Flora Masson

Flora Masson (1856 – 1937) was a Scottish-born nurse, suffragist, writer and editor.

Flora Masson
Born1856
Edinburgh
Died1937
Edinburgh
NationalityBritish
Parents
RelativesRosaline Masson (sister)
David Orme Masson (brother)

Early life

Flora Masson was born in Edinburgh. She was first of three daughters of professor David Masson and suffrage campaigner Emily Rosaline Orme.[1] Her father was chair of the English department at the University of Edinburgh.[2] Her younger brother was a scientist, David Orme Masson, and her younger sister was a suffragist and writer, Rosaline Masson. Their aunt, Eliza Orme, was the first woman to earn a law degree in England.[3]

Because of her parents' social connections, Masson met Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Thomas Carlyle, Coventry Patmore and James Barrie in her youth, and heard Charles Dickens read from Oliver Twist, among other acquaintances with notables of the nineteenth century.[4]

Flora Masson trained as a nurse at St. Thomas's Hospital, London.[5]

Career

Nursing

Masson worked at the Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford and the Eastern Fever Hospital, Homerton (now Homerton University Hospital) as a matron.[2] Masson was matron of the Red Cross hospital near Rosewell during World War I.[2] Masson was awarded the Royal Red Cross of the 1st class "in recognition of valuable services under 'The British Red Cross Society', or 'Order of St. John of Jerusalem in England', rendered in connection with the war".[6] Masson was a close friend and professional colleague of Florence Nightingale,[7] who supported Masson's promotion to Matron and in disputes with hospital administration and medical leaders around competency of staff; Nightingale arranged for practical support and influenced decisions made.[8]

Suffrage

Masson was active in the women's suffrage movement with her mother and sister,[5] a policy that her father also supported, speaking out when many men remained sceptical.[9] Masson wrote about women's rights to vote in the 'The Parliamentary Franchise for Women' published in the Ladies Edinburgh Journal in 1876.[10] Masson joined the Ladies' Edinburgh Debating Society (LEDS) in 1881,[5] which hosted discussions and lectures on various feminist topics, including suffrage, marriage, and religion.[11]

Writing

Masson edited two of her father's books, Memories of London in the 'Forties (1908)[12] and Memories of Two Cities (1911). Masson also contributed to a book by her sister, I Can Remember Robert Louis Stevenson (1923).[13] Books written by Flora Masson included the following titles:

  • Florence Nightingale, O.M. By one who knew her (1910)
  • The Brontes (1912)[14]
  • Charles Lamb (1913)[15]
  • Robert Boyle, a biography (1914)[16]
  • Victorians All (1931)[17]
  • The Heart Is Highland (1932)

Her Victorians All, about the notable people Masson met in her youth, was described as "a pleasant, rather sad little book" in The Guardian; "this is not so much a book of good stories as about real happenings," the review concluded.[18]

Personal life

Masson lived with her sister Rosaline. She died in 1937, in Edinburgh.[5]

References
  1. "The Late Professor Masson". The Guardian. 17 October 1907. p. 12. Retrieved 9 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "Flora Masson (1857-1937), nurse and author of Edinburgh". Library | University of Leeds. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  3. Weickhardt, L. W., "Masson, Sir David Orme (1858–1937)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 9 May 2020
  4. "Women the World Over". The Sydney Morning Herald. 23 November 1937. p. 39. Retrieved 9 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. The biographical dictionary of Scottish women : from the earliest times to 2004. Ewan, Elizabeth., Innes, Sue., Reynolds, Sian. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 2006. p. 258. ISBN 9780748626601. OCLC 367680960.CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. Fenwick, Bedford, ed. (24 May 1919). "Honours for Nurses" (PDF). The British Journal of Nursing. 62: 347. Retrieved 8 June 2018 – via Royal College of Nursing's archive.
  7. "Sir David Masson's Sister". The Age. 4 December 1937. p. 42. Retrieved 9 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. Nightingale, Florence (2009). Florence Nightingale : extending nursing. McDonald, Lynn, 1940-. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. pp. 914, 214–226. ISBN 978-1-55458-170-2. OCLC 625268199.
  9. Crawford, Elizabeth (1999). The women's suffrage movement : a reference guide, 1866-1928. London: UCL Press. ISBN 0-203-03109-1. OCLC 53836882.
  10. Scottish women : a documentary history, 1780-1914. Breitenbach, Esther, Fleming, Linda, Kehoe, Karly, Orr, Lesley. Edinburgh. p. 266. ISBN 978-0-7486-4016-4. OCLC 855347898.CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. Woods, Carly S. (1 October 2018). Debating Women: Gender, Education, and Spaces for Argument, 1835-1945. MSU Press. ISBN 978-1-62895-338-1.
  12. "New Books". The Guardian. 19 June 1908. p. 5. Retrieved 9 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "From Tragedy to Farce". The Cleburne News. 11 October 1923. p. 1. Retrieved 9 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. MASSON, Flora (1935). The Brontës.
  15. Masson, Flora (1 July 2008). Charles Lamb. Read Books. ISBN 978-1-4097-9623-7.
  16. Masson, Flora (1914). Robert Boyle: A Biography. Constable, Limited.
  17. Masson, Flora (1931). Victorians All. W. & R. Chambers.
  18. "Books of the Day". The Guardian. 14 September 1931. p. 5. Retrieved 9 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
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