Nurse

Civil Nursing

General information on nursing in India can be found in the book A Brief History of Nursing in India and Pakistan by Alice Wilkinson (1958).¹ Wilkinson was associated with nursing in India for more than forty years and in 1908 was the first trained British nurse to join St Stephens Hospital, Delhi. Alongside a history of the development of the profession from its earliest times, she describes nursing specialities, including leprosy and tuberculosis work.

A History of Nursing in the British Empire by Sarah A. Southall Tooley (published 1906) has a section on India, pages 339-349.² Interesting information in the book:

It is stated that the Calcutta Hospital Nurses Institution was founded in 1859 “with which is associated the Lady Canning Home, Calcutta, institutions doing valuable work today in supplying nurses to hospitals and in the training of skilled private staff."
Nurse training at the General Hospital, Madras and the Cama Hospital, Bombay was also mentioned. The latter is a hospital for women and children. It subsequently became affiliated with the Grant Medical College in 1923 and part of the Sir J.J. Hospital Group.
“The nursing of Europeans in India has been met to some extent in the large towns by the Clewer, Wantage and All Saints Sisterhoods and kindred private institutions." (Refer Religious Orders below).

The Up-Country Nursing Association for Europeans In India was founded in 1892 in the U.K. to send trained nurses to India for employment under local committees nursing sick Europeans in up-country districts. Lady Minto’s Nursing Association was established 1906 in the U.K to send nurses to India to provide private nursing for Europeans in India. The former organisation was amalgamated with the latter.
Royal College of Nursing Archives (Edinburgh)(refer section below)catalogue reference C/123 - Lady Minto's Indian Nursing Association
Book
Gone With the Raj by Emma Wilson 1974 (Available at the B.L.) Snippet View Google Books. Emma Wilson was working in India with the Lady Minto’s Indian Nursing Association from the 1920’s? until 1947.She was Chief Lady Superintendent from 1938 to 1947.

Training

"Nursing in India" by Shubhada Sakurikar states that for many years nursing training was the preserve of Europeans and Anglo-Indians. The Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy (JJ) Hospital (Bombay) was the first to train nurses in western India. The first Indian lady to come forward for nursing training was Bai Kashibai Ganpat in 1891 in Bombay, implying that European and Eurasians were training prior to this date. In the years that followed, nursing schools were established all over the country in collaboration with government, state and private hospitals.

Missionary women doctors in nineteenth century Delhi by Kaushik Das Gupta states that St Stephens Hospital, Delhi started a training School for nurses under Alice Wilkinson — the first trained British nurse who joined the hospital in 1908. Wilkinson became the hospital's nursing superintendent and is credited with raising the standard of nursing not only in St Stephen's but in the rest of India as well. She founded the Trained Nurses’ Association of India and worked as its secretary until 1948. This link is about St Stephen’s Hospital, Delhi.

Professional Associations

The Association of Nursing Superintendents was founded in 1905 at Lucknow. The organization was composed of nine European nurses holding administrative posts in hospitals. At the 1908 Annual Conference held in Bombay, a decision was taken to establish the Trained Nurses’ Association. This Association was inaugurated in 1909. The Association of Nursing Superintendents and the Trained Nurses’ Association were amalgamated in 1922 and renamed The Trained Nurses’ Association of India (TNAI).

Nursing Journal of India

The Nursing Journal of India (Nurs J India) began publishing in 1912. The British Library has the Nursing Journal of India from December 1926 (with a few scattered editions prior to this) to February 1939 and Cambridge University Library has an incomplete holding from 1935 to 1989.The Royal College of Nursing Archives in Edinburgh(refer section below) probably has early issues of this Journal, but they are not catalogued at present.
It would be expected there would be mention of many individual nurses in the Journals.

Historical U.K. Nursing Journals Online

This is a searchable database of PDF images showing journal pages. Search The Nursing Record / The British Journal of Nursing 1888-1956 image database .There are many mentions of India in these Journals

Religious Orders

The Clewer Sisters were Sisters from the Anglican Community of St John the Baptist from Clewer (near Windsor in England) who came to Calcutta in 1881. This link describes the book Sisters of the Raj by Valerie Bonham, (which is available at the British Library), No Preview Google Books

They were involved with nursing at the Calcutta General Hospital and also with nurse training through the Calcutta Hospital Nurses Institution, which was based at the Lady Canning Home.

The book All Saints Sisters of the Poor: an Anglican Sisterhood in the Nineteenth Century by Susan Mumm published 2001 Limited View Google Books indicates this order was in India from 1878

The book A History of Christianity (Volume VI) the Great Century in Northern Africa and Asia 1800-1914 Limited View Google Books indicates that the Wantage Sisters (Community of St Mary the Virgin,Wantage, Oxfordshire), an Anglican Order were in Bombay and Poona from 1874

Stolen Daughters, Virgin Mothers: Anglican Sisterhoods in Victorian Britain by Susan Mumm 1999 Limited View Google Books gives more details about these three Orders.

Military Nurses in India

The Indian Nursing Service for the British Army in India was founded in 1888. Nurses were recruited in England. The service became known as Queen Alexandra's Military Nursing Service for India in 1903, and in 1926 was amalgamated with Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service. This link gives more details. Select British Military Nurses and scroll down to Queen Alexandra's Military Nursing Service for India.
Books
A Memoir by Catharine Grace Loch, Royal Red Cross, Senior Lady Superintendent Queen Alexandra's Military Nursing Service for India published 1905 Archive.org Full View No preview Google Book
The Maturing Sun: an Army Nurse in India 1942-1945 by A Bolton 1986 (Available at the B.L.) No Preview Google Books
Sister Sahibs; the VAD's with the 14th Army, 1944-46 by M Robertson 1987 (Available at the B.L.) No Preview Google Books

Records available in the British Library

Records relating to nursing at the British Library include:

The Indian Nursing Service-Registers of Candidates IOR/L/MIL/9/430-432 (1887-1920)
Collection 262 Indian Nursing Service IOR/L/MIL/7/11316-11616 (1886-1940), which includes items 262/1-270 and 262A/1-188 with many individual names mentioned.
Collection 262/103 IOR/L/MIL/7/11421 (1913) states "Candidates for Queen Alexandra's Military Nursing Service for India must either be of British parentage or naturalised British subjects."
Nursing sisters and higher ranks are recorded in the Indian Army List from 1891. Staff Nurses are recorded from 1926.

Other records are listed on this British Library webpage.

Other Libraries and Archives

Royal College Of Nursing Archives in Edinburgh. You need to discuss your requirements with the Archives Librarian and to book an appointment prior to visiting.
Royal College Of Nursing Library Catalogue Library in London

FIBIS resources

The FIBIS database contains the following records:

Notes

The British Library has a copy of this book. You can search for a Library which has it, or see Google Books' No Preview link.
The book is only available in Snippet View Google Books but is available full view here on the website archive.org.