Award one of the Queen's final acts before her death
Dame Elizabeth Anionwu. Picture: Facebook
|
A pioneering of nursing in the UK who lives in Acton has been appointed to the Order of Merit in what is believed to be one of the Queen’s final acts before her death.
According to Buckingham Palace, the Queen chose to give the royal honour to Dame Elizabeth Anionwu in early September, before passing a few days later.
Dame Elizabeth, who was born to an Irish mother and Nigerian father, became the UK's first sickle-cell nursing specialist and created the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice at the University of West London. She succeeds fellow nurse Florence Nightingale who became the first female member in 1907. She is the third nurse to receive the award, it having been given to Dame Cicely Saunders in 1989.
She said in an interview following the announcement of the appointment, “It’s a huge surprise, and incredibly pleasant surprise. From starting at sixteen as a school nurse assistant, way, way, way, way back, that nurses and what they have done and what they are doing has and is being noticed. I think that sends out a very positive message.”
Dame Elizabeth (right) doing her pioneering work on sickle cell anaemia. Picture: Facebook
The Order was founded 120 years ago by Edward VII, and is an honour for "exceptional distinction" in areas such as science, medicine, culture and the arts in the UK and Commonwealth realms. Members of the Order are given a red-and-blue enamel badge, which says "For Merit". It has only 24 members with vacancies only occurring when an incumbent dies.
Existing members include Sir David Attenborough, conductor Sir Simon Rattle, former Speaker of the House of Commons Baroness Betty Boothroyd, artist David Hockney and Egyptian-born heart surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub.
Honorary members can be included and Nelson Mandela and US president Dwight Eisenhower have previously been appointed.
Find Articles Like This Useful? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
November 16, 2022
