Princess Adenrele Ademola or Omo-Oba Adenrele Ademola (born 1916) was a Nigerian princess and nurse. She trained as a nurse in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in the 1930s, and remained working there through

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. She was the subject of a film, ''Nurse Ademola'', made by the Colonial Film Unit and now considered lost.Montaz Marché
African Princess in Guy’s: The story of Princess Adenrele Ademola
The National Archives, 13 May 2020. Accessed 14 December 2020.

Life

Omo-Oba Adenrele Ademola was born in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

on 2 January 1916. She was the daughter of Ladapo Ademola, the Alake of Abeokuta. She arrived in Britain on 29 June 1935, and initially stayed at the West African Students’ Union's hostel in

Camden Town Camden Town () is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London. Laid out as a residential distri ...

. In 1937 she attended royal appointments in Britain with her father and brother, Adetokunbo Ademola. She attended a school in Somerset for two years, and by January 1938 had started training as a nurse at Guy's Hospital. In 1941 she had become a registered nurse at Guy's. She later also gained Central Midwives Board qualifications, and worked at Queen Charlotte’s Maternity Hospital and New End Hospital. Ademola's patients apparently called her "fairy" as a term of endearment. "Everyone was very kind to me", she told journalists at the time. A photograph of Ademola appeared in a 1942 pamphlet about the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's international activity. George Pearson's film about her, ''Nurse Ademola'' is now lost. Made in 1943 or 1944–5, it was a 16mm silent newsreel film in a series for the Colonial Film Unit called ''The British Empire at War''. The film was screened across

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

, and said to have inspired many African viewers for the imperial war effort. In 1948 she was travelling with the businessman Adeola Odutola. Little is known about her activity after the 1940s, with the last record of her being in 1949, when she was working as a nurse in

South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ademola, Omo-Oba Adenrele 1916 births Year of death missing 20th-century Nigerian women Ademola family African women in war Alakija family Black British history Female wartime nurses History of women in Nigeria Nigerian expatriates in the United Kingdom Nigerian midwives Nigerian nurses Nigerian people of World War II Nigerian princesses People from colonial Nigeria World War II nurses