By Elliott West
“I got about 350 letters from around Britain and the world. It did something for race relations and it also did something for other blacks because if one can do it we all can do it”.
Daphne Steele
Introduction
We refer to them as the Windrush Generation but these inspiring men and women have spanned the generations since this iconic ship first docked in 1948. One such woman who touched my heart is Daphne Steele. Daphne first arrived in the UK in the early 1950s from Guyana with several of her family including her sister, the actress, Carmen Munroe. Steele started training in nursing and midwifery in 1945 when she was 16 in a hospital in Georgetown, Guyana and aged 22 started a nursing training programme at St James’ Hospital in Balham. Gritty and determined, Daphne rose through the nursing ranks and in 1964 became the NHS’s first black Matron at St Winifred’s Hospital in West Yorkshire.
No Plain Sailing
“It was [Black nurses] […] who showed compassion, and who […] showed that kind of skills and high professionalism which raised the standards of services for people on the fringes of society in this country”.
Carol Baxter
There are always two sides to a story and Daphne’s is no exception. Steele arrived and worked in a country where derogatory remarks and vile examples of racism were sadly the norm. So many black people were not judged for their worth but on the colour of their skin and Daphne was a victim of this. This racism came from colleagues and patients despite her standing up to the plate and answering the call to help fill the desperate shortage of nurses that occurred at the time. A recruitment drive that would leave a bitter taste in the mouths of many. Thankfully there were a few people that would champion the cause against racism. One of which was Carol Baxter. Carol had come from Jamaica in 1970, a nurse who first worked in Greater Manchester and later became the Head of Equality, Diversity and Human Rights at the NHS and published a book in 1988 entitled An Endangered Species – A Case for Equal Opportunities in Nursing.
Carol highlights in her book that nurses of the Windrush generation were often not given the option of what role they wanted to take up and were often forced to work with the chronically sick, elderly people, the disabled and in psychiatric hospitals. Those that wanted to return to their countries, were denied the right as if they did, they would not have the relevant qualifications. A figure that was later in the 1980s when an estimated 30,000 nurses left the NHS due to poor pay and working conditions.
The Gritty Path
When Daphne Steele first arrived in Plymouth in 1951, a journey that took 14 days, she was surprised when a white man took and carried her luggage for her. A culture shock because in her homeland of Guyana, white men only worked in managerial roles. A precursor to the regimental style training she would undergo in the process of becoming a nurse. Daphne would later move to the USA in 1955 and worked in a hospital in New Jersey before returning to the UK in 1960. She would go on to work at RAF Brize Norton and then in Manchester as a Deputy Matron in a nursing home. When this home was due to be closed down, an Irish Matron suggested she apply for the job as Matron at St Winifred’s Hospital in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, a role that she would carry out until 1971 when the hospital closed.
Later Life and Retirement
Daphne would go on to work as a health visitor at Leeds University before retiring. However, her work was far from over. She volunteered for a number of organisations including Soroptimist International and became Vice-President of the Association of Guyanese Nurses and Allied Professionals (AGNAP). A devoted Methodist, Steele was awarded a lifetime achievement certificate by the Guyanese High Commissioner to the UK in 2001 and has a blue plaque to honour her at St James’ Hospital in Balham where she first trained. A plaque was unveiled in October 2018. Daphne died in 2004, aged 75 and AGNAP renamed their annual health talk in 2013, to the Daphne Steele Memorial Lecture.
