Dame Joanna Margaret Cruickshank
(1875-1958), Matron-in-Chief of British Red Cross Society; founder of the Royal Air Force Nursing ServiceSitter in 5 portraits
Cruickshank was a military nurse and nursing administrator who founded the Royal Air Force Nursing Service in November 1918. She served as its first Matron-in-Chief until her retirement in 1930. Born in Murree, India (now Pakistan), she trained at Guy's Hospital, London, then returned to India to serve as Sister in the Lady Minto Nursing Association, which had been founded in 1906 to provide trained nurses and midwives in India. In 1917, she joined Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS), the nursing branch of the British Army. After contracting a malignant form of malaria and suffering recurring fevers, she was invalided home to Britain in 1918. She was made DBE in 1931. During the Second World War, she was made Commandant of the Rushen Women's and Married Internees Camp on the Isle of Man.
Dame Joanna Margaret Cruickshank
by Bassano Ltd
half-plate glass negative, 30 September 1932
NPG x158699
Dame Joanna Margaret Cruickshank
by Bassano Ltd
half-plate glass negative, 30 September 1932
NPG x158700
Dame Joanna Margaret Cruickshank
by Bassano Ltd
half-plate glass negative, 30 September 1932
NPG x158701
Dame Joanna Margaret Cruickshank
by Bassano Ltd
half-plate glass negative, 30 September 1932
NPG x158702
Dame Joanna Margaret Cruickshank
by Elliott & Fry
bromide print
NPG x86898
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