Emily MacManus

Emily Elvira Primrose MacManus was an Irish nurse and hospital administrator who rose to be one of the leading matrons of twentieth century Britain. Born in 1886 into a Mayo family, she trained at Guy's Hospital in London and served in France during the First World War. She later became matron of Bristol Royal Infirmary and then of Guy's Hospital in London, where she was still in charge during the Second World War and the Blitz, when the hospital had to be evacuated. She served as president of the Royal College of Nursing from 1942 to 1944 and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. After retiring in 1946 she lived in County Mayo, wrote a memoir of her career, and died there in 1978.