Nurses Badges

These badges predominantly belonged to nurses at RNNH who either kindly donated them to the home or offered them for us to feature in the MoN project.

The badges are arranged in three groups: qualification badges, hospital badges and membership badges. Following these we have some information about nurses buckles.

If you’re interested in learning more about nurses badges and the engravings on them, then the following website provides detailed information on the subject: http://www.schoolsofnursing.co.uk/Collections1/GNCEWBadges.htm

 

Qualification Badges

These badges were given to nurses on completion of training. They include badges issued for registered nurses in England and Scotland, certified midwives and community nurses.

Click on a photo below to see the full image and a description of the badge.

Hospital Badges

Hospital badges were given to students by the hospital where they trained. These badges were unique to the hospital and there are dozens of designs. Nurses would proudly wear their badge throughout their career. Nowadays students don’t receive a hospital badge, though some have continued the tradition by creating their own.

Click on a photo below to see the full image and a description of the badge.

Membership Badges

Professional nursing organisations would issue badges to their members. We have examples from The British Nursing Association (BNA), The Royal College of Nursing (RCN)  and The Catholic Nurses Guild (CNG).

Click on a photo below to see the full image and a description of the badge.

Nurses Buckle

Nurses often had a heavy belt as part of their uniform and it was usual for nurses to have a buckle once they qualified. Families of newly qualified nurses would often purchase a buckle as congratulatory present. Some hospitals had their own buckle that would be issued as part of a nurses uniform.

The nurses buckle shown below is not specific to a particular hospital.

Visitor Contributions

Edward O’Hara kindly sent in photos of badges from Frimley Park Hospital and Outlon Hall Hospital along with the following story from when he qualified:

“I and my group had just qualified at Oulton Hall as it was being closed down and moved to Fieldhead at Wakefield, we were offered the Wakefield School Of Nursing Badge but were having none of it. So this is one of the last badges given to Oulton Hall Nurses.”