American Civil War nurse
• Stella Goostray (1886–1969), American nurse, author and educator
• Marjory Gordon, nursing theorist and professor who created a nursing assessment theory known as Gordon's functional health patterns
• Kate Gosselin, American television personality
• Dorothy Granada (b. 1930), American nurse, humanitarian, and peace and social justice activist who founded a women's healthcare clinic in Mulukukú, Nicaragua, and was awarded the International Pfeffer Peace Award in 1997
• Elinor D. Gregg (1889–1970), American public nurse
• Cathinka Guldberg (1840–1919), first professionally trained nurse in Norway
• Cornelia Hancock (1839–1926), American Civil War nurse
  • Jean Evelyn Headberry (1911–1993), Australian registered nurse and midwife and recipient of the Florence Nightingale Medal Lucille Hegamin (1894–1970), blues recording artist
• Eliza Parks Hegan (1861–1917), Canadian nurse
• Bodil Hellfach (1856–1941), Danish nurse, deputy head of the Danish Nurses' Organization
• Virginia Henderson (1897–1996), 'First Lady of Nursing", American nurse theorist
• Monina Hernandez, first Filipino nurse to be appointed to the Nursing Council of New Zealand^[1] and first Filipino elected as director of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation^[2]
• Mary A. Hickey (1874–1954), American nurse and health administrator
• Lenah Higbee (1874–1941), pioneering U.S. Navy nurse during World War I
• Gerda Höjer (1893-1974), recipient of the Florence Nightingale Medal and President of the International Council of Nurses
• Lydia Holman (1868–1960), American nurse who dedicated her life to promoting rural public health
• Anna Morris Holstein (1825-1900), Civil War Nurse, Matron-in-Chief, from Gettysburg to Virginia, Author of Three Years in Field Hospitals Of The Army Of The Potomac
• Dame Agnes Hunt (1867-1948), British Orthopaedic Nursing pioneer
• Alberta Hunter (1895-1984), jazz singer
• Rachela Hutner (1909-2008) Polish pioneer nurse, credited with establishing the modern Polish nursing profession
• Euphemia Steele Innes RRC DN (1874–1955), Scottish nurse, matron of Leeds General Infirmary and of 2nd Northern General Hospital, founded Leeds Nurses' League
• Calamity Jane (1852-1903), American frontierswoman and nurse
• Sally Lucas Jean (1878–1971), American health educator and nurse
• Victoria Jensen (1847–1930), deaconess, nursing supervisor, from 1914 head of Copenhagen's Deaconess Institute
• Hazel Johnson-Brown (1927-2011), first African-American head of the United States Army Nurse Corps
• June Jolly (1928–2016), British pioneer of children's nursing
• Liliane Juchli (1933-2020), Swiss nurse and author/editor of a highly influential nursing textbook
• Ani Kalayjian Syrian born Armenian American academic, nurse, and founder of Meaningful World
• Carol Kefford (born 1958), British nurse and administrator
• Virginia Clinton Kelley (1923-1994), mother of United States President Bill Clinton
• Alicia Mary Kelly (1874 – 1942) was awarded the Military Medal and the Royal Red Cross.^[3]
• Dame Betty Kershaw, Professor at Sheffield
• Eunice Muringo Kiereini, (born 1939), Chief Nursing Officer of Kenya and first African president of the International Council of Nurses
• Docia Kisseih, (1919-2008), initiated advances in nursing and nurse training in post-independence Ghana
• Thora Knudsen (1861–1950), Danish nurse, trades unionist and women's rights activist
• Ashley Leechin, American social media personality and nurse
• Nancy J. Lescavage, Director of the Navy Nurse Corps
• Daurene Lewis, nurse and first Black woman mayor in North America
• Janet Lim (1923-2014), nurse at St. Andrew's Community Hospital. She was the first nurse from Singapore to study in Britain. She was inducted as 2014 Singapore Women's Hall of Fame.^[4]
• Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882), volunteer nurse during the American Civil War
• Kate Lorig, professor at Stanford University School of Medicine
• Ljubica Luković, (1858-1915) established the first nurses' training course in Serbia and in 1925 was posthumously awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal
• Courtney Lyder (born 1966), first black dean of the UCLA School of Nursing^[5]

