Dame (Florence) Barbara Cozens

Sitter in 2 portraits
Born in Darjeeling, India, Cozens was a military and administrative nurse who introduced innovations in training for nurses. She studied nursing at the Victoria Hospital for Children and St Thomas’ Hospital in London and became Matron-in-Chief and Director of Army Nursing Services between 1960 and 1964. While serving on Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service during the First World War, she was posted to India, Palestine and Egypt, nursing military families and soldiers. She also served with distinction overseas during the Second World War. As Matron-in-Chief and Director of Army Nursing Services of the renamed Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps in 1960, Cozens introduced training programmes for state-enrolled nurses, which included the first Gurkha trainees. She was created DBE in 1963 and appointed Chief Nursing Officer to the St John Ambulance Brigade from 1965 to 1966.