Muriel Powell

Dame Muriel Betty Powell (30 October 1914 – 8 December 1978) was a British nurse, hospital matron, nurse educator, public servant, and Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for the Scottish Home and Health Department (SHHD) 1970-76.

Early life Powell was born, lived and was educated in Cinderford, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. She was the fourth of seven children of Annie (nee Stewart) and Wallace George Powell, a stonemason who set up a house building company.

She was appointed Chief Nursing Officer in Scotland in 1970. However, it soon became clear that she suffered from dementia, and retired in 1976. She returned to Gloucestershire, where she died in a psychiatric hospital in 1978, aged 64. and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1968 for her services to nursing, and specifically her membership of the Salmon Committee and including her tenure as matron of St George's Hospital, London.