Frances Goodall

Frances Goodall CBE (8 December 1893 – 22 July 1976) was a British nurse who was General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing and a founder of what became the Colostomy Association.

Personal life and career Goodall was born in Dulwich in 1893 into a well off household. She was educated at home with her two brothers. Her family were in the medical profession and seeing her uncle at work made her decide to be a nurse. She spent two years teaching at Camden High School for Girls but then joined Guy's Hospital as a trainee nurse where her three uncles had also trained. She served in several roles as a sister before specialising in the treatment of eyes.

In 1928 she became the Assistant General Secretary of the College of Nursing, which was established with a Royal Charter that year.

In 1935 Goodall became College of Nursing's General Secretary One of her first tasks was to prepare evidence for the Athlone Committee which reported to Government in 1939.

Goodall held other voluntary roles including, from 1943 Honorary Secretary, Women’s Advisory Council of the Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust (working under Priscilla Norman); and from 1943 elected Chair of the British Federation of Business and Professional Women (of which she was later President). This would become the Colostomy Association.

She was awarded an OBE in 1944 and in 1953 she was awarded a CBE.

Goodall died in the Royal Free Hospital in 1976.