wemburywaves

On This Day in Wembury — 3 March 1939

“Storm” Over the Wembury District Nurse

On the evening of 3 March 1939, emotions ran high at the Jubilee Hall, Down Thomas, where a crowded public protest meeting was held to defend the local district nurse and challenge the conduct of the Wembury-with-Staddiscombe and District Nursing Association.

The meeting, reported the next morning in the Western Morning News, was described as a “storm at Wembury.” Residents alleged that “certain persons” had been working behind the scenes to bring about the dismissal of the district nurse, despite the absence of any complaints from local doctors, the Devon County authority in Exeter, the association’s own committee, or the membership at large. Letters calling for an extraordinary general meeting, it was claimed, had gone unanswered.

The gathering passed a strong resolution:

“That this meeting repudiates any unconstitutional action taken by an official of the Association, more especially in the dismissal of the local nurse.”

Lieut-Commander W. F. Nicholas led much of the discussion, insisting the issue was one of principle, not personality. He told the meeting that in December the association’s president had suggested closing the organisation for lack of support — even though there was “a substantial balance at the disposal of the Nursing Association.” Later, there were rumours of a merger with another district’s association, again without the knowledge or consent of the local committee.

Commander Nicholas added that both the honorary secretary and the county nursing inspector had confirmed there were no complaints whatsoever about the nurse’s conduct or performance. The audience also heard testimonials from her previous employers, all praising her work.

The controversy had come to a head when an emergency committee meeting on 31 January was said to have discussed her resignation — though none had been formally received in writing. To many in the room, it seemed an attempt to remove a respected nurse without cause.

The affair reflected how deeply the village valued its district nurse, whose role in the 1930s was vital to isolated rural communities. In the weeks before the Second World War, the dispute revealed both the strength of local feeling and the fragile politics of voluntary medical provision in Devon’s parishes.

Source: Western Morning News (Plymouth), Saturday 4 March 1939 — “Storm at Wembury: Affairs of Nursing Association – Nurse’s Position.”