Dame Ethel Hope Becher, (1867 – 10 May 1948) was a British nurse who served in the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

as matron-in-chief of the

Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC; known as ''the QAs'') was the nursing branch of the British Army Army Medical Services, Medical Services. In November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army Medical Corps and Ro ...

from 1910 to 1919.

Early life

Ethel Hope Becher was born in 1867. Her father was Arthur W. Becher, a colonel in the

Bengal Staff Corps Bengal ( ) is a historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Bengal proper is divided between the modern-d ...

. She attended private school and trained as a nurse at the

London Hospital The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and London Borough of Tow ...

from 1893 to 1899 under

Eva Luckes Eva Charlotte Ellis Luckes (8 July 1854 – 16 February 1919) was matron of the London Hospital from 1880 to 1919. Early life Eva Charlotte Ellis Luckes (she spelled her name Lückes with the umlaut until World War I)Rogers, Sarah (2022). ...

.Rogers, Sarah (2022). 'A Maker of Matrons’? A study of Eva Lückes’s influence on a generation of nurse leaders:1880–1919' (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Huddersfield, April 2022)

Career

In 1899, she became a

nursing sister Nursing management consists of the performance of the leadership functions of governance and decision-making within organizations employing nurses. It includes processes common to all management like planning, organizing, staffing, directing an ...

and acting

matron Matron is the job title of a very senior or the chief nurse in a hospital in several countries, including the United Kingdom, and other Commonwealth countries and former colonies. Etymology The chief nurse, in other words the person in charge ...

during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

, and was awarded the

Royal Red Cross The Royal Red Cross (RRC) is a military decoration awarded in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth for exceptional services in military nursing. It was created in 1883, and the first two awards were to Florence Nightingale and Jane Cecilia Deeb ...

for her work. Becher was one of a group of six nurses from The London Hospital who were specially selected by Eva Luckes and Sydney Holland at Princess Alexandra's request to go out and nurse diseased and injured troops in South Africa. In 1903, Becher was appointed as principal matron of the

Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC; known as ''the QAs'') was the nursing branch of the British Army Medical Services. In November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army Medical Corps and Royal Army Dental Corps ...

(later the

, the nursing branch of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, which had been established by royal warrant just one year prior. She was promoted to matron-in-chief in 1910, succeeding

Caroline Keer Caroline Keer, (1857 – 29 December 1928) was a British military nurse and nursing administrator, who served in Natal during the Second Boer War. She was matron-in-chief of Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps between 1906 and 1910. Ear ...

in the role, and was stationed at the

. As matron-in-chief, she was responsible for the recruiting and administration of the entire nursing service, and oversaw nurses stationed in many regions, including Macedonia, Malta, Gibraltar, and France. Becher almost retired at the start of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in 1914, but decided to stay on.

Service during World War I

She supervised over 10,000 nurses and 9,500 members of the

Voluntary Aid Detachment The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The most important periods of operation for these units we ...

from 1914 to 1918. She was named a Lady of Grace of the Order of Saint John in 1917, and was awarded a

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

to her Royal Red Cross in January 1918, becoming the first person to receive the award twice. She was appointed a

Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in June 1918. After the end of the war, Becher resigned her position as matron-in-chief in March 1919. The media described her as a "modern

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during th ...

" and wrote that it "would be hard to name any one woman whose part in the great war was more extraordinary". In 1931, Becher founded the United Services Nursing Club, which organised the provision of government grants to nurses who had served in the First World War. Ethel Becher died on 10 May 1948.

References

1867 births 1948 deaths English nurses British women nurses Women in the Second Boer War Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps officers World War I nurses British women in World War I Female nurses in World War I Members of the Royal Red Cross Dames Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Ladies of Grace of the Order of St John {{British nursing matrons in the 19th century