Originally published in 1983 this book examines the beginnings of the nursing profession in its present form through one generation of general hospital nurses, Voluntary and Poor Law based, who were recruited and trained between 1881 and 1914. As such, they were the first to go through a co-ordinated and standardised training programme. This study is concerned with the way in which women chose and were chosen to be general nurses and the consequences that their decisions subsequently had for the profession. Unlike previous books on nursing history, this study addresses itself to the history of nursing techniques, to the changing attitudes towards nurses and patients and to the popular contemporary image of nurses over the years.