Papers of Frances Bazely

This collection contains the British College of Nurses membership certificate of Frances Ellen Bazely, dated 20th June 1931.

In 1926, Mrs [Ethel] Fenwick founded the British College of Nurses, which was to be an educational body with membership and fellowship by examination. She intended the college to provide nurses who desired professional self-government, and therefore did not wish to join the College of Nursing [founded in 1916 by Sir Arthur Stanley and Dame Sarah Swift], with the opportunity of professional development. The foundation was made possible by an anonymous benefactor who donated £100,000. The first fellowships were presented, with full graduation ceremony, on 27 April 1927, and were awarded to nurses who had contributed to the advancement of professional nursing, including Mrs Fenwick herself.

[From 'Battle of the Nurses' by Susan McGann, Scutari Press, London 1992, p51.]

FBCN means Fellow of the British College of Nurses. The British College of Nurses was established in 1926 by Mrs Ethel Bedford Fenwick and was initially seen as a potential rival organisation to the College of Nursing (later the Royal College of Nursing). Fenwick (founder and President of the BCN) awarded the nurses who had supported her and her campaigns with Fellowships of the BCN. The BCN was intended to provide its members and fellows with professional education, legal protection and benevolent help.

[RCN Archives, KM 2006]

Bedford Fenwick died in 1947 by which point the BCN had significantly dwindled. It never amalgamated with the RCN or any other nursing organisation. The RCN Archives received no records from this organisation. However, ornate membership certificates still exist and the RCN Archives holds some examples of these. Bedford Fenwick's personal records were largely destroyed after her death by her family at her request. Records exist in some of the organisations with which she had the most contact, for example, the Royal British Nurses Association whose records have been deposited at Kings College London.

[RCN Archives, FB 2013]

This collection is available for research subject to data protection laws. Readers are advised to contact the RCN Archives in advance of their visit.

Most recent online Royal College of Nursing Archives Catalogue available at https://www.rcn.org.uk/library

Royal College of Nursing Archives

Donated by her sister Mrs Mary Brown, 181 Croydon Road, Beckenham, Kent, March 1986.