Royal British Nurses Association British College of Nurses

The Royal British Nurses Association (RBNA)was founded (as the British Nurses' Association) in December 1887, by Dr Bedford Fenwick, and his wife, Ethel Gordon Fenwick, former Matron of St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, with HRH Princess Christian, daughter of Queen Victoria, as its first President. There was considerable opposition to the Association, particularly from Florence Nightingale, who felt that it would destroy the `vocational spirit' of nursing. The Association was renamed the RBNA in 1891 and received its Royal Charter in 1893. Dr and Mrs Fenwick took over the Nursing Record (started in 1888), in 1893 and renamed it the British Journal of Nursing in 1902. Mrs Fenwick and Isla Stewart (Matron of St Bartholomew's Hospital) founded the Matrons' Council of Great Britain and Ireland in 1894. The Society for the State Registration of Nurses was formed in 1902, with Ethel Fenwick as Secretary and Treasurer. The National Council of Trained Nurses of Great Britain and Ireland was established 1904, with Ethel Fenwick as President. Between 1906 and 1909 the RBNA drafted three Parliamentary bills on nurse registration. The Central Committee for the State Registration of Nurses was formed 1909 with Ethel Fenwick as joint honorary secretary. From 1910-1914 the Central Committee introduced annual Parliamentary bills on nurse registration. The College of Nursing (later Royal College of Nursing) was established 1916, and in 1917 there were inconclusive discussions on the possibility of a merger between the RBNA and the College. The Nurses' Registration Acts were passed in 1919. The General Nursing Council, chaired by Mrs Fenwick was established 1920. The British College of Nurses (BCN) was founded by Mrs Fenwick, 1926, with herself as President, and Dr Fenwick as Treasurer. In 1927 the College of Nursing applied for its Royal Charter, the application, opposed by the RBNA, was granted in 1928 and it was renamed the Royal College of Nursing in 1939. Bedford Fenwick died 1939 and Ethel Fenwick, 1947. The British College of Nurses closed in 1956.