ABSTRACT
Margaret Blague set herself veiy high personal standards of care and responsibility and expected the same from her staff. As Matron of St. Bartholomew's Hospital between 1643 and 1675, Blague supervised the nursing care of civilians, soldiers and seamen alike and continued in her appointment throughout the Civil Wars, Commonwealth and Interregnum. The career of Elizabeth Alkin, the widow of a Parliamentary spy, included a wide experience of nursing soldiers intermittently during the years between 1643 and 1654. The services that Alkin gave to the state were unique, at times bizarre, but always backed by commitment and dedication to the task in hand. However, care and comfort for the sick and wounded were not the sole prerogative of the lower and middling classes as is shown by the work of Anne Murray, later Lady Anne Halkett. Murray had given considerable forethought to contents of her baggage which contained a large supply of bandages, ointments and other material for wound care.
