A HIDDEN HISTORY:
African Women and the
British Health Service
1930–2000
Royal United Hospital
On the 17th of November 2021, the Young Historians Project unveiled a mural in the main atrium of the Royal United Hospital in Bath, England. It was the first of a series of commemorative murals which were commissioned as part of our public history project celebrating impactful African women in British healthcare. The mural features four female healthcare workers that have historic ties to Bath from a range of time periods. These women are Princess Tsehai Selassie, Bijou Bidwell, Hannah Augusta Mahoney, and Olugbemisola Kolade. YHP worked with heritage interpreter and Bristol–based artist, Michele Curtis, who painted the mural with assistance from consultant artist Nadia Lloyd. We chose to portray both twentieth century and contemporary women in this mural to highlight the contributions and long historical presence of African women towards the National Health Service, as well as medicine more widely.
The mural's unveiling was reported by the BBC, Somerset Live, GenerationMedics, and Rayo. YHP also published a blog article to share the experience from our perspective. RUH's Chief Executive stated “I’m so pleased we’ll have the beautiful mural here as a daily reminder of how important our history is and the African women who have contributed to this. Our diversity makes us stronger, and it’s vital we continue working on initiatives to welcome staff from all backgrounds and support people to further progress in their careers with us.” We encourage you to visit the mural at Royal United Hospital and take in this beautiful art piece and important history in person.
Princess Tsehai
Princess Tsehai was born in 1919 in Addis Ababa. Her father was Emperor Haile Selassie. During fascist Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, the royal family fled to England and ruled in exile at Fairfield House in Bath. Princess Tsehai began nursing training in hopes that her skills would benefit her nation upon return. She completed her training at Great Ormond Street Hospital and Guy’s Hospital, becoming a state registered children's nurse. Once the royal family were able to return to Ethiopia, she married Brigadier-General Lij Abiye Abebe and moved to Welega Province. Tragically, the Princess died following complications during childbirth in 1942. The Emperor founded the Princess Tsehai Memorial Hospital in her memory, which also served as a nursing school. Read more here.
Bibliography
Tsehai Selassie
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“Princess Tsehai Haile Selassie (1918-1942).” British Red Cross Collection Online, https://museumandarchives.redcross.org.uk/objects/46898.
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The National Archives. Photographs of Groups of Nurses All Including Princess Tsahai, Daughter of the Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, Who Trained as a Nurse at Guy’s 1940-1941 | the National Archives. 12 Aug. 2009, discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/04b5cf14-92be-4751-9a92-27da28f77599.
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Tanner, D. (2005). GOSH revealed: A Princess on the ward. Roundabout. Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1936, The Near East and Africa, Volume III. (1936). Retrieved 1 April 2019, from https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1936v03/d75
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Bijou Bidwell
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Balajo, Babucarr. “Gamcotrap Pays Tribute to Bijou Peters &Ndash; the Standard Newspaper | Gambia.” The Standard Newspaper | Gambia, 14 Mar. 2014, https://standard.gm/gamcotrap-pays-tribute-to-bijou-peters/.
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Gates, Henry Louis, Emmanuel Akyeampong, and Steven J. Niven. "Dictionary of African Biography." (2012).
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Joof, Modou S. “A nurse and journalist who was truly fearless in confronting authority in both Church and State.” The North Bank Evening Standard, Mar. 2014, https://thenorthbankeveningstandard.blogspot.com/2014/03/a-nurse-and-journalist-who-was-truly.html.
Hannah Augusta Mahoney
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Falola, Toyin, and Daniel Jean-Jacques, eds. Africa: An Encyclopedia of Culture and Society [3 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2015.
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Fourshey, Cymone. "Women in the Gambia." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History (2019).
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Janneh, Fatou. "Women’s Struggles through Collective Action in The Gambia, 1950s to 1970." African Studies Quarterly 21.2 (2022): 1-18.
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Perfect, David. Historical dictionary of the Gambia. Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.