This Is Your Life: Edith Powell

Edith POWELL MBE (1887-1972)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Edith Muriel Powell, nurse, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in the audience at the BBC Television Theatre.

Muriel, who was born in Stourport, Worcestershire and trained at the General Hospital, Birmingham, joined the Territorial Nursing Service in April 1915. After dedicating four years to looking after wounded soldiers from the battlefields of France during the First World War, she joined the County Hospital in York as a nursing sister. She later volunteered to help the victims of the Russian Revolution, opening a hospital for orphaned children in Balaclava Bay.

Poor health forced Muriel to return to England, and in 1926 she became the Matron of the Chailey Heritage Marine Hospital at Tide Mills, East Sussex, a school for disabled boys. In 1933 she founded the Searchlight Trust, which continued the work of Chailey Heritage by providing older disabled boys with workshops to teach them the skills they needed to contribute to their own welfare and living in an attempt to prepare them for adulthood.

programme details...

Edition No: 42
Subject No: 42
Broadcast live: Mon 18 Nov 1957
Broadcast time: 7.30-8.00pm
Venue: BBC Television Theatre
Series: 3
Edition: 8

on the guest list...

Arthur Gisby
Mary Crocker
Cdr T C Ouchterlony
Ludmilla Purvis
Emily Price
Dennis Shirley
Freda Bannister
Bernard Spanswick
Mabel Harriott
Elizabeth Allen
Sister Pat Gibbins
Grace - sister
Courtney - sister
Kathleen - sister
Ethel - sister
Robert - brother
Hazel Bishop - niece
Anthony Kimmins

production team...

Researchers: George Bruce, Michael Friend, Ronald Vivian
Writer: Ken Smith
Director: unknown
Producer: T Leslie Jackson

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

A Medical Life

examining the medical profession

Anthony Kimmins

Edith Powell with her guests on This Is Your Life

Series 3 subjects