Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War R.R.C. pair attributed to Principal Matron M. E. Ray, Territorial Force Nursing Service

Royal Red Cross, 1st Class (R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver-gilt, gold and enamel, the edges of three of the arms neatly engraved, ‘M. E. Ray’, ‘Principal Matron, T.F.N.S.’ and ‘Jan. 1916’; Coronation 1911, privately engraved, ‘M. E. Ray, Principal Matron, T.F.N.S.’, good very fine (2) £300-350

R.R.C. London Gazette 1 January 1916.

The following notice appeared in The British Journal of Nursing in October 1934:

‘It is proposed to found a Memorial to the late Miss M. E. Ray, R.R.C., formerly Sister-Matron at King’s College Hospital, who died at the Hospital after a sudden and short illness, to the grief of her many friends, and that this Memorial shall take the form of a fund to be devoted towards assisting King’s nurses who are temporarily embarrassed, especially those requiring rest and convalescence after illness, as it is believed that she herself would have wished to be commemorated in this way.

Miss Ray was widely known in the nursing world in this country, as on completion of her training at King’s College Hospital, and after holding the position of Sister there, she became successively Assistant Matron of the Leeds General Infirmary, Matron of the Lincoln County Hospital, and Sister-Matron of King’s College Hospital, before it moved from Lincoln’s Inn Fields to Denmark Hill, occupying this position during the important time of getting out the plans for the new hospital, the transition from the old to the new building, and during the War she was also Principal Matron of the Fourth London General Hospital (Territorial Army) and in recognition of her services was awarded the Royal Red Cross. In 1918, she resigned the position of Sister-Matron at “King’s” and assumed the duties of Hon. Secretary of Lady Minto’s Indian Nursing Association, but always retained her interest in the Hospital.’