M-R

• Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood (1897-1965)
• Mary Eliza Mahoney (1845-1946), first professionally trained African-American nurse
• Jeanne Mance (1606-1673), French nurse, founder of Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal (1645)
• Sophie Mannerheim (1863-1928), pioneer of modern nursing in Finland
• Marie Manthey (born 1935), one of the originators of Primary Nursing
• Louise de Marillac (1591-1660), founder of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul
• Kate Marsden (1859-1931), British missionary nurse and explorer
• Sister M. T. Martin (1881-1929) Australian sister who made graffiti in Egypt
• Anna Maxwell (1851–1929), U.S. Army nurse whose activities were crucial to the growth of professional nursing in America
• Carolyn McCarthy, American politician
• Mabel Mary McCutcheon MBE (1886 – 1942) was a British-born nurse who established health facilities at Port Adelaide
• Jean McFarlane, Baroness McFarlane of Llandaff
• Louisa McLaughlin (1836-1921), one of the first British Red Cross nurses, served in two wars
• Louise McManus, first nurse to earn a PhD. Referred to as Louise McManus
• M. Helena McMillan (1869–1970), Canadian-American nursing educator
• Agda Meyerson, (1866–1924) pioneering Swedish nurse
• Anne Milton (born 1955), British Member of Parliament
• Jane Minor, aka Gensey Snow, (1792–1858), African-American healer, midwife, and slave emancipator
• Marie de Miribel (1872–1959), French nurse, Catholic activist and politician in Paris
• Naomi Mitchison (1897-1999), British novelist and poet
• Jeannine Moquin-Perry, Canadian religious and political activist
• Sarah Mullally (born 1962) British Chief Nursing Officer and Bishop of London
• Charlotte Munck (1876–1932), Danish nurse, important figure in the training of nurses
• Annie Murray (1906-1996) Scottish nurse who went to the Spanish Civil War
• Razan al-Najar (1996/1997-2018), Palestinian nurse shot during a rescue in 2018 Gaza border protests
• Elizabeth Grace Neill (1846-1926), Kiwi nurse
• Bonnie Nettles (1927-1985), co-leader of the Heaven's Gate religious cult
• Nora Neve (1873-1952), pioneer of missionary nursing in Kashmir
  • Mary Ann Brown Newcomb (1817–1892, American Civil War nurse following the Battle of Fort Donelson Elizabeth B. Nichols (1821–1911), American Union nurse
• Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), pioneer of modern nursing
• Lucille Elizabeth Notter (1907-1993), American nurse and nursing researcher
• Clara Noyes (1869-1946), enrolled 20,000 Red Cross nurses for World War I service, founded the first school for midwives in the U.S.
• Mary Adelaide Nutting (1858–1948), Canadian nurse, educator, and pioneer in the field of hospital care
• Lucy Osburn (1836-1891), Australia's first professionally trained nurse
• Katherine Olmsted (1888–1964), American Red Cross nurse
• Emily Elizabeth Parsons (1824-1880) American Civil War nurse, hospital administrator, and founder of Mt. Auburn Hospital
• Sara E. Parsons (1864-1949), American nurse, writer and health administrator
• Emma Maria Pearson (1828–93), writer and one of the first British Red Cross nurses, served in two wars
• Lucy Creemer Peckham (1842–1923), American nurse, physician, and poet
• Hildegard Peplau, first published nursing theorist since Florence Nightingale. She created the middle-range nursing theory of interpersonal relations
• Anita Thigpen Perry, First Lady of Texas
• Jill Pettis, New Zealand Member of Parliament
• Lynne Pillay, New Zealand Member of Parliament
• Kerry Prendergast, Mayor of Wellington, New Zealand
• Tom Quinn, influential UK Professor of Cardiac nursing
• Halima Rafat, pioneer Afghan nurse and women's rights activist, one of the first nurses of her country
• Kaye Lani Rae Rafko, nurse and Miss America 1988
• Emmy Rappe (1835-1896), first professionally trained Swedish nurse, pioneer in the education of nurses
• Rebecca Raymer, American politician and nurse
• Claire Rayner (1931–2010), British journalist, agony aunt and activist
• Dorothy E. Reilly (1920-1996), American nurse and nursing educator
• Anna Reynvaan (1844-1920), first professionally trained nurse in The Netherlands.^[6]
• Linda Richards (1841-1930), America's first professionally trained nurse
• Isabel Hampton Robb, helped develop early programs of nursing education
• Rachel Robinson (born 1922), wife of baseball star Jackie Robinson
• Elaine Roe, U.S. Army nurse, one of the first four women to be awarded the Silver Star
• Debbie Rowe (born 1958), wife of singer Michael Jackson

