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Ada Ashbridge-Thomlinson (1878-1973)

Ada Ashbridge-Thomlinson

Written by Joanne Phizacklea

Occupation: Hospital Matron

Early Life and Training

Ada was born on 13 March 1878 at Cumdivock, near Dalston, in Cumberland. She was the youngest of eight children born to the farmer and machine maker William Ashbridge-Thomlinson (1839-1922) and his wife Elizabeth Steele (1836-1904), the daughter of George Steele, the miller of Briscoe Mill, Beckermet. Her first childhood home was at Cumdivock and then at Gill House at Dalston, which remained her family home until her death on 23 March 1973.

She trained as a nurse at Sheffield Royal Infirmary and started her two year training in 1900, earning the grand salary of £6 the first year, rising to £9 the second year. After completing her midwifery training in 1913, she was enrolled onto The Midwives Roll. It is not known if Ada ever worked as a midwife, but the qualification was necessary for her future plans. She continued nursing at Sheffield until 1914 when she was successful in her application to join the Colonial Nursing Association (CNA). At her interview Ada was described as a ‘pleasant women, with a bright manner’ and she was appointed to The Victoria Nursing Home, Shanghai.  The Shanghai International Settlement was a relatively new city on the Yangzi river delta, founded in 1842 after the First Opium War, and formed of several autonomous Western concessions, independent of Chinese legislation.

The CNA was formed in 1896 to provide trained, professional nurses to work throughout the British Empire; initially to nurse the British residents of these countries, but later expanding their work to all residents. Applicants needed to have had three years training in a general hospital and hold the Central Midwives Board certificate. Both of these qualifications Ada now held.  Between 1896 and 1966 approximately 8,400 nurses were recruited to work in countries including Africa, China, Australia, Japan and The Falkland Islands. The CNA became the Overseas Nursing Association in 1919.

Her Work in Shanghai

Depending on the country allocated, the terms and conditions were favourable compared to nursing at the time in the United Kingdom. In 1922 the wages could be as high as £600 per year with food and lodging provided, compared to £40-£60 at home. Passage to and from the UK was paid for, four weeks paid leave was allowed and a pension was payable after five years service. It was acknowledged that life as a nurse in an overseas country could be demanding and an advert placed in newspapers in 1927 stated that women should be ‘fearless in the face of danger’ and that ‘paint and powder flappers’ need not apply!

When Ada arrived in Shanghai, she joined approximately 4,800 other British citizens living in the Shanghai International Settlement. The British population increased steadily whilst Ada was there rising from 4,822 in 1915, to 6,595 in 1935; likewise, the Chinese population rose from 620,401 to 1,120,860 in the same period. There were people from all over the world living in the Settlement.

Public health provision in Shanghai was poor, although advances were being made through health promotion campaigns, vaccination programmes and efforts to improve both the water supply and waste disposal. The main cause of death at the time was tuberculosis, and there were still diseases such as typhoid, smallpox, diphtheria and scarlet fever to worry about. Bubonic plague had been a problem, but deaths were decreasing due to a campaign to deter, capture and destroy the population of rats. There was also a worry that yellow fever could arrive due to opening of the Panama Canal in 1914, the year Ada left Sheffield. 

The Victoria Nursing Home, the hospital that Ada worked for, was struggling to recruit enough trained staff due to the large numbers of nurses needed to look after the wounded from the war. Despite this shortage, plans were in place to increase the number of beds for children and maternity cases. The nurses also looked after patients outside the hospital, the part of their workload known as ‘private nursing’. During the period in which Ada was