IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0100 KH/NL/PP4
Held at: King's College London College Archives
Title: BLYDE, Margery Kathleen (1891-1980)
Date(s): 1920-1980
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 1 box
Name of creator(s): Blyde | Margery Kathleen (Sister Mercia) | 1891-1980 | nurse
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
M K Blyde was born at Hitchin, Hertfordshire, 30 March 1891. She served with distinction in the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) during World War One, and was mentioned in dispatches and awarded the Royal Red Cross (Second Class) (ARRC).
She trained as a nurse at King's College Hospital between 1919-1922 (gaining General Nursing Council registration in 1923), and on completion was appointed Sister of Fisk and Cheere Ward and Aural Theatre. She was known as Sister Mercia. Blyde worked as Assistant Matron at Norwich Hospital; Matron of West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds. In 1937 she was appointed Sister Matron at King's College Hospital 1937, a post which she held until 1947.
She also served on the Nursing Advisory Board and Selection Committee of the Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service; Executive Committee of the Association of Hospital Matrons and of the Joint Committee of Headmistresses and Hospital Matrons; and President of the King's College Hospital Nurses' League.
Blyde was a member of the Voluntary Nursing Advisory Board to His Majesty's Prison Commissioners; Chairman of the Ladies Committee of the 1930 Fund; the Selection Board of the Overseas' Nursing Association' Council and House Committee of the Cowdray Club; and the Nursing Advisory Committee to the British Red Cross Society. As well, she was a member of the Executive Committee of the National Council of Nurses of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the Committee of Management of the St Mary's Convalescent Home for Diabetics, Birchington-on-Sea; and Mrs Coward's Trained Nurses Co-operative Institute Committee.
She died in 1980.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Papers of Margery Kathleen Blyde comprising King's College Hospital certificates of invalid cookery, 21 Dec 1920; and completion of training 1922; General Nursing Council for England and Wales Certificate of General Registration, 16 Feb 1923; Brighton and Hove Hospital for Women and Children, certificate of attendance and instruction in midwifery, 14 Mar 1924; Central Midwives Board certificate, 9 Apr 1924; Membership of The College of Nursing, 19 Nov 1926;
humorous sketches of Sister Blyde and some of her patients, by F R Cornish, with accompanying letter, Feb 1925;
National Registration Identity card (with photograph), Aug 1940; Official Pass and Identity Card, Oct 1939; passports issued 1938 and 1967; USA Alien Registration Card [1947]; United States [of America] Departing Alien Income Tax Return, 1947;
certificate of vaccination against smallpox, 15 Apr 1947; International certificate of vaccination or revaccination against smallpox, 1969;
letters and memoranda relating to award of OBE, 1945 including also news cutting, reporting appointment, 14 Jun 1945;
invitation and papers for Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, 24 Jul 1962;
presentation album given to Blyde by members of the King's College Hospital Nurses' League, in appreciation of here service as Sister Matron, 1937-1947, containing names of League members and watercolours illustrations of flowers; presentation album from the staff at the Royal Eye Hospital, St George's Circus and Surbiton, containing the names of hospital staff; telegram conveying greetings for a reunion, 19 Jul 1947;
OBE medal, and letter from King George VI, regretting the award not being made personally, 9 Oct 1946; Defence Medal 1939-1945, and ribbons; badge of the Association of Hospital Matrons; General Nursing Council badge, 16 Feb 1923; badge of the Student Nurses Association; enamel AVF badge;
letters to Blyde relating to her retirement, from Lord Hambleden, Apr [1947]; Stella Tufton, 25 Mar 1947; Air Marshal Sir Andrew Grant, 18 Mar 1947; A S [Whittoch], Air Ministry, 29 Mar 1947;
letters to Blyde relating to her retirement from the Salisbury Hospital Group Management Committee, 1966;
ticket to the United States Senate Chamber visitors gallery, 15 Apr 1970;
Orders of service for funeral of Blyde, at St Michael, Teffont Evias, 21 Feb 1980; and Thanksgiving Service at King's College Hospital Chapel, 27 Apr 1980;
letter from Major General D H G Rice to P G C Blyde (nephew of M K Blyde) relating to donation of OBE medal to KCH, 31 Mar 1980;
black and white photographs including depicting members of the Nursing Advisory Board meeting, Sep 1941; Blyde with Evelyn Opie and M I Otway [1960s]; Blyde [attending the Festival of Britain, 1951]; Blyde with HRH Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent; portraits of Blyde; pet dog; [Garden Houses, King's College Hospital Denmark Hill]; Blyde with visitors to the Hospital;
Blyde's copy of Common disorders and diseases of childhood, G F Still, 3rd edition, Oxford Medical Publications, London, 1920
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Arranged as outlined in the scope and content.
Conditions governing access:
Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Director of Archive and Corporate Record Services.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
Detailed catalogue
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Accruals:
Archival history:
Acquired by King's College Hospital Nurses' League
Immediate source of acquisition:
Transferred to King's College London Archive, 1985.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Related material:
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Sources: The Register of Nurses, 1940, The General Nursing Council for England and Wales, London; King's College Hospital Nurses' League Journal No 23, 1947. Compiled by Alison Field
Date(s) of descriptions: April 2004