Among Nurse Maude’s earliest childhood memories are those of visiting the poor in hospital. With her father’s active support she travelled to London to train as a nurse at Middlesex Hospital. She was matron of Christchurch Hospital, where she put in place professional nursing training, but her blunt and uncompromising manner fitted her better for practical work than for administration. In 1896 she moved into district nursing work. She established a dispensary and headquarters in shop premises and, supported financially by parishes and other benefactors, set about providing services to the sick poor in their own homes. At first travelling entirely on foot, she graduated to horse and buggy, bicycles, and finally a car. In 1901 the Nurse Maude District Nursing Association was formed, with aims of healing, relieving, and consoling people in need while helping them retain their independence and self-respect. Her nurses gave practical nursing and domestic help and also filled an important educational role in cleanliness, nutrition, and home nursing. The service helped with clothing and food, but always for small payments to preserve people’s dignity. Another significant innovation was her treatment of “consumption”, the scourge of tuberculosis, by setting up camps where patients had rest and fresh air.

Nurse Maude was single-minded and often appeared brusque. She was the despair of those who sought orderly written records. However, her faith imbued her work with spirituality, and she regarded nursing as a vocation, not simply as a job. Her personal goodness and dedication, and her professional skills, enabled her to establish a remarkable district nursing service which led to developments throughout the country.