Lucy Duff Grant

Duff Grant was born 12 June 1894 in Sydenham London, eldest of two daughters of Edith and Lachlan Gordon Duff Grant. She was educated in London, Germany, and Paris. In 1913 she was noted as the first English woman to fly in a Zeppelin at the invitation of Count Zeppelin. She attended the Byam Shaw School of Art (1913–15). == Early nursing career ==

Duff Grant first completed Red Cross and St John Ambulance Voluntary Aid Detachment training at St. Thomas Hospital, London in 1915, before entering nurse training in 1916 at the same hospital under Matron Lloyd Still. Duff Grant undertook midwifery training before becoming a ward sister. She studied for a sister tutor qualification at King's College for Household and Social Science in 1922 and took up post as principal tutor at the General Infirmary in Leeds. == Later nursing career ==

In 1929, on the retirement of Matron Margaret Sparshott, Duff Grant was appointed matron of the Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI). a position she held for 26 years. After the war Duff Grant travelled overseas with the Territorial Army Nursing Service and became involved with the work of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which sought her hospitality at MRI in retraining Jewish nurses who had been forbidden to nurse under the Nazis. Duff-Grant relinquished her TANS commission in 1950. == Professional, national and international activities ==

Duff Grant was a member of the College of Nursing, later the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), from 1916 onwards. In 1950 Duff Grant succeeded Dame Louisa Wilkinson as president of the RCN, serving for two years. From 1951 to 1957 she was also president of the National Council of Nurses (an organization that merged with the RCN in 1963). Duff Grant also represented the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, on the board of The Queen's Institute for District Nurses. As a practicing Anglican, she was a member of the Guild of St Barnabas throughout her nursing career, becoming president and chairman 1953–1980. In 1955, she took a voluntary role as the headquarters training advisor to St. John's Ambulance, later becoming the chief nursing officer (1959–1965). == Awards and honours ==

Royal Red Cross 1942. == Death ==

Lucy Duff Grant died of cardiac failure at St John Nursing Home, Whitstable, Kent, on 27 January 1984. == References ==