Emmie’s exam results, which saw her win the ‘silver
medal’ for the second highest performing student nurse at the Sheffield Royal
Infirmary, came to light at Sheffield Archives following a recent request from
Emmie’s daughter (who also lives in Australia). Emmie’s daughter wanted to know
if Sheffield Archives held anything of relevance to Emmie’s time at the Royal
Infirmary which might help her to piece together a timeline of significant
events in her mother’s life to celebrate her 100th birthday.
Emmie was born in Horbury, Yorkshire on 5th April 1915.
She left school at 14 and later trained as a fever nurse in Hull before coming
to Sheffield Royal Infirmary to train for her nurse’s state registration. She
won the ‘silver medal’ at the Royal Infirmary in 1939 (Emmie is pictured wearing
her silver medal). A nurses’ examination book held at Sheffield Archives dated
1930 - 1945 preserves Emmie’s silver medal-winning results. The book lists the ‘Order of Merit’
for the nurses for each year and details the scores each nurse achieved across
different nursing disciplines. The book shows Emmie Charlesworth in ‘silver
medal’ position and also records how her medal was presented to her on 11th
December 1939 by Sir Ronald Matthews (1885 - 1959), who was formerly chairman
and managing director of the Sheffield steel firm Turton Brothers and Matthews,
and a former master cutler, who later became chairman of the London and
North-Eastern Railway and deputy chair of the Independent Television Authority.
From her home in Australia, Emmie’s daughter has already
been able to show Emmie various historical pictures relating to Sheffield Royal
Infirmary, courtesy of the Sheffield Archives and Local Studies Library online
historical picture website www.picturesheffield.com, which
have rekindled many happy memories of Emmie’s time as a nurse in Sheffield.
Emmie spotted one picture of her old nurse’s home on the Picture Sheffield website
where the bedroom window of the ground floor room she used to share with fellow
nurse Nellie Davies (nee Beatson) was visible. She recalled how she and Nellie
used to leave this window unlocked so that their nurse friends could climb in
if they returned late past curfew after evenings’ out (and therefore avoid
incurring the wrath of the notoriously strict Matron Bowling!).
After completing her training, Emmie became a theatre
sister at the Royal Infirmary where she nursed throughout the Second World War.
Emmie is able to recall harrowing stories of the Sheffield Blitz of December
1940, including continuing an operation as the bombs fell (even, at one stage,
when the operating theatre windows were blown in by a bomb which landed just
outside!).
Emmie left Sheffield when she married Arthur Leonard
(Len) Turrell in Crofton, West Yorkshire in 1946, but she returned to attend every
Sheffield Royal Infirmary nurses reunion right up until 1986 when she and her
husband emigrated to Australia.
Emmie’s old room-mate Nellie (recorded as an examination
prize-winner in the examination book at Sheffield Archives) married a Canadian
and went to live on a farm in Calgary but kept up correspondence with Emmie up right
until she died a couple of years ago. Another of Emmie’s old nursing classmates
recorded in the examination book, who also went to live in Canada, was Vera
Jolly and she also continued correspondence with Emmie for the rest of her life.
On Emmie’s 90th birthday, Vera sent her the following message from
Canada:
“We first met
as nursing students in 1937 when you joined our Class at the Royal Infirmary in
Sheffield, Yorkshire. It was a renowned nursing school where we received a wonderful
training and education. It was “hands on nursing” and good bedside care. We
worked diligently with long hours on duty.
Do you remember when we were on night duty—nursing
critically ill patients and being in charge of those large wards and we were
only in our second year training! Say, we did mature in a hurry! I remember you
as a diligent, personable and dedicated student, who was always willing to lend
a hand. You had a penchant for the Operating Theatre. You were a good
role-model Emmie and it’s no wonder that you were awarded the Silver Medal upon
your graduation”.
Whilst the nurses’ examination book at Sheffield Archives,
with its details of scores each nurse achieved and ‘Order of Merit’ ranking,
might give the impression of competition between the nurses, Emmie’s
experiences reveal the reality behind the names in the records: the wonderful
camaraderie and lifelong friendship forged between the Royal Infirmary nurses.
Happy 100th birthday to Emmie in April!
(Pictures
of Emmie and background information kindly supplied by Emmie’s daughter Susan
Ball; extract from Sheffield Royal Infirmary nursing examination book - Sheffield Archives: NHS17/5/16/1)
