Page:A short history of nursing - Lavinia L Dock (1920).djvu/275

Nursing in other Countries 259 English nurses have led in urging that trained women should be appointed to guard the health of prisoners, and in 1919, in answer to a Nursing in deputation led by the Penal Reform prisons League, in which Beatrice Kent represented nurses, an experiment was made in placing nurses in prisons for women under the Home Office. English women hope that this service may be extended into all prisons. The oldest and most eminent of the Scottish hospitals is the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, which was opened in 1729. In 187 1 the new - Scotland nursmg system was mtroduced by Miss Barclay, from the Nightingale School, with a staff of "Nightingales." This stimulated other hos- pitals and there was a general remodelling of systems throughout the country. Miss Barclay was succeeded by Miss Pringle, who only left Edinburgh to follow Mrs. Wardroper as Matron of St. Thomas's, and Miss Spencer then took charge of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, bringing it to a high point of perfection. Hers was literally a "gracious influence," trite as the words are. A prominent pioneer in Scottish hospitals was Mrs. Rebecca Strong, who reorganized the nursing in the Dundee Infirmary, and then took charge of the Royal Infirmary of Glasgow. The first pre-