Lady Moyra Blanche Madeleine Browne (née Ponsonby; 2 March 1918 – 4 December 2016) was a British nurse and the only daughter of the 9th Earl of Bessborough, an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

peer, and his wife Roberte. On 10 December 1945, she became the second wife of Sir Denis Browne (widower of Helen Simpson since 1940), a distinguished paediatric surgeon based at

Great Ormond Street Hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS F ...

(GOSH) from 1922 to 1967. The Sir Denis Browne Gold Medal from the

British Association of Paediatric Surgeons The British Association of Paediatric Surgeons (BAPS) is a registered charity that aims to advance the study and practice of paediatric surgery. The organisation The organisation was founded in the UK 1953 and included oversees members. The idea f ...

was named in his honour. After her husband's death in 1967, Lady Moyra was vice-president of the

Royal College of Nursing The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a registered trade union and professional body in the United Kingdom for those in the profession of nursing. It was founded in 1916 as the College of Nursing, receiving its royal charter in 1928. Queen Eliz ...

from 1970 to 1985, Superintendent-in-Chief of

St. John Ambulance St John Ambulance is an affiliated movement of charitable organisations in mostly Commonwealth countries which provide first aid education and consumables and emergency medical services. St John organisations are primarily staffed by volunte ...

from 1970 to 1983 and Governor of

Research into Ageing Help the Aged was a United Kingdom based international charity founded in 1961 by Cecil Jackson-Cole and Hugh Faulkner to help disadvantaged older people who were affected by poverty, isolation and neglect. It merged with Age Concern in 2009 to f ...

from 1987 to 1989. Lady Moyra and Sir Denis had two children, a son and a daughter. Her son was barrister Desmond John Michael Browne (b. 1947), a former chairman of the bar of England and Wales.

Death

Lady Moyra Browne died on 4 December 2016, aged 98, at her home. Her funeral, on 13 December, was at St Paul's Chapel, Stansted Park.

Honours

Dame Commander 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 ...

(1977) * Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St John

References

1918 births 2016 deaths Moyra Browne British nursing administrators Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Dames Grand Cross of the Order of St John Daughters of Irish earls Daughters of British earls Wives of knights {{UK-med-bio-stub