Who was the first nurse MP Member of Parliament ?

Who was the first nurse MP ?

The title of first nurse elected to parliament is a hotly disputed one….

Some have argued that Alice Mahon a NUPE nursing auxillary (Labour – Halifax) elected in 1987 was first, others Laura Moffat COHSE Registered nurse (Labour –Crawley) elected in 1997. Others Anne (Picking) Moffat a COHSE/UNISON registered nurse elected for Labour at East Lothian in 2001, or Ann Keen nursing tutor and NUPE/CDNA member for Labour at Brentford & Isleworth,

In 2005 Jim Devine a former COHSE registered nurse and UNISON Head of Health, Scotland was elected for Livingstone along with Tory, Ann Milton, RCN steward elected at Guildford.

But few know that a registered nurse was actually elected as long ago as 1958

Mrs Mary McAlister MP

 

Elected Member of Parliament for Kelvingrove, Glasgow, Scotland in a by-election in March 1958 but lost the seat in 1959.

Mary was born Mary Agnes McMackin in Rathmullan, Donegal, Ireland.Educated at a Franciscan Convent in Glasgow. From 1923 to 1926, she trained as a fever nurse at the Knightswood Hospital in Glasgow. She married in 1927 and had four children. Mary McAlister was elected as a Labour Councillor for Glasgow City Council (1945-1958), where she was Chairman of the Health and Welfare Committee . Member of Western Regional Hospital Board, appointed a JP in 1947. Awarded a CBE in 1967 and died in 1976.

Michael Walker

Dr Hyacinth Morgan MP

Dr Hyacinth Bernard Wenceslaus Morgan was born to "poor irish" parents in the West Indies and came to Scotland in 1904 to study medicine at Glasgow University.

While at University he was active in the Fabian Society and founded a students Irish Nationalist Club.

Upon graduting, his medical experience included clinical work at Glagow mental hospitals.

After service in France as a doctor in World War One, he sacrificied prospects of a fine medical career to become a Labour member of parliament

He fist contestead the North Camberwell constituency in 1922, where Dr Macnamara (Liberal) was the sitting MP for the previous 20 years. Morgan contestead the seat again in 1923 (lost by 88 votes) and 1924 before being elected in 1929 with a 2,500 majority.

He did not contest the 1931 general elelection instead he devoted himself to to the cause of Indistrial Medicine and was acknowledged as a pioneer in Industial Medicine.

He was appointed Medical Adviser to the Trades Union Congress, Post office workers Union and numerous British Medical Association committees.

In 1936 Dr Hyacinth Morgan (especially as a Roman Catholic) was central (along with Dr Charles Brook)in the establishment of the Spanish Medical Aid Committee (SMAC) in August 1936 to provide medical aid to the reublican cause in Spain. SMAC's headquarters were at the National Trade Union Club, 24 New Oxford Street, London.

He was re-elected to parliment in a by-election in 1940 for the constituency of Rochdale. In 1950 he switched to Warrington, where he was relected in 1951 but did not seek re-election at the next general election.

He served as a member of the Confederation of Health Service Employees (COHSE) National Executive Committee and COHSE's Medical Guild from 1946-1951.

Dr Morgan had GP practices at Greenwich, Camberwell and finally Paddington

His wife was a nurse and he had two daughters

Dr H.W.B. Morgan died 1956