Jane Bell

Jane Bell (1873–1959) was an Scotland-born Australian nurse and midwife. She is best known for her work with Australian Imperial Force (AIF) field hospitals in Egypt in World War I, and for her advocacy for the nursing profession. Career Bell was born on 16 March 1873 in Middlebie, a farm in Scotland. After the death of both her parents and four of her siblings from tuberculosis Bell migrated to Sydney with her remaining siblings (two sisters and a brother) and was assisted in doing so by her family's Presbyterian parish. The children arrived in Sydney in 1886 where she trained as a nurse at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney. In 1899 she was a founding member of the Australasian Trained Nurses' Association. Following the completion of her training Bell was appointed Matron of the Bundaberg Hospital in 1903. Bell moved to London in 1906, where she trained in midwifery at the then-named Queen Charlotte's Hospital where she was employed as deputy superintendent of nursing. She returned to Australia in 1910 to take up an appointment as the matron of the Melbourne Hospital where she would work until 1934. Her work there as interrupted when, following the outbreak of World War I, in 1914, she was appointed principal matron of the First Australian General Hospital in Egypt. Upon arrival she was immediately embroiled in a conflict with 'the military establishment' and was asked to return to Australia. A later inquiry into the administration hospital vindicated her stand and paved the way for the 1916 reorganisation of the Australian Army Medical and Nursing Services.