Eliza Mackenzie

Eliza Mackenzie (3 July 1816 – 18 September 1892) was a Scottish superintendent of nurses with the Navy during the Crimean War. Her brief career led to the formation of the Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service (QARNNS) in 1902.

Early life
Elizabeth Chalmers was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 3 July 1816. She was the second of six daughters of Church of Scotland minister and social reformer Thomas Chalmers and his wife Grace (née Pratt).

Education and early career
Mackenzie was a superintendent of nurses, appointed by the Admiralty during the Crimean War. Having accepted this appointment, Mackenzie felt the future of female nursing in the Admiralty hospitals rested with her. If the experiment of allowing female staff to work in Therapia (now Tarabya) was successful, the Admiralty planned to make employing female nurses general practice throughout their hospitals. Therapia was situated north of Constantinople (now Istanbul), on the western shores of the Bosporus. Her work led to the formation of the uniformed Naval Nursing Officers organisation in 1884, which became the Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service (QARNNS) in 1902.

Superintendents were not trained nurses but educated gentlewomen. To prepare for her role in the Crimea she spent three weeks at the Middlesex Hospital in London where she focused on learning hospital management. She was apprehensive about taking up this Superintendent role, partly as she had heard that Florence Nightingale, who had already gone to Scutari Hospital, was able to participate in more advanced healthcare procedures. To prepare herself, Mackenzie did attend the operating theatre to observe the amputation of a leg at St Thomas’ Hospital. She wrote that she was ‘in a rage’ about it as the surgeon did not use chloroform even although it was available.

Mackenzie set off with her group of six nurses (Misses Vessey, Bartlett and Erskine and three others unknown) on Christmas day,1854 for the Naval Hospital in Therapia. They arrived on 10 January 1855. Of the six nurses, three of them were Fry nurses, having trained at the training school for nurses which was set up by Elizabeth Fry in Guy's Hospital in 1840. Fry nurses wore their own uniform and tended to the spiritual and physical needs of their patients. Florence Nightingale wrote to Fry to explain how she had been influenced by her views on the training of nurses. When Nightingale went to the Crimean War, she took a group of Fry nurses with her to look after the sick and wounded soldiers.

The hospital in Therapia was set up by a surgeon, Dr Davidson. It was well equipped in terms of stores, but lacked skilled nurses. Davidson and Dr Deas, at that time serving as Medical Inspector to the Black Sea Fleet, appealed to the Board of Admiralty who finally, in November 1854, agreed to employ female nurses.

Mackenzie left Crimea on 5 November 1855 on doctor's advice. The stressful work had taken its toll on her health and following advice from the doctors she resigned. Mary Erskine, the daughter of Scottish Historian of India, William Erskine took over the Superintendent role.

Personal life
Mackenzie married John Mackenzie on 13 August 1839 at St Cuthbert's, Edinburgh. He was the fifth son of Sir George Steuart Mackenzie and was an ordained minister. Mackenzie was accompanied on the journey to Therapia by her husband. She had no children.

Death
Mackenzie died in Edinburgh, on 18 September 1892. She was buried in Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh.

Honours
In 1899, the Eliza Mackenzie House Mess for Nursing Sisters of the Queen Alexandra Royal Naval Nursing Service was built and opened at the Royal Hospital, Haslar. In 2014, Eliza Mackenzie Court, providing sheltered accommodation for retired navy and service personnel, was opened in Cosham, Portsmouth.

The Eliza Mackenzie prize for student naval nurses is awarded each year.