Isabel Graham Bryce

Dame Isabel Graham Bryce ( Isabella Lorrain Smith; 30 April 1902 – 29 April 1997) was a British public servant. She was at first an investigator for the Industrial Fagitue Research before going to become HM inspector of factories. Bryce worked for the Women's Voluntary Service from 1938 to 1943 and at Harvard Fatigue Laboratory between 1943 and 1944. She also worked for organisations such as the National Council of Women of Great Britain, the Manchester Children's Hospital, the General Nursing Council, the Queen Victoria Hospital, the British Transport Hotels and the Independent Television Authority.

Early life On 30 April 1902, Bryce was born as Isabella Lorrain Smith to the pathology professor James Lorrain Smith and his wife Isabella ( Meek-Edmond) at Westbourne, Windsor Avenue, Belfast. She was the fourth of five children in the family. In her second year, Bryce and her siblings were encouraged to support the enthusiasm of their mother for public service. and was on the board of the Manchester Children's Hospital when the National Health Service was introduced in 1948. Bryce took part in a study of nurses' work and helped develop a new curriculum in the training of nursery nurses. National Nursing Staff Committee between 1967 and 1975, Bryce was married to the Manchester hospitals consultant and surgeon Alexander Graham Bryce from 25 January 1934 until his death on 24 October 1968. They had two children.

On 29 April 1997, the day before her 95th birthday, she died at the John Radcliffe Hospital. Oxford.

Personality In her entry in the Dictionary of National Biography, Alex Gatherer wrote, "Dame Isabel's natural gifts as a chairman combined well with her considerable experience of boards and committees and her concerns for staff welfare, and she saw her chairmanships as the high point of her career. She was tall, with a stately presence, and impressed those who met her." Veronica Du Feu wrote of Bryce in The Independent, "Isabel Graham Bryce was a tall and stately presence whose searching eyes remained clear and blue, reflecting her keen mind".