African nurses

• Tasks
• Background
• Teachers' notes
• External links

This lesson has been developed in collaboration with the Young Historians Project and their project ‘A Hidden History: African women and the British health service’. Other educational resources can be accessed via their website. For an essential activity for students using this lesson consult their blog post on Princess Ademola listed in external links below.

The recruitment of African women into the National Health Service from British colonies began in the period after the Second World War. However, nurses, doctors and other medical professionals had trained in Britain before this, as the colonial power did not provide the full facilities for medical training in the colonies.

Despite their long history of work within health services in Britain, the role of African women is rarely highlighted in discussions of the history of the NHS or of health work more generally. Current narratives on Black women in the British health service tend to focus on the ‘Windrush generation’ and Caribbean contributions”: Young Historians Project.

Use this lesson to find original documents which explore the role of African nurses in the health services of Britain.

Please note that some sources contain offensive language that was used at the time and is unacceptable today.

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Tasks

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Background

Before the Second World War, African men and women came to train in Britain to work in British healthcare services. These individuals usually came from affluent backgrounds – or, less commonly, were the children of one African parent and one British parent – and chose to pursue careers in healthcare.  

During the Second World War, the Colonial Film Unit made a film titled ‘Nurse Ademola’ about the life and career of Princess Ademola. The film was created as propaganda for West Africa in order to showcase the role of the British colonies and gain their support for the war effort. However, the film also signifies the importance of Princess Ademola herself as a nursing role model, not only for Africans but also for the British Empire. The film has been lost; however, there are some stills from the film in the Imperial War Museum photographic archive. 

After the Second World War, increased numbers of Africans from Nigeria and the Gold Coast (Ghana), and West Indian citizens as part of the Windrush Caribbean migration, came to Britain to assist with the growing staffing crisis across the healthcare professions. Many experienced discrimination and racism, not only from British people but also within the services they worked. It was often difficult for these immigrants to find decent housing and many women, especially those training as nurses, were pushed to apply for courses for which they were overqualified.  

Indeed, there were a growing number of government reports and research into the experience of those who migrated to Britain in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s that reflect racist attitudes towards those who chose to settle and show the difficulties of finding decent accommodation, employment and treatment as British citizens. There were serious race riots in 1958 in London and Nottingham attacking Black communities. 

In 1962, the Immigration Act created stricter guidelines for migration into Britain for all Commonwealth citizens, including citizens of the UK and its colonies. Migration was only possible if a person was a Commonwealth citizen born in the UK, a Commonwealth citizen with a passport issued by the UK government in UK or Ireland, or a Citizen of the UK and Colonies with a passport from the UK Government. 

Further legislation followed with the Commonwealth Immigrants Act of 1968 and 1971, which put greater restrictions on who could be granted British citizenship and added to a climate of hostility. 

Many of the underlying issues of racism, poor housing and education facing immigrant communities remain today. 

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Teachers' notes

At the start of the lesson, students study a passenger list showing Princess Ademola’s return to Britain in 1937. She was the daughter of an important African Chief in Northern Nigeria and trained as a nurse in London at Guy’s Hospital. After this, there is an opportunity to examine the 1939 register, which lists Princess Ademola. The 1939 register was an emergency step taken at the start of the Second World War to help the government set up the rationing system and identity cards. Thus, both documents indicate her presence in Britain and her employment details. 

An extract from Nigerian Government Gazette, which features both Nigerian and British medical practitioners, recaps on the learning provided by the earlier sources of evidence of African medical professionals training in Britain. 

Next, students look at a recruitment leaflet from after the Second World War when many hospitals needed more nurses.  This is followed by a short summary sent to the Commonwealth Relations Office about a Home Office Committee, which discussed ‘Employment of Coloured People in U.K’ in 1954 and reveals lack of appetite for controls in immigration at that time. The next source is an extract from a document concerning the recruitment of students and staff from Commonwealth countries at the time of the Common Immigrants Bill 1962, which infers a change in policy and a move towards tighter controls. The final source is a short newspaper clipping from the Daily Telegraph newspaper in 1964, which touches on the racial discrimination experienced by those who migrated to Britain in this period and raises the issue of a ‘colour bar’. 

• The lesson could be used as an introduction to the role played by African women in the National Health Service, how nurses from Commonwealth countries were recruited and the early implementation of the Commonwealth Immigration Bill 1962. 
• Students could work in pairs or small groups to discuss the questions and report back to the class, or they could work individually. Teachers should bear in mind the vocabulary used in some documents at the time, and care should be taken to make this point to students and to stress the appropriate language to use. 
• Students could discuss present-day issues of racism faced by immigrants – the news story from 1964 (Source 7) could prompt discussion. Are there similar issues in society today? What needs to be done to overcome these inequalities? 
• The lesson could be used in a study of time on the theme of migration or multi-cultural Britain.  

Sources

1. Banner image: ‘Nigerian Princess Adenrele Ademola returns home from London after her training as a nurse’ © IWM D 16165
2. Passenger list showing Princess Ademola’s return to Britain in 1937, Catalogue ref: BT 26/1118/32 
3. Princess Ademola on the 1939 Register, Catalogue ref: RG 101/1268G  
4. Extract from Nigerian Government Gazette which features both Nigerian and British medical practitioners, women and men, 1940, Catalogue ref: CO 658/44  
5. Leaflet aimed at recruiting more nurses at Saint Catherine’s Hospital in Birkenhead, 1952, Catalogue ref: MH 55/944 
6. Note sent to the Commonwealth Relations Office from W. Clark representing the C.R.O. on a Home Office Committee, 1 February, 1954, Catalogue ref: DO 35/5216 
7. Extract from a document concerning the recruitment of students & staff from Commonwealth countries at the time of the Common Immigrants Bill, 1962, Catalogue ref: MH 55/2789 
8. Extract from Daily Telegraph, 29 June, 1964, Catalogue ref: HGL 39/32/9 

Connections to Curriculum

Key stage 3 

Challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day: The Welfare State; Social, cultural and technological change in post-war British society 

Key stage 4 

Courses on the history of medicine through time exploring the development of the National Health Service; costs, choices and the issues of healthcare in the 21st century. 

AQA GCSE History 

Britain: Power and the people: c1170 to the present day  

Part 4: Race & Equality: Minority rights: the development of multi-racial society since the Second World War; discrimination, protest and reform; the Brixton Riots including Scarman Report 1981. 

Edexcel GCSE History: Migrants in Britain, c800-present  

OCR GCE History: Migration to Britain c.1000 to c.2010 

Key stage 5  

Edexcel GCE A level History:  

Britain transformed, 1918–97: Race and immigration: Racial controversy and the impact of government policy on race relations and immigration 1958-79.  

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External links

Heart of the Nation 

https://heartofthenation.migrationmuseum.org  

Research guide for records relating to doctors and nurses at The National Archives 

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/doctors-and-nurses/ 

Young Historians Project 

 https://www.younghistoriansproject.org/ 

Dzagbele Matilda Asante: nursing In the UK pre Windrush and the NHS 

https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/bhm-firsts/dzagbele-matilda-asante-i-was-nursing-in-the-uk-before-windrush-and-the-nhs/ 

Adenrele Ademola’s nursing story 

https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/african-princess-in-guys-the-story-of-princess-adenrele-ademola/ 

Kofoworola Abeni Pratt worked in the NHS and a pioneer of nursing in post-independence Nigeria.  

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/kofoworola-abeni-pratt 

Medics, migration and the NHS, with two videos on nursing training 

https://wellcomecollection.org/articles/WyjPPScAALyZnoX7

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