Page:A short history of nursing - Lavinia L Dock (1920).djvu/267

251 Nursing in other Countries 251 The British Nurses' Association aimed at pro- fessional registration under a Royal Charter of Incorporation. This charter they gained, and with it certain advantages peculiar to the English sys- tem, for a Royal Charter is the most ancient and honourable form of incorporation. This was the first time it had been granted to a body of pro- fessional women. The nurses had taken medical men into full voting membership, believing that this would help them in their aims. They did, indeed, receive devoted support from many loyal medical friends, but by one false one they were betrayed, and through the skilful use of a well-known parliamen- tary trick, the Royal British Nurses' Association was brought (1896) under the control of a small but unscrupulous majority which carried a resolu- tion against state registration. Not until 1904 was the association able to throw off this control. The nursing leaders then turned to promote new groups, under democratic forms of organization. The Matrons' Council of Great Britain and Ireland had been formed in 1894. All the progressive Matrons belonged to it. They developed self- governing leagues of nurses (alumnae societies) and co-operative clubs, and young nurses founded a National Union of Trained Nurses. In 1902 the