Tryphena Anderson (born 1933) was a Jamaican-British nurse, the first black

health visitor Health visitors are professional individuals engaged in public health work within the domestic setting, predominantly found in countries with state-funded health systems. They are distinct from district nurses, who provide clinical healthcare, do ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Life

Tryphena Anderson was born in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, where she attended a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

school. In December 1952, a week after leaving school, she sailed for England, arriving in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

on the RMS ''Franconia'' from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. Anderson recalled teachers having low expectations of her at school. As a black person in 1950s Britain, Anderson felt labelled as a "darkie" rather than truly accepted as a "person". She felt acute isolation: Anderson nevertheless trained successfully as a nurse at

Nottingham General Hospital Nottingham General Hospital was a major hospital in Nottingham, England. It was founded in 1781 and closed in 1992. History The hospital was the result of a legacy from John Key, a wealthy banker, who had left money in his will for hospitals t ...

and did psychiatric nursing at the

Coppice Hospital The Coppice Hospital was a mental health facility in Mapperley, Nottingham, England. History The hospital, which was designed by Thomas Chambers Hine in the Italianate style using a corridor plan layout, opened as the Coppice Private Asylum in ...

. She did further postgraduate training in the early 1960s. In 1966 she qualified as a

midwife A midwife (: midwives) is a health professional who cares for mothers and Infant, newborns around childbirth, a specialisation known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughou ...

, and in that year also became Britain's first black

. From 1988 until 2002 she owned and ran a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Tryphena 1933 births Living people Jamaican emigrants to the United Kingdom Jamaican nurses British women nurses British nurses British midwives Psychiatric nurses Black British health professionals