Daphne Steele (15 October 1927 – 23 July 2004) was a Guyanese nurse, who in 1964 became the first Black Matron in the National Health Service.

Daphne Adrianna Steele was born on 15 October 1927 in the region of Essequibo, British Guiana (now part of Guyana) as the eldest of nine children.

She emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1951,[1] as part of the British Government seeking to recruit people to the new National Health Service (NHS).

[3] In 2002, Steele carried the Shipley relay baton for Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee as part of the run up to the Commonwealth games in Manchester.

[1] To mark what would have been Steele's 91st birthday on 16 October 2018, a commemorative blue plaque organised by the Nubian Jak Community Trust was unveiled at St. James's Hospital, Balham, where she had trained when she first arrived in England.

The new building is destined to train more people to work in health related careers[5] and is planned to open in September 2024.

[13] In February 2024, Steele became the first person to be honoured outside London with a Historic England blue plaque, it was installed at Hillside Court, on the site of what was St Winifred's maternity home in Ilkley, West Yorkshire.