Monica Baly
Monica Eileen Baly | |
|---|---|
| Born | 24 May 1914 |
| Died | 12 November 1998 (aged 84) |
| Employer | Royal College of Nursing |
Monica Eileen Baly (24 May 1914 – 12 November 1998) OBE FRCN was an English nurse, historian of nursing, and an advocate for social change. She was the first Chair of the History of Nursing Society at the Royal College of Nursing, and was elected a centenary fellow of the institute in 1985.
Early life
[edit]Baly was born on 24 May 1914.[1] Monica Baly studied at the St. Hilda's School for Girls in London.[1]
Education and career
[edit]Baly trained in the London County Council Fever Hospital followed by professional nursing training at the Middlesex Hospital. Her wartime service included work in the Middle East and Italy, setting up a burns unit for the Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service.[1]
She became a chief nursing officer in 1949 for the Royal College of Nursing. Baly was also an activist working toward fair living wages for nurses, having produced an index showing it was impossible to live on the wage of a first year health visitor.[1] She led the "Raise the Roof" campaign, which resulted in a 22% pay raise for nurses. Baly lectured on social policy and the history of nursing at the National Council of Nurses and authored Nursing and Social Change in 1973.[1] She was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing in 1986.[2] She earned a Bachelor of Arts from the Open University in 1979, and then undertook a PhD in Nursing and Social Change, completing it at the age of 70.[3] She wrote her doctoral dissertation was on the life of Florence Nightingale, and also wrote a history of the Queen’s Nursing Institute.[1] The Institute elected her a centenary fellow in 1985.[1]
Legacy
[edit]Baly founded and was the first Chair of the History of Nursing Society at the Royal College of Nursing, and founded a journal for nursing history.[4][1] When Baly died in 1988,[1] she left money for a scholarship in the area.[4] The Monica Baly Fund continues to offer small grants to support research into the history of nursing and midwifery by registered nurses and midwives who might otherwise not be able to undertake this work.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i Haines, Catherine M. C. (2001). International women in science : a biographical dictionary to 1950. Santa Barbara, Calif. [u.a.]: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1576070905.
- ^ "RCN Fellows and Honorary Fellows" (PDF). Royal College of Nursing. Retrieved 3 April 2025.
- ^ a b "RCN Foundation Monica Baly Grant | RCN Foundation | Royal College of Nursing". The Royal College of Nursing. Archived from the original on 16 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2025.
- ^ a b McGann, Susan. "Baly, Monica Eileen". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/71239. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
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