S-Z

• Margaret Sanger (1879-1966), founder of the U.S. birth control movement.
• Betty Schmoll (1936-2015), founder of Hospice of Dayton, one of the first hospice programs in the United States.
• Lynda Scott, New Zealand MP.
• Mary Seacole (1805-1881), Jamaican British nurse in the Crimean War known as "the Black Florence Nightingale".
• Schwester Selma (1884-1984), German-Jewish head nurse in Jerusalem, known as "the Jewish Florence Nightingale".
• Flora Madeline Shaw (1864–1927), Canadian nurse and nursing teacher
• Nigar Shikhlinskaya (1871-1931), first professionally trained Azerbaijani nurse.
• Kapelwa Sikota (1928 – 2006), first Zambian registered nurse.
• Kathleen Simon, Viscountess Simon (1864-1955), British abolitionist.
• Jessie Sleet Scales (1865-1956), first black public health nurse in the United States.
• Myrah Keating Smith (1908-1994) nurse, midwife, only medical provider on Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands for two decades
• Mabel Keaton Staupers (1890-1989), advocate for racial equality in the nursing profession during era of American segregation.
• Daphne Steele (1929-2004), Guyanese Matron, was the first Black Matron in the British NHS.
• Maria Stencel (1900–1985), Polish Director of the School of Nursing at Łódź in 1946
• Margaretta Styles (1930-2005), American advocate for standardization of nursing credentials, University of California, San Francisco Nursing School dean, past president of the American Nurses Association and International Council of Nurses.
• Adah Belle Samuels Thoms (1870-1943), pioneering African-American rights activist, who fought for African-American nurses to be permitted to serve in the U.S. armed forces.
• Violetta Thurstan (1879-1978), nurse in WWI, decorated for bravery.
• Annie Rensselaer Tinker (1884-1924), volunteer nurse in WWI, suffragist, and philanthropist
• Sally Louisa Tompkins (1833-1916), humanitarian and philanthropist during the American Civil War.
• Harriet Tubman (c. 1822–1913), African-American abolitionist.
• Florence Wald (1917-2008), founder of the hospice movement in the U.S.
• Lillian Wald (1867-1940), founder of visiting nursing in the U.S.
• Jean Watson, an American nurse theorist and nursing professor, best known for her Theory of Human Caring.
• Faye Wattleton (born 1943), president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
• Elizabeth Wettlaufer (born 1967), Canadian serial killer who murdered eight of her patients with insulin injections.
• Walt Whitman (1819-1892), American poet, American Civil War nurse.
• Mary Opal Wolanin (1910 – 1997), American nurse and expert in eldercare
• Sarah Palmer Young (1830-1908), American Civil War nurse, author of a memoir.
• Tome Yoshida (1876-1963), Japanese nurse.
• Sophie Zahrtmann (1841–1925), deaconess, nurse, head of Copenhagen's Deaconess Institute

See also

• List of Danish nurses
• List of African-American women in medicine

Notes and References

1. Web site: https://gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2018-go5527/ . Reappointment / appointments to the Nursing Council of New Zealand.. gazette.govt.nz/ . 2018. November 5, 2018.
2. Web site: https://www.ethniccommunities.govt.nz/news/spotlight-on-monina-hernandez/#:~:text=I'm%20Filipino%20by%20birth,%2C%20educator%20and%20nurse%2Dmidwife./ . Spotlight on: Monina Hernandez.. www.ethniccommunities.govt.nz//. 2019. February 19, 2019.
3. Web site: Alicia Mary (Loll) KELLY ARRC, MM . 2023-12-07 . vwma.org.au . English.
4. Web site: https://www.swhf.sg/profiles/janet-lim-chiu-mei/ . Janet Lim Chiu Mei . swhs.sg . 2014 . June 3, 2020.
5. Bloomekatz, Ari (October 9, 2013) "A Nurse Who's Healing Patients and Himself", Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
6. Annet Mooij, Reynvaan, Johanna Paulina, in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland. URL: https://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/Reynvaan [12/07/2017]