Kofoworola was the first Black nurse to work for National Health Service and was the first Nigerian to establish the foundation of modern nursing in Nigeria .
1915
1992
Nigeria
Black British, Nigerian
1936/1940-
She taught at the CMS Girls School in Lagos where she finished her studies before she trained as a nurse.
1946/1949 –
She was the first Black student to attend the Nightingale Training School for Nurses at St Thomas Hospital in London, although her father disapproved of her career path. She was the first Black Nurse to work for the NHS.
1952 –
She completed the Royal College of Nursing Ward Sister Course with a grant from Nightingale Fund, and worked as a Staff Nurse for the Evelina Children’s Hospital of Guy’s Hospital.
1953 –
She returned to St Thomas’ Hospital as a part time charge nurse.
1954 –
She returned to Nigeria to establish a nursing school in 1965, which laid the foundation of modern nursing in Nigeria .
She also became the Chief Nurse Officer for Nigeria and first Black woman to become Vice President of the International Council of Nurses.
1973-
Florence Nightingale Medal
Pratt was an exceptionally good student, obtaining 5 As and 2 Bs at St Thomas’ Hospital. She took Certificates in Midwifery on a Royal College of Nursing scholarship, and in Tropical Diseases. She also completed the Ward Sister’s course, on a Nightingale Fund scholarship. She later obtained the Administration Certificate. The Matron’s report on her says that she ”mixed well with her colleagues, with whom she is very popular. Colour has been no bar.” The Matron added that “She never asked for any special favour on account of her young son. She had a good sense of responsibility and was always honest and loyal.”
Pratt was the first Black nurse to work for the NHS. In 1946 she moved from Nigeria to train at the London Nightingale Training school for nurses. She then worked as a Staff Nurse in Evelina Children’s hospital and was a Charge Nurse in St Thomas’ Hospital. On returning to Nigeria, she became a Chief Nurse Officer and a Vice President of the International Council of Nurses.
Kofoworola was born in Lagos, Nigeria as the second of four children of Augustus Alfred Scott and Elizabeth Omowumi Scott Her paternal great-grandfather was chief Taiwo Olowo, a wealthy Yoruba nobleman. Her family was Anglican and she attended St John’s Secondary School and CMS Girls School, Lagos. She passed the Senior School certificate in 1933 and then studied to be a teacher at United Missionary College in Ibadan, after her father had discouraged her wish to become a nurse. She was married to Eugene Samuel Oluremi (Olu) Pratt, a pharmacist for the civil service in 1941. Their eldest son died in infancy and their second child, Babatunde, was born in Lagos in 1943. Her husband moved to London the following year to receive British medical qualifications. Olufemi, their third child, was born in London in 1952.
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/kofoworola-abeni-pratt
https://www.evelinalondon.nhs.uk/about-us/news-events/2020-news/20201020-first-Black-NHS-nurse-at-evelina-london.aspx#:~:text=She%20joined%20Evelina%20London%20in,Nurses%20at%20St%20Thomas’%20Hospital.
https://www.florence-nightingale.co.uk/chief-kofoworola-abeni-pratt-1915-1992/
https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/florencenightingale/2019/05/16/the-first-bme-nurse-in-the-nhs-by-professor-lynn-mcdonald/
