Emily MacManus

Emily Elvira Primrose MacManus, CBE (18 April 1886 – 22 February 1978) was an Irish nurse who served in France during World War I and later matron at Bristol Royal Infirmary then at Guy's Hospital in London,[1] serving at the latter during World War II.

[4] Her father was the brother of Caroline, wife of Sir Edwin Cooper Perry and son of James and Charlotte McManus, originally from Killeaden, Kiltimagh, County Mayo, Ireland.

[6] She was the eldest of four surviving children and her siblings were Dermot Arthur (Diarmuid A. MacManus), Sarah and Desmond.

She received her nursing certificate in 1911 and then trained as a midwife at the East End Mothers’ Home in Whitechapel.

She wrote Hospital Administration for Women, which was published in 1934, and co-wrote Nursing in Time of War with Philip Henry Mitchiner in 1939.

She published her autobiography Matron of Guy’s in 1956 and wrote a number of children's stories, including Mary and her Furry Friends, a series which was broadcast by the BBC in 1964.

[10] MacManus died in the Sacred Heart Hospital in Castlebar, Mayo, on 22 February 1978, aged 91.