Eliza Mackenzie
{{Short description|Scottish nurse superintendent (1816 – 1892)}}
File:Grave of Eliza and John Mackenzie.jpg
Eliza Mackenzie (3 July 1816 – 18 September 1892) was a Scottish superintendent of nurses with the Navy during the Crimean War. Her brief career led to the formation of the Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service (QARNNS) in 1902.
Early life
Elizabeth Chalmers was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 3 July 1816. She was the second of six daughters of Church of Scotland minister and social reformer Thomas Chalmers and his wife Grace (née Pratt).{{Cite web |title=Mackenzie [née Chalmers], Elizabeth Chalmers [Eliza] (1816–1892), superintendent of nurses |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-90000382492 |access-date=2024-03-29 |website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=2024 |language=en |doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000382492 |last1=Cohen |first1=Susan L. |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}
Education and early career
Mackenzie was a superintendent of nurses, appointed by the Admiralty during the Crimean War.{{Cite journal |last=Fraser ID |date=2019 |title=Marmaduke Philip Smyth Ward (1825-1885): Nelson's grandson and naval surgeon. |journal=J R Nav Med Serv |volume=105 |issue=2 |pages=145–149|doi=10.1136/jrnms-105-145 }} Having accepted this appointment, Mackenzie felt the future of female nursing in the Admiralty hospitals rested with her. If the experiment of allowing female staff to work in Therapia (now Tarabya) was successful, the Admiralty planned to make employing female nurses general practice throughout their hospitals.{{Cite journal |last=Penney |first=Marjorie |date=1954 |title=Mrs. John MacKenzie |journal=Nursing Times |volume=50 |pages=1054}} Therapia was situated north of Constantinople (now Istanbul), on the western shores of the Bosporus.{{Cite journal |last=Fraser |first=ID |date=2019 |title=Marmaduke Philip Smyth Ward (1825-1885): Nelson's grandson and naval surgeon. |journal=J R Nav Med Serv |volume=105 |issue=2 |pages=145–149|doi=10.1136/jrnms-105-145 }} Her work led to the formation of the uniformed Naval Nursing Officers organisation in 1884, which became the Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service (QARNNS) in 1902.{{Cite journal |date=July 2017 |title=100 years of the WRNS |journal=Navy News |volume=756}}
Superintendents were not trained nurses but educated gentlewomen. To prepare for her role in the Crimea she spent three weeks at the Middlesex Hospital in London where she focused on learning hospital management. She was apprehensive about taking up this Superintendent role, partly as she had heard that Florence Nightingale, who had already gone to Scutari Hospital, was able to participate in more advanced healthcare procedures. To prepare herself, Mackenzie did attend the operating theatre to observe the amputation of a leg at St Thomas’ Hospital. She wrote that she was ‘in a rage’ about it as the surgeon did not use chloroform even although it was available.{{Cite journal |last=Penney |first=Marjorie |date=1954 |title=Mrs. John MacKenzie |journal=Nursing Times |volume=50 |pages=1054}}
Mackenzie set off with her group of six nurses (Misses Vessey, Bartlett and Erskine and three others unknown){{Cite web |title=Mackenzie [née Chalmers], Elizabeth Chalmers [Eliza] (1816–1892), superintendent of nurses |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-90000382492 |access-date=2024-03-29 |website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=2024 |language=en |doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000382492 |last1=Cohen |first1=Susan L. |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }} on Christmas day,1854{{Cite journal |date=1962 |title="Did You Know That …? Nursing with the Navy" |journal=Nursing Times |volume=19 )ct |pages=1317}} for the Naval Hospital in Therapia.{{Cite journal |date=2017 |title=Pioneering women flouted the rules. Women in the Navy. 100 years of the WRNS. |url=https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/-/media/royal-navy-responsive/images/navynews/archivepdfs/2010s/2017/navy-news-july-2017-issue-756.pdf?rev=f61a4306813a45a88de3de6e98b5a40d |journal=Navy News |volume=July}} They arrived on 10 January 1855. Of the six nurses, two of them were Fry nurses, having trained at the Institute for Nursing Sisters which was set up by Elizabeth Fry in Guy's Hospital in 1840.{{Cite journal |last=Penney |first=Marjorie |date=1954 |title=Mrs. John MacKenzie |journal=Nursing Times |volume=50 |pages=1054}} Fry nurses wore their own uniform and tended to the spiritual and physical needs of their patients.{{Cite web |title=Elizabeth Fry |url=https://spartacus-educational.com/REfry.htm |access-date=2024-03-28 |website=Spartacus Educational |language=en}}
The hospital in Therapia was set up by a surgeon, Dr Davidson. It was well equipped in terms of stores, but lacked skilled nurses. Davidson and Dr Deas, at that time serving as Medical Inspector to the Black Sea Fleet, appealed to the Board of Admiralty who finally, in November 1854, agreed to employ female nurses.{{Cite journal |last=Penney |first=Marjorie |date=1954 |title=Mrs. John MacKenzie |journal=Nursing Times |volume=50 |pages=1054}}
Mackenzie left Crimea on 5 November 1855 on doctor's advice. The stressful work had taken its toll on her health and following advice from the doctors she resigned. Mary Erskine, the daughter of Scottish Historian of India, William Erskine took over the Superintendent role.{{Cite web |title=Mackenzie [née Chalmers], Elizabeth Chalmers [Eliza] (1816–1892), superintendent of nurses |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-90000382492 |access-date=2024-03-29 |website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=2024 |language=en |doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000382492 |last1=Cohen |first1=Susan L. |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}
Personal life
Mackenzie married John Mackenzie on 13 August 1839 at St Cuthbert's, Edinburgh.{{Cite web |title=Mackenzie [née Chalmers], Elizabeth Chalmers [Eliza] (1816–1892), superintendent of nurses |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-90000382492 |access-date=2024-03-29 |website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=2024 |language=en |doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000382492 |last1=Cohen |first1=Susan L. |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }} He was the fifth son of Sir George Steuart Mackenzie and was an ordained minister. Mackenzie was accompanied on the journey to Therapia by her husband.{{Cite journal |last=Dopson |first=Laurence |date=2012-07-04 |title=Webwise |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.7748/ns.26.44.30.s35 |journal=Nursing Standard |volume=26 |issue=44 |pages=30 |doi=10.7748/ns.26.44.30.s35 |pmid=28071996 |issn=0029-6570}} She had no children.{{Cite web |title=Mackenzie [née Chalmers], Elizabeth Chalmers [Eliza] (1816–1892), superintendent of nurses |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-90000382492 |access-date=2024-03-29 |website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=2024 |language=en |doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000382492 |last1=Cohen |first1=Susan L. |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}
Death
Mackenzie died in Edinburgh, on 18 September 1892. She was buried in Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh.{{Cite web |title=Mackenzie [née Chalmers], Elizabeth Chalmers [Eliza] (1816–1892), superintendent of nurses |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-90000382492 |access-date=2024-03-29 |website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=2024 |language=en |doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000382492 |last1=Cohen |first1=Susan L. |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}
Honours
In 1899, the Eliza Mackenzie House Mess for Nursing Sisters of the Queen Alexandra Royal Naval Nursing Service was built and opened at the Royal Hospital, Haslar.{{Cite web |title=Mackenzie [née Chalmers], Elizabeth Chalmers [Eliza] (1816–1892), superintendent of nurses |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-90000382492 |access-date=2024-03-29 |website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=2024 |language=en |doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000382492 |last1=Cohen |first1=Susan L. |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }} In 2014, Eliza Mackenzie Court, providing sheltered accommodation for retired navy and service personnel, was opened in Cosham, Portsmouth.{{Cite web |title=Our Story |url=https://agamemnonha.org/our-story/ |access-date=2024-03-29 |website=Agamemnon Housing Association |language=en-GB}}
The Eliza Mackenzie prize for student naval nurses is awarded each year.{{Cite journal |last=Ltd |first=BMJ Publishing Group |date=2016-06-01 |title=Service News |url=https://jrnms.bmj.com/content/102/1/72 |journal=Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service |language=en |volume=102 |issue=1 |pages=72–73 |doi=10.1136/jrnms-102-72 |issn=0035-9033}}