Theodora Turner

Who was Theodora Turner?

Theodora Turner, OBE was a British nurse and hospital matron.

She attended the Godolphin School, Salisbury, and, determined to be a nurse, entered St Thomas' Hospital and the Nightingale School of Nursing in the summer of 1929. She completed her training as a nurse with the silver medal, but declined to join the League of St Barnabas, an Anglican society for nurses. She took her midwifery training at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, then returned to St Thomas' Hospital as a ward nursing sister. When war broke out in 1939 she joined the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service, was mobilised at Congleton, was present during the evacuation from Dunkirk, and served in, among other places, Iran and Italy. On her return to civilian life she was named administrative sister at St Thomas' as preparation for her appointment as matron of Liverpool's Royal Infirmary.

Turner left in 1953 to care for her elderly parents. When she was free from family commitments she was appointed matron and lady superintendent of nurses of St Thomas' when the hospital was being rebuilt after being hit 13 times by German bombs. Turner deputised as a Royal College of Nursing representative on the Whitley Council which negotiated nurses' salaries. After retiring, she became president of the RCN. She later relocated to Scotland, where she served on the Argyll and Clyde Health Board.