Nurse Mabel White was my grandmother’s midwife. Her name has always been familiar to me mainly because my Uncle Howard was always late for Christmas dinner. His yearly excuse was that he had visited Nurse White to take her a Christmas present.

She had delivered him in 1911, four days before Christmas and according to my mother, who was born in 1918, Nurse White always moved into the house to stay whenever one of her siblings was due and as a result, she was viewed as one of the family. She delivered all six of my grandparents’ children from the eldest on 1908 to the youngest in 1927.

Nurse White was born in 1878 and educated at the Collegiate Institute which later became The Berkeley Institute. In 1900 at the age of 22, she left Bermuda for the United States to study nursing at the Hampton Training School in Virginia, graduated in three years, and returned to Bermuda to begin her nursing career working privately as a nurse and midwife.

Hampton Nurses’ Training School, later known as the Dixie Hospital Training School, was a pioneering nursing programme established in 1891 at Hampton Institute — now Hampton University in Virginia. It was one of the first programmes in the US to train Black nurses. Its founder, Alice Maude Bacon, was a social activist whose aim was to make professional medical care accessible and address the shortage of Black nurses.

It began in a two-room facility with limited staff and a horse-drawn ambulance.

In 1936 at the age of 58, Nurse Mabel White took over the helm of The Cottage Hospital Nursing Home in Happy Valley, Pembroke. The building had to be renovated and enlarged to be converted from a police barracks to hospital purposes and, although the year had not ended, they had delivered 86 babies.

In the paragraphs below, I quote from the book CARE, written by J Randolf Williams. I am quoting from his research of an interview in 1943 where Matron White revealed some of her own personality in explaining the life of a probationer:

“Our nurses are not called upon to do anything unreasonable, but they are expected to abide by certain rules and not act like small children when things don’t measure up to their personal desire.

“The custom of loud talking and laughing is not an asset to a nurse; the habit of moving and walking quietly is very becoming.

“Permission must be granted to be away at night. This is because of the necessity of reporting on duty early in the morning and because of the steady grind of the day’s work. Nurses must be in bed by 10.30pm during the months of October to May and 11pm during the summer months.”

The sacrifices nurses are called upon to make are few. One thing all must learn is that a patient’s needs are considered first and that from the time training has begun, self must be written with a small ‘s.’

When interviewed in 1953, prior to her retirement at age 75 after a career spanning 50 years, she stated that conditions for practising nursing and midwifery were different when she returned to Bermuda in 1903.

Things were very difficult — few people had electricity; bathrooms were comparatively rare — things were generally rough and ready. Many people did not even have an efficient cooking stove. There was relatively nothing to work with and although she lived in St George’s, she practised in every parish except Somerset and recalled delivering girl triplets in Prospect and many well-known citizens.

At her leaving ceremony attended by the Governor, Lieutenant-General Sir Alexander Hood, Sir Stanley Spurling, chairman of the board of The Cottage Hospital Nursing Home stated that he had “known Miss White all his life and believe me, it was not easy for a Coloured person to find her way into a training school to learn to become a nurse. I would like to pay tribute to Miss White for her perseverance in obtaining entrance and qualifying. The success of this hospital is due to her splendid character and inspiring leadership — he had seen hallways full of cots — no one was turned away.” In closing, Sir Stanley added that she had brought some of his own children into the world.

Matron White was acknowledged and decorated by the British Red Cross Society and in 1949 was appointed an MBE for services to the colony.

On December 26, 1975, Nurse Mabel Gertrude White died, leaving a legacy of superior leadership for local nurses trained under her guidance at the Cottage Hospital Nursing Home.

• Cecille Snaith-Simmons is a retired nurse, historian, writer, Fellow of Bermuda College and author of The Bermuda Cookbook

References

Reference Library of Virginia

Mind the Onion Seed, by Nellie Musson 1979

The Royal Gazette, December 30, 1953

CARE by J Randolf Williams, 1994