# Kathleen Raven > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Kathleen_Raven > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Kathleen_Raven.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Raven > Source revision: 1342550826 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Dame Kathleen Annie Ingram Raven**, [DBE](/source/Order_of_the_British_Empire), [FRCN](/source/Royal_College_of_Nursing) (9 November 1910, [Coniston, Lancashire](/source/Coniston,_Cumbria), [England](/source/England) – 19 April 1999, [Oxford](/source/Oxford), [England](/source/England))[1] was a British nurse, matron, government health official, health care engineer, and educational philanthropist.[2] ## Background Kathleen Annie Raven was born and raised in [Coniston, Cumbria](/source/Coniston,_Cumbria), attending [Ulverston Grammar School](/source/Ulverston_Grammar_School). Art was a strong influence on her as a child; her father's mother was personal assistant the painter [John Ruskin](/source/John_Ruskin) whilst her mother's father claimed the potter Miles Mason as an ancestor.[3] She was brought up in a [Plymouth Brethren](/source/Plymouth_Brethren) household where her parents read a chapter of the Bible every night. She had three brothers with whom she climbed mountains, skated, fished and rowed.[1] Her elder brother, Ronald Raven, became a surgeon. Visiting her brother when he was a medical student at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, she decided to become a nurse and started her training there in 1933.[2] ## Career Raven trained as a nurse at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, qualifying with honours[3] and registering with the [General Nursing Council](/source/General_Nursing_Council) in 1936.[4] She had won a scholarship for midwifery which she also qualified in, working in the local area of [East London](/source/East_London) where she encountered significant poverty.[1] During [World War II](/source/World_War_II) she was Ward Sister and Night Superintendent in that hospital where during the war, she was nicknamed 'Pocket Battleship' due to her height and her high standards of patient care.[1] The area was devastated by [The Blitz](/source/The_Blitz), with Raven blown across the casualty ward when St Bartholomew's was bombed.[1] In 1946 she was appointed Assistant Matron at St Bartholomew's. In 1949, she was named as Deputy Matron at the [General Infirmary, Leeds](/source/Leeds_General_Infirmary), where she was swiftly appointed Matron, a post she held for eight years1949-1957.[1] This coincided with the early years of the [National Health Service](/source/National_Health_Service) which enabled her to bring in reforms. During 1953 she undertook a 13-week tour to study nursing methods in the United States, Canada and South America.[1] The General Infirmary at Leeds was the first teaching hospital to set up an Assistant Nurse Training Programme in 1955.[2] While at [Leeds](/source/Leeds) she was prominent at a national level. She was a member of both the [General Nursing Council](/source/General_Nursing_Council) (1950-1957)[1] and the Council of the [Royal College of Nursing](/source/Royal_College_of_Nursing), as Chair of the Yorkshire Branch of the RCN.[5] Raven was also a member of the National Executive Committee of the [Association of Hospital Matrons](/source/Association_of_Hospital_Matrons)[3] and served as a member of the Leeds Central Area Advisory Board for Secondary Education.[5] For several years she was External Examiner for the Diploma in Nursing at the University of Leeds. In 1957 she became a member of the Central Health Services Council. Raven became Deputy Chief Nursing Officer, [Department of Health](/source/Department_of_Health_and_Social_Security) (1957-1958)[1] in London, where she became Chief Nursing Officer in July 1958, succeeding Dame [Elizabeth Cockayne](/source/Elizabeth_Cockayne).[2] She oversaw many changes during her tenure, 1958-1972, such as the introduction of intensive care in 1961 as a direct result of her visits to America.[1] She was instrumental in setting up the [Salmon Committee](/source/Salmon_Report) which investigated and reported in 1966 on the structure of nursing management.[1] She commissioned reports on health visitors' training and on,the ratio of patients to nurses.[1] She established the right of matrons to attend meetings of their hospital management committees, which had long been a source of contention[3] Raven also persuaded [Richard Crossman](/source/Richard_Crossman) the Health Secretary, to create the [Briggs Committee](/source/Briggs_Report) on nurse training which published in 1972. It addressed Raven's concerns on the lack of a career structure for state-enrolled nurses, and it recognised that nurses were needed at all management levels.