Mary Kittle

Born 1806, died 1887
Nurse at Mitford and Launditch Union Workhouse 1837-1841
Researched by Dauna Coppin

Mary was born around 1806 in Gressenhall, Norfolk, although we  have found no record of her birth or baptism.  It is believed her mother may have been unmarried and Mary could have been born in the Workhouse. Her mother appears in the House of Industry spinning records, which recorded the work done while Mary’s mother was an inmate,

Mary (née Alegood) was married to John Kittle on 3rd February 1835 in Gressenhall.  Both were ‘of full age’ but John was a widower and believed to be older than Mary. Mary had two children, Julia born around 1831 and Mary, born around 1833

In 1837,  the Guardians of the Mitford and Launditch Union Workhouse recorded that they were considering appointing a nurse to attend the sick inmates “Resolved by the Board that a Superintendent Nurse be appointed for the use of the Workhouse to attend upon the sick in the House at a salary of £7 per annum and she be engaged for 12 months”.  So it was that Mary became the first named nurse to work at Gressenhall. It is unclear whether Mary was already an inmate at the time.

On September 11th, it was “Resolved by the Board that Mary Kittle be engaged as nurse from the present time until Christmas next”  It is uncertain whether she had already been employed earlier in the year. It is interesting that they employed a married woman but this may be because she could have been estranged from her husband, John. However, by May 1841, Mary had left this employment, having been paid a salary of £1.1s 10d. She was replaced by Lydia Watson, another inmate.

It is interesting to note that Workhouse inmates were employed as nurses. Mary may well have been an inmate at Gressenhall before her marriage or subsequently and, at that stage, no qualifications for nursing were required.

Mary’s experience at Gressenhall set her up for future employment as she was later employed as a Nurse in King’s Lynn. This was mentioned in the minutes of the Board of Guardians when she applied for a clothing allowance for her daughter who was going into service: On 27th December 1847, the entry reads “The clerk laid before the Board the correspondence with Mary Kittle one of the nurses in the Lynn Hospital requesting an allowance to be made her for the purpose of an outfit for her daughter Mary Allgood now maintained in the Union Workhouse - Ordered that Mrs Kittle's application be refused.”

By 1851, the census shows Mary working as a Men’s Nurse at West Norfolk and Lynn hospital in the St John area of King’s Lynn. She was 44 years of age and a widow.

In 1861, Mary, then aged 55 was still working as a hospital nurse in King’s Lynn. By 1871, however, she had retired and was living alone on a pension aged 65 at 11 Almshouse, Freebridge Lynn, Norfolk. This was supported housing, possibly provided for her as a result of her previously working as a nurse in the hospital.

In 1881, Mary was a patient  in St Mary’s Hospital and finally died at the age of 81 years in the June Quarter of 1887, in the King’s Lynn district.

She left eight grandchildren born between 1857 and 1878. Mary’s daughter, Julia, had also worked as a nurse in Lincoln, but nothing further is known about her.