Joanna Cruickshank

Dame Joanna Margaret Cruickshank was a British military nurse and nursing administrator, born in Murree, India, in 1875. She trained at Guy's Hospital in London, returned to India in 1912 to serve as a sister with the Lady Minto Nursing Association, and in 1917 joined Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service. A malignant form of malaria and a series of fevers sent her home to Britain in March 1918. That November she founded Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service, and from 1921 until her retirement in November 1930 she served as its first Matron-in-Chief. She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1931. In 1940 she was named Commandant of the Rushen Women's and Married Internees Camp on the Isle of Man. She died in 1958 at the age of 82.