The Story of the QARNNS

The sick of this country's earliest Navy were not cared for with the friendly efficiency of today's service hospitals. In mediaeval times the most a sick or wounded seaman could hope for was assistance from one of the various religious orders or establishments throughout the country. The medical aid he received there was in the tradition of the times - leeches, bleeding and other dire remedies. These practices came to an end when Henry III issued a decree forbidding the profession of physician to the religious orders and thus opened the door to the barber-surgeons.

Nursing, however, still continued to be of a very low standard and remained so for many centuries. Sailors who had suffered injury would be farmed out to taverns and lodgings at the next port of call, tended upon by a local surgeon, and nursed by anyone who was at hand.

It was two famous Admirals, Hawkins and Drake, who in 1590 became aware of the plight of sick seamen and instigated a medical aid scheme whereby each parish gave a small weekly sum for the care of its invalid sailors. In 1604 the scheme became compulsory and all sailors had to contribute a small sum out of their pay. The system eventually foundered due to mismanagement and heavy debts.

Records show that in 1689 the first hospital entirely for Naval patients was requisitioned at Plymouth. Other ports followed suit and eventually Haslar, in Gosport, was built and opened in October 1753.

At this time the sick at Haslar were cared for by the widows of sailors and marines or by old pensioners who happened to live nearby. Many of the women were of "ill repute", often drunk and frequently thieves.
On board the ships, care of the sick seamen and wounded rested on seamen and marines who drifted towards this work - or were detailed to do it. They were known as loblolly boys, said to be so named after the porridge they brought to the sick.

One of the early Physicians in charge of Haslar was James Lind MD, who has been called the "Father of Nautical Medicine". He wrote a treatise on that scourge of seamen known as scurvy and was one of the first to realise that lemon juice could be used to control the disease.

Sir Thomas Spencer Wells Bt MD, inventor of the haemostatic forceps which are still in universal use, served in the Royal Navy between 1841 and 1856.When he first joined the Navy he was at Haslar for several weeks and his name is to be found in the Visitors' Book. When in later life he became a leader of surgery in London he used his influence to improve the conditions of service of the Naval Medical Officer.

In 1854, during the Crimean War Mrs Eliza Mackenzie (pictured left) led a party of six experienced nurses to the Navy's base hospital at Therapia, near Constantinople. These ladies pioneered ultimately for the Naval Nursing Officers.

A committee investigating the state of affairs in 1883 found that improvements ashore were very necessary. By 1884 a certified Naval Nursing Service staffed by trained nurses was brought into being: six nursing sisters were appointed to Haslar and five to Plymouth. Boys were recruited from the Greenwich Hospital school to form the beginnings of the Sick Berth Attendant Branch.

In the wards the Sisters were addressed as Madam by both staff and patients and absurd precautions were taken to protect them from the discomfort of viewing any part of the patients' bodies other than the head, shoulders and feet. An important part of the Sisters' responsibility was the practical instruction of the newly formed Sick Berth Staff. The Sisters originally wore a uniform of a navy-blue serge dress, white apron, small navy-blue serge shoulder capes and white frilled caps with strings. In the summer this was replaced by a white blouse and blue skirt.

In 1902 Her Majesty Queen Alexandra (pictured right) signified that it was her gracious pleasure to become President of the Nursing Staff, which was known thereafter as Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service.

To mark the Royal favour, the Sisters wore on the right hand side of their tippet a black cloth badge, embroidered with a red cross on a white ground encircled in gold; above this Her Majesty's monogram 'AA' in red interlaced an anchor and cable in gold, and the whole was surmounted by the Imperial Crown.

Following suggestions made by Her Majesty, the uniform was modified in various ways. The dress and cape were made of navy-blue linen with scarlet cuffs surmounted by a white handkerchief cap with an embroidered Naval crown in one corner.

In 1910 the principal civilian hospitals agreed to supply nurses at short notice in the event of war and the nucleus QARNNS Reserve was formed. In 1914 these same hospitals supplied large numbers of their Nursing Staff to augment the regular Service at the outbreak of war. The Voluntary Aid Detachment of the British Red Cross and the St John Ambulance Brigade also produced many volunteers. These women, known as 'The VADs', were already skilled in all varieties of nursing and other duties. The men were absorbed into the Sick Berth Attendant Branch. This large group of dedicated men and women served everywhere throughout the war. Between the wars they all returned to their normal duties, but again in 1939 at the outbreak of the Second World War, large numbers came forward from the civilian hospitals; some proceeding abroad without first serving in Naval Medical Establishments at home.

After the war in 1949, a Medical Branch of the Women's Royal Naval Service was formed and WRNS Sick Berth Attendants were trained. They were replaced in 1960 when a Naval Nurse section of the Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service came into being. The remaining Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses were given the option of joining the newly formed QARNNS Auxiliary Branch, as Naval Nurse ratings, thus giving a two-tier QARNNS.

In 1982 an integrated nursing service was established to allow male nurses to serve as officers and ratings in QARNNS.

Twice in recent years QARNNS personnel have been called in to fulfil a war-time role: in the Falklands in 1982, and in the Gulf War of 1991, when they served at sea in RFA Argus.

Today the QARNNS Patron is HRH Princess Alexandra - the great-granddaughter of its first President, Queen Alexandra. The Service has seen many changes throughout its history of medical care in the Royal Navy but the present combined forces of Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service and the Medical Branch of the Royal Navy - men and women working side by side in base hospitals and sick quarters - will continue to meet the challenge in the future as they have in the past.