Sarah Agnes Armstrong

Born 1870, died 1956
Probationer Nurse at Mitford and Launditch Union Workhouse, 1890-91
Researched by Helen Bainbridge

Sarah Agnes Armstrong was born on 4th May 1870 to Adam and Amelia Fry at Bishopswearmouth, Durham. Her father was a Woodturner and Circular Sawyer. She is one of eight children, being the oldest daughter with five older brothers, two younger brothers and one younger sister.

Like Sarah, her siblings went on to hold respectable careers. George Samuel was born in 1863 and became a Naval Architect. Charles, born in 1865, became a Headmaster at a Technical School. Walter, born in 1866, became a Shipyard Manager. Henry, born in 1868, became a Professor living in Canada. Beatrice Amelia, born in 1872, became a Medical and Surgical Nurse. Frederick was born in 1875 and became a teacher in South Africa. Albert was born in 1878 and became a Chartered Accounts Clerk.

The 1871 census records a 10-month-old Sarah as living in Bishop Wearmouth with her mother, father and older brothers. By 1881 Sarah and her family have moved to 26 and 27 Lawton Street, Bishopswearmouth which includes a ‘house and shop (Grocers shop)’, although her father is stated to be a Wood turner and circular sawyer.

By the time of the 1891 census, Sarah, aged 21, has become a Probationer Nurse at the Mitford and Launditch Union Workhouse. She attended Fakenham Nurses Home which had been used as a source of “extra assistance” since March 1889, when the Board of Guardians minuted “that in consequence of the illness of several children in the Workhouse an unusual pressure of night work had devolved upon Nurses, who had expressed themselves as feeling strain very much”. It was therefore “resolved that should a similar pressure arise and a request in writing for extra assistance be made by Nurse Murray, the Master of the Workhouse be directed to apply at the Fakenham Nurses Home for the use of a probationer until the next meeting of the Board”.  Fakenham Nurses Home provided nurses at no cost to the organisation providing the training and experience and it is stated that “the greatest care is taken in the selection of proper persons as nurses both as regards qualification for their duties, and also as to private character”. An advertisement in the Burdett’s Official Nursing Directory, confirms that the “Home trains its own nurses…they obtain a salary of £8 per annum with uniform, washing, board and lodgings…for a training period of not less than 2 years”.

Sarah started at Gressenhall on 25 August 1890, although confirmation of this did not get reported to the Local Government Board until the Clerk to the Guardians wrote to them on 18 November 1890 to confirm that a probationer “be continued in the Infirmary during the pleasure of the Board”.  However the Guardians respond to a request from the Board for details of the employment by asking if there is any way that appointing a probationer can be sanctioned without reporting each change, as Miss Hamond, the Manager of the Fakenham Nurse Home is liable to provide a probationer nurse and then recall and substitute them from time to time. Within the document they enclose the particulars of Elsie Ninnes, who is the current probationer nurse, confirming she is replacing Gertrude Rooke. The Guardians also confirm that no payment for the probationer nurse is made, except for ‘rations only – of the same description as are supplied to other officers in the workhouse’.

Later in 1891, Sarah is working as a Probationer Nurse at Fair Close Hospital, Fair Close Road, Beccles, Suffolk. The hospital opened to patients in 1874 and extended with an additional ward in 1887. It is still possible that Sarah was still under training with Fakenham Nurses Home. The Fakenham (Norfolk) Nurses’ Home: Terms for Nursing, List of Subscribers and Balance Sheet, 1893 – 1894 shows entries for qualified nurses, who are on the staff. They include an entry for a Nurse Armstrong as District Nurse and a Nurse Armstrong who is “Trained Medical and Surgical”.  It is possible that the latter referred to Sarah’s sister Beatrice who was described as a Medical and Surgical Nurse in the 1911 Census.

by 1901, Sarah is living with her brother, Charles with no given occupation in Acton, Middlesex. Charles’s first wife, Martha Jane Adams, died 1899 and it is possible that Sarah moved into the household to help look after her nieces Edith aged 6 and Doris aged 4.

In the 1911 census Sarah’s occupation is given as a Professional District Nurse, Hospital Trained. Sarah, now aged 40, is boarding with a widower in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. Mary Clark is the Head of the house and, also present, is another single boarder and Hospital Trained District Nurse, Rachel Stannard, who was born in Norwich, Norfolk.

By 1920 Sarah marries Thomas Kempster Humphrey, aged 60. According to the 1911 census, he was previously married to Mary (nee Stannard) with 7 children. Thomas was widowed at the end of 1911. The 1921 census shows them living together at 5 Bramcote Road, Beeston. Sarah is listed as a Trained Medical and Surgical Nurse, working for Beeston District Nursing Society, and Thomas is a Traveller in Lace curtains, working for T J Birken & Co. By 1939 they have both retired and moved to number 13 Bramcote Road

According to the Nottingham Nursing History Group who are researching the history of nursing from 1830 to 1948 in Nottinghamshire, Sarah was employed by the Beeston Nursing Association from 1907 until the society disbanded in 1934

Thomas, her brother, dies on 12 December 1951 in Liverpool. His address is given as 19 Oldfield Road, Grassingdale and whether Sarah was living with him at this time is unknown, although she is named on the Probate record. Sarah died at Windmill View, 113 Newington Road, Ramsgate on 30 March 1956, aged 85, leaving a Probate amount of £1612 10s 5d.