From the 1870s to the 1920s Poor Law institutions in England developed from destinations of last resort to significant providers of health‐care. As part of this process a general professionalisation of Poor Law work took place. The change was facilitated by wider social, philosophical and political influences in nineteenth century England. The introduction of trained nurses into the Poor Law was part of a diaspora of both ideas and people from voluntary institutions and organisations. Unrecognised in 1834, nurses eventually became (...) the most numerous class of workhouse officers. This was not accomplished without dispute and acrimony. As a group and as individuals nurses were often at the centre of disputes. Utilising a social history framework and drawing on contemporary written sources, including Poor Law and nursing journals, this paper highlights the role played by Poor Law nurses in the diffusion of values and attitudes that helped to transform the workhouse regime from one of punishment to therapy. (shrink)

From the mid nineteenth to mid twentieth century sanatoria loomed large in the popular consciousness as the space for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB). A review of the historiography of sanatoria at the beginning of this paper shows that the nursing contribution to the care of TB patients is at best ignored and at worst attracts negative comment. Added to this TB nursing was not viewed as prestigious by contemporaries, leading to problems attracting recruits. Using a case study approach based (...) on surviving archival material, this paper sets out to provide a glimpse of the work of TB nurses in a rural sanatorium at Westwood, Queensland, Australia. For the nurses geographical isolation was compounded by professional stagnation, which created a working environment influenced by friction and discord among the staff. It reveals how despite this, nurses coped with working in hostile conditions, to make the long stay of their patients, separated from their families and familiar life style more bearable. (shrink)