In 1872, aged 32, Philippa Flowerday was hired by the J. & J. Coleman Company in Norwich, England, and became the first industrial nurse. She worked at the Carrow Works factory with a doctor from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. She then spent the remainder of the day visiting and caring for ill employees and their families in their homes, averaging 45 visits weekly.
According to the 1881 National Census, her birth name was given as Phillipa, not Philippa. Flowerday was born in September 1846 in Erpingham, North Norfolk. Prior to being employed by the Coleman Company at their Carrow Works, Flowerday trained and worked as a nurse at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.
She is believed to be the first trained nurse to be appointed to work as a nurse within an industrial organization.
Phillipa Flowerday’s work set the model for Coleman and other companies in the care of their employees.
She also assisted the Coleman’s Sick Society, administering a “clothing club.”
In 1888 she gave up her work to marry widower, William Reed, head gardener at the Clyffe, Corton, the Colman family summer house. Phillipa and William Reed lived in Corton with his two children from his first marriage. William died in 1906 and Philippa then moved to Lowestoft and lived in Sussex Street until 1930, when she died at the age of 84. Flowerday is buried in Antingham, North Norfolk.
Interestingly, the Carrow Works factory remained in operation until around May of 2020:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-52772491
The featured image of this article is a plaque celebrating Flowerday and installed near a riverside path, in what used to be the factory site in Norwich, England, United Kingdom.
