The Donegal draper’s daughter who nursed the King of England

A week-long heritage event looking into the remarkable life of Ramelton woman Catherine Black is set to take place in her native town.

Catherine Black was the personal nurse to King George V of England and was known as ‘the King’s Nurse’. She was born on June 12, 1878 at Ardeen House on the outskirts of Ramelton, the daughter of a linen draper who had a shop in the town.

In 1903 Black became a probationer nurse at the London Hospital, having already nursed at Margate. She qualified two years later.

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She was working in London when World War I broke out, and signed up to work with Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service, taking up a post at Cambridge Hospital in Aldershot followed by another posting at No. 7 Hospital, St Omer. Here she would treat soldiers who were suffering from shell shock, a condition little known at the time.

She was sent to Belgium to replace a nurse who had been killed and while there witnessed firsthand the horrors of war and nursed wounded soldiers at various different clearing stations in France as well as Belgium. She would also travel to work as a nurse in Australia.

In her early career, Catherine Black had trained under Edith Cavell, an internationally renowned British nurse who demonstrated incredible courage during World War I. Edith is credited with having saved the lives of soldiers on both sides of the war without discrimination and with having helped over 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium. She was executed by the Germans in 1915.

A decade after the war in 1928 Catherine Black became the personal nurse of King George V – a role she was to maintain until his death eight years later in 1936. During her tenure she had her own quarters at Buckingham Palace and she was present when the king died.

Those years as the King’s Nurse were recounted along with her formative years growing up in Donegal in her autobiography, entitled ‘King's Nurse, Beggar's Nurse’. She passed away in London in October 1949.

Monreagh Heritage Centre will host an exhibition on Catherine Black from Monday, November 24 to Friday, November 28 from 10am to 4pm each day. The exhibition includes photos of her home in Ramelton along with personal photos of Catherine, the Royal family estates and personal items that belonged to her.

Her autobiography and previously unpublished writings, family letters, will also be on display along with research into her family tree, which has been traced back to Scotland around the 1500s.

A one-woman play about Catherine Black’s life will also be taking place at Monreagh on Friday, November 28 at 2pm. ‘Sister Black’, is written and performed by Ramelton-based actress, writer, and former doctor Maggie Hannon.

Monreagh Heritage Centre in Ramelton states: “This powerful performance brings Catherine’s story to life with emotional depth, gentle humour, and a rare authenticity shaped by Maggie’s own medical background.

"Audiences will be transported from the hospitals of wartime Europe to the quiet resilience of a Donegal woman who left a lasting mark on history.” All events are free.