Through her influence and pressure the first state registration of nurses and midwives in the world was brought about when the Cape of Good Hope Medical and Pharmacy Act of 1891 passed into law.

She sailed for South Africa, with other volunteers and in the company of Archdeacon and Mrs Croghan, on 6 March 1874, the same day on which she had, eleven years before, been made an Associate of the Orange River Mission.

In South Africa Sister Henrietta persuaded influential figures, notably Dr William Guybon Atherstone of Grahamstown, to back legislation providing for registration of nurses and midwives.

Subsidised by the Cape Government, it was enlarged and attracted doctors such as Leander Starr Jameson and John Eddie Mackenzie, who took part in the training of nurses.

[citation needed] A stained glass window at St Cyprian's Cathedral, installed in the nave soon after her death, was given in memory of Sr Henrietta.

A bust, based on the same statue, is situated in the north transept of the Anglican Cathedral in Bloemfontein, where the Community of St Michael and All Angels was founded.

The anniversary of her death is fixed in the calendar of saints of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, which also provides a collect for Sister Henrietta CSM & AA.

She then sought public subscription and mining company support for the building of a new Chapel and purchase of an organ, plans being approved by 5 July 1887.

She had a fearless approach to the political questions of the day, and never hesitated to enlist the aid of a Royal Princess when she felt that nursing and the care of the sick were threatened.

"[3] Assessing her impact after a hundred years, in October 2011, the Dean of Kimberley, the Very Revd Simon Aiken, said that "Sister Henrietta's legacy is the living, active, ongoing delivery of healthcare to ordinary people, most especially the marginalised who might not have access to such opportunities.