[3] After her retirement from the Department of Health in 1972, Raven was to be disappointed as the recommendations were not implemented.[1] Another blow soon after her retirement was the death of her husband.[3] She threw herself into another opportunity, this time with United Medical Enterprise an international health care corporation.[3] She travelled extensively in the Middle East and Far East, establishing health care facilities along British lines (1972-1986).[1] She worked for the Civil Service Commission and was appointed a Governor of [Epsom College](/source/Epsom_College) and of Aylesbury Grammar School.[6] Raven died at the age of 88 in 1999.[5] ## Personal life In 1959 she married Professor John Thornton Ingram who had created the Dermatological Department at Leeds before accepting the first chair in dermatology at Newcastle.[1] He died in 1972.[5] ## Endowments - **Kathleen A Raven Lecture** at the [Royal College of Nursing](/source/Royal_College_of_Nursing) to provide a platform for distinguished speakers to promulgate their views on current nursing problems. - **Dame Kathleen Raven Chair in Clinical Nursing** was endowed by Raven in 1998, the year before her death.[2] The first holder of the chair was Professor [Claire Hale](/source/Claire_Hale).[1] The most recent holder is Professor Steven Ersser, 2014–2017. ## Honours Her honours included Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire awarded in 1968;[1] Officer of the [Order of St John](/source/Venerable_Order_of_Saint_John) in 1963;[7] Fellow of the [Royal Society of Arts](/source/Royal_Society_of_Arts) in 1970;[7] Vice-President of the Royal College of Nursing 1972-; Fellow of the [Royal College of Nursing](/source/Royal_College_of_Nursing) in 1986;[8] Freeman of the [City of London](/source/City_of_London) in 1986[1] and honorary degrees from [Keele University](/source/Keele_University) and the [University of Leeds](/source/University_of_Leeds).[7] She was made a Patron of the [Royal College of Surgeons of England](/source/Royal_College_of_Surgeons_of_England) and was an Honorary Freeman of the [Worshipful Company of Barbers](/source/Worshipful_Company_of_Barbers). ## References 1. "Dame Kathleen Raven". *The Times*. 21 Apr 1999. 1. [Dame Kathleen Raven profile, Leeds University archives](https://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/participant/6278) 1. Marshall, By John (1999-04-23). ["Dame Kathleen Raven"](https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/apr/23/guardianobituaries). *The Guardian*. [ISSN 0261-3077](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0261-3077). Retrieved 2025-08-31. 1. ["General Nursing Council Register"](https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/discoveryui-content/view/1232741:60423). *Ancestry*. 1936. 1. Dopson, Laurence (20 April 1999). ["Obituary: Dame Kathleen Raven"](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-dame-kathleen-raven-1088602.html). *The Independent*. Retrieved 8 January 2016. 1. ["Epsom College, op cit, supra"](https://web.archive.org/web/20070504070838/http://www.epsomcollege.org.uk/page-174). Archived from [the original](http://www.epsomcollege.org.uk/page-174) on 4 May 2007. Retrieved 2 March 2007. 1. ["Raven; Dame; Kathleen Annie (1910-1999); nurse leader"](https://rcn.epexio.com/names/888dacbc-13a8-9fd0-74d6-9427002a5605). *rcn.epexio.com*. Retrieved 2025-08-31. 1. ["RCN Fellows and Honorary Fellows | Royal College of Nursing"](https://www.rcn.org.uk/About-us/RCN-Fellows-and-Honorary-Fellows). *The Royal College of Nursing*. Retrieved 2024-04-18. ## External links - [Dame Kathleen Raven blog Royal College of Physicians museum](https://history.rcplondon.ac.uk/blog/dame-kathleen-raven-voice-eyes-and-ears-nursing) - [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography](http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101072214/) - Archival material held at - Oral History interviews held at [RCN Archive](https://rcn.epexio.com/search/all:records/0_50/name_on_description_ts%3A888dacbc-13a8-9fd0-74d6-9427002a5605/score_desc/%2A) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Kathleen Raven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Raven) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Raven?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.