 | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Caroline Keer" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Caroline Keer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1857 (1857) |
| Died | (aged 71) West Worthing, Worthing, Sussex |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service | British Army |
| Years of service | 1887–1910 |
| Rank | Matron-in-Chief |
| Commands | Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (1906–10) |
| Battles / wars | Second Boer War |
| Awards | Royal Red Cross & Bar |
| Relations | Honoria Somerville Keer (half-sister) |
Caroline Keer, RRC & Bar (1857 – 29 December 1928) was a British military nurse and nursing administrator, who served in Natal during the Second Boer War. She was matron-in-chief of Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps between 1906 and 1910.
Early life
Caroline Helen Keer was born in India in 1857, her father was Major General Jonathan Keer (1825–1907), serving at the time in the HM Bengal Staff Corps. Surgeon Honoria Somerville Keer was a younger paternal half-sister. Keer was sent to school in Malvern in England and lived there after completing her education until her father moved to Canada, when she joined him. She went to study nursing at Boston under Miss Drown, Superintendent of Nursing at Boston City Hospital. Keer returned to Britain on 1887.
Nursing career
Keer served with the British Army's Nursing Service from December 1887, where she nursed at the Royal Victoria Military Hospital, Netley, before she was posted to Egypt from 1888 to 1894. She was based in Dover for the next five years before she served in Natal during the Second Boer War in 1899 for which she received the Royal Red Cross and the Queen's and King's South African medals. She returned to Britain at the end of the war and was based in Colchester, where she joined Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS).
In 1903 she was appointed Principal Matron at Pretoria, South Africa. At the time of her appointment there were 14 military hospitals serving soldiers and their families; a central duty of her position was to supervise and inspect each hospital. Upon her appointment as matron-in-chief, the British Journal of Nursing reported:
Miss Keer has many qualifications for the high office to which she has been appointed. Her quiet, modest confidence, confidence evidently born of knowledge, cannot fail to beget the conviction that the choice which placed the reins of government in this important position in her hands and that she will maintain the dignity and prestige which the Service has acquired during the tenure of office of the present Matron-in-Chief Miss Sidney Browne, R.R.C. During her time as the Matron in Chief Miss Keer was involved in improving the pay, allowances and conditions of the nurses of the QAIMNS and making changes to the Military Families Hospitals.
Keer was appointed as matron-in-chief of Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps from 5 April 1906, succeeding Sidney Browne. She served until to 5 April 1910, retiring two months later. She was granted permission to retain the badge of QAIMNS, in "recognition of her Iong and meritorious service". Ethel Becher succeeded her in the role of matron-in-chief.
Later life and family
Caroline Keer died on 29 December 1928, aged 71, at her home in West Worthing, Sussex from undisclosed causes.
References
- ^ The Nursing Record / The British Journal of Nursing, 1888-1956 Volume 36 Page 251 3/31/1906
- RCN archives (cache PDF version: page476-volume44-11thjune1910.pdf)
- "Matron in Chief of the QAIMNS now QARANC". www.qaranc.co.uk. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
- "Command & Control of Army Nurses | British Army Nurses". britisharmynurses.com. Retrieved 24 November 2024.