A stitch in time: Exhibition highlights 140 years of nurses’ uniforms and the stories behind them

A former hospital chapel has been filled with nurses’ uniforms, showing how they changed over a century from stern Victorian attire to relaxed styles used during the pandemic.

The uniforms range from 1880 to 2020 and show not only the changing designs as medical practicality replaced decorative flourishes but also changing attitudes as to how uniforms were to be cared for.

From the early days, when nurses were often expected to supply or make their own uniforms, through the early NHS with its mass-supplied and maintained uniforms, and today, when home washing is returning to favour.

Underneath each uniform is a detailed explanatory sign, and even this non-medical chap found the history recounted there fascinating.

The exhibition also sheds light on nurses’ lived experiences, from the rigorous dress codes enforced by figures such as the Fitzrovia Chapel’s own doyenne, Godiva Marian Thorold, to the subtle acts of subversion by nurses seeking comfort and personal expression within the constraints of their uniforms.

The exhibition is in the Fitzrovia Chapel, once the chapel of the former Middlesex Hospital, and was restored when the hospital was demolished. The chapel, just to the north of Oxford Street in central London, is usually open three days a week and will also be open every day during the exhibition.

The exhibition, In Uniform: Stories of Nurses and their Clothing is open until 1st December and is free to visit.

It’s open from 11am to 6pm daily, except Sunday when it’s open 12pm to 5pm.