Enough is Enough! The Politics of Health in Cartoons
18 Feb 2026, 17:30 - 19:00
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Join this talk on the history of nursing cartoons, from documenting nursing training in 1900 to political campaigns of the 1980s.
Discover what we can learn about healthcare, politics and history from the design and style of nursing cartoons.
Historian Dr Sue Hawkins is researching the development of children's hospital nursing in the late 19th century. In her talk, she explores a collection of cartoons and verse by a young woman called Ada Bois who was a probationer at Great Ormond Street Hospital in the late 19th and early 20th century. The cartoons depict her life as a probationer, and provide a somewhat different insight (compared to the more common accounts which take the form of memoirs, diaries or letters) into the life of a trainee nurse in a large, busy hospital at this time.
Cartoonist Cath Jackson is best known for her fortnightly Nurse Nightshade cartoon strip, which ran in Nursing Times for many years from the late 1980s into the 1990s, and for Vera the Visible Lesbian, a fortnightly cartoon strip that featured in the City Limits magazine's gay page. Her work was published in various left-wing magazines and newsletters, including New Statesman, and in numerous feminist, gay, third sector and trade union publications. Cath's work for the Radical Nurses group features in our 'Art of Nursing' exhibition.
The Cartoon Museum is the UK's only museum/gallery dedicated to the art of comics, cartoons and the people who make them. Holly Burrows will give an introduction to The Cartoon Museum and will showcase some interesting images from the Museum's collection as well as discussing how one particular nurse (Lya Turner) used cartoon humour to describe her experiences of nursing! For more cartoons, drop in to the Cartoon Museum for a for all ages (£12 admission, free under-18s) beforehand!
This event is open to all and takes place in person only.
Image reproduced with kind permission of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children Archive Service.
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RCN Library and Museum
rcn.library@rcn.org.uk
0345 337 3368
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Page last updated - 19/01/2026
