Beatrice Cutler

Beatrice Cutler (25 August 1861–4 August 1942) was a matron who campaigned for State Registration of Nurses in the UK and was founding Secretary of the National Council of Nurses of the United Kingdom.

Training Cutler was born 25 August 1861 in the Bloomsbury area of London. From 1885 to 1888 Cutler was a probationer nurse at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London where she successfully completed three years certified nurse training in 1888, becoming Staff Nurse there from May–November 1888.

Early career in Egypt In December 1888 Cutler relocated to Egypt for what she considered "the great adventure of her life" Between 1892 and 1898 she was Superintendent, Medical School for Girls Kasr-el-Aini Hospital, Cairo. She was also in charge of the hospital's midwifery wards and the gynæcological section. This work came at some personal risk – with her predecessor, Hughes dying of typhoid in 1889. From 1898 to 1902 she was Matron of the English Hospital and Victoria Nursing Home, Cairo

Career in England In 1902 Cutler returned to England, and was Matron, Much Wenlock Hospital Shropshire until 1904. In 1904 she returned to London as Superintendent of the Nurses' Home, St Bartholomew's Hospital. This role included a regular column in 'The Nursing Record ' outlining Council meetings and activities, which she was frequently called upon to chair, and being actively involved in the International Nursing Congress which took place in London in 1909. The press reports her financial donations towards the campaign for state registration in the UK, and her role in a deputation to Parliament on that issue.

Whilst at St. Bartholomew's, Cutler worked alongside Matron Isla Stewart. Stewart co-authored Practical Nursing, with Dr Herbert Guff, first published in 1899 it had multiple editions. Upon Stewart's death in 1910 Cuff worked with Cutler to update the 1911 edition.

First World War Shortly after World War I was declared on 4 August 1914, Cutler set out on the 19th August 1914 leading a party of 15 nurses to Belgium for the Belgian Red Cross, Upon her return she focused on her duties at Barts, although during the war she visited Barts nurses based in Europe such as visit to Bolougne.

The campaign for nurse registration continued throughout the war, and Cutler continued in her work on the executive of the National Council of Nurses. Her wartime experiences informed her campaigning, strengthening her arguments in favour of nurse registration. This can be seen in her keynote paper on 'Military Nursing and Registration' at the Society for the State Registration of Nurses conference in the summer of 1915 which was written up in full in The Nursing Record. She argued that the lack of a register thwarted the effective mobilisation of specialist nurses as part of the war effort.

Later life and retirement Cutler was Honorary Secretary and a founder member of League of St Bartholomew's Hospital Nurses 1914–1920 and at the time of her death was vice-president of the League of St. Bartholomew's Hospital Nurses. In 1919 she was elected to the Council of the Royal British Nurses' Association.

After her retirement from St Bartholomew's in 1920, Cutler continued to take a keen and active interest in her profession.

On 30 September 1921 Cutler successfully registered with the General Nursing Council – becoming number 17 on the register, and her retirement was marked with a portrait of her with her guineapig at St Bartholomew's Hospital. She enjoyed travel and in January 1922 she announced an extended trip to South Africa returning in time to represent the Council of Nurses at the International Council of Nurses Congress in Copenhagen. A service took place in the Church of St. Bartholomew-the-Less for friends and colleagues, with a final service at Golders Green Crematorium.

Along with Isla Stewart Cutler was awarded French Medaille d'Argent de l'Assistance Publique; their award was for the supervision of French nursing students from the Assistance Publique de Paris on a training secondment.

In 1943 a bed at St Bartholomew's Hospital was endowed in her memory.