Elizabeth ‘Betsi’ Cadwaladr

NURSE, AUTHOR

Elizabeth ‘Betsi’ Cadwaladr worked alongside Florence Nightingale in the Crimea, after beginning her life as one of 16 children whose mother died when she was 5, living in the rural village of Llanycil near Bala. A rebellious temperament brought her adventures: she fled to London as a young woman to avoid marriage, then worked internationally on cruise ships where she delivered babies, cared for the sick, and also performed one-woman Shakespeare plays. Developing a lifelong passion for nursing, Cadwaladr fought against bureaucracy in the Crimea to treat injured soldiers properly. She wrote her autobiography after her return to the UK, shortly before she died.