Isabelle ‘Ella’ Pirrie DCS

Isabelle ‘Ella’ Pirrie DCS (1857-1929) having trained with Florence Nightingale, in 1883 Pirrie became the first nurse in the Belfast Union Workhouse (now Belfast City Hospital), where she established a nursing school. She later became matron of the Deaconess Hospital in Edinburgh (1894-1914), a training school for nurses. The bronze statue shows her holding a letter from Florence Nightingale dated 1 October 1885, which reads ‘…You have already done great things. You must be the nucleus of hope for a goodly future of trained nursing staff at Belfast Infirmary …’. The statue was erected in 2007.

Location: Belfast City Hospital, Belfast, Northern Ireland.