Obituary: Florence Mitchell, youngest matron in Scotland and champion of nursing development

Died: August 13 2019

FLORENCE Naples Mitchell, who has died aged 96, had a long and distinguished nursing career. She became the youngest matron in Scotland when appointed matron of Stirling Royal Infirmary. She was the last matron of the Victoria Infirmary of Glasgow before her title was changed to principal nursing officer but for many in the hospital she continued to be thought of as the matron.

The two constant threads of her career were her formidable defence of the rights of and communication with patients and her push to improve the status and skills of nurses so they could work alongside other professionals as equals.

She led by example by being visible in the wards rather than sitting behind a desk. She demanded her nurses worked to her own high standards.

In a time of change in the 70s she saw her advocacy for better training for nurses take a big step forward when the Victoria's School of Nursing become a separate College of Nursing.

Her commanding presence is remembered to this day by many of the nurses and consultants who worked with her. She used her reputation to her advantage in committees, successfully pressing for better training conditions and pay for nurses and more patient-friendly administration. She was an effective president of the Scottish Association of Nurse Administrators until she retired in 1982.

She started as a nurse when called up in the Second World War. She trained in the Victoria and subsequently trained as a midwife in Kilmarnock and gained the diploma in nursing administration in London.

After working long hours she found relaxation in her garden in Dumbreck in Glasgow and later in a larger garden in Carradale Kintyre as well. Her gardening skills were self taught but were of a high standard. Through a family connection with Dr Matthew Ryle,a leading fuchsia hybridiser, she developed a unique and stunning collection of fuchsias. Like many skilled gardeners she planned for and achieved colour and points of interest in the garden in every month of the year.

She came from a close knit family of independent thinkers. Her father Robert Mitchell was an accomplished engineer specialising in designing and building machinery for the bakery industry. Her late elder sister Elise was one of the earliest chiropodists in Scotland. Florence supported Elise in her voluntary work making Glasgow and Scotland more aware of the unique talents of one its sons - Charles Rennie Macintosh.

Her late youngest sister Betty became a senior secretary at the Glasgow offices of Esso. Her late younger brother Robert (Roy) was a veteran of the Yangtze Incident in 1949 in which the Royal Navy ship on which he was serving as a radar operative was trapped on the River Yangtze for 3 months with considerable loss of lives. With the rest of her family Florence gave support to her brother after he returned home. She also supported his work when he later became active in the SNP .

In retirement she used her nursing skills to provide a high standard of home nursing for her two sisters. Without her dedication and skills they would have required hospital care. She spent a few years in Govan where she was born before moving to Dumbreck where she lived for the rest of her life, except for the last eight years spent in Auchlochan Retirement Village.