Rachel Lumsden

Rachel Frances Lumsden (17 April 1835 – 22 April 1908) was a British nurse, and hospital manager.

Early life and family Rachel Lumsden was the fourth of seven children of Jane Forbes of Echt, Aberdeenshire, and the advocate Clements Lumsden, advocate in Aberdeen and Writer to the Signet. Her family lived at No 1 Union Terrace, Aberdeen. She joined later King's College Hospital, where she acquired a knowledge of hospital management such as no other person of her years had got. Despite the fact that the post of superintendent had previously always been covered by a man, she put herself forward for that position, and even on an unpaid basis. believed to be the first of its kind in Scotland.

Retirement and legacy A body of 63 medical practitioners connected with the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen Hospital for Sick Children presented her with an autograph album. At the head of these names was Sir James Reid, the Queen Victoria's physician. The address stated that:

Unusually for a nurse, Lumsden had an obituary in the British Medical Journal stating 'Aberdeen [medical] graduates in all parts of the world will hear with sympathy and much regret' of her death and quoting the above address and also noting Queen Victoria's interest in Lumsden's work in Aberdeen.

The British Journal of Nursing counted Lumsden as one of the pioneers among nurse leaders who helped the profession to win the Royal Charter, saying 'their names and honourable labours for the organisation of their profession should be held in appreciative remembrance 4 by the younger generation, who owe them a debt of gratitude for their power of progressive thought, their sense of professional responsibility, their unselfish devotion to duty, and their courage in fighting prejudice and privilege.'

Family Lumsden's elder sister Katharina Maria Lumsden (1831-1912) succeeded her as superintendent of the Aberdeen Hospital for Sick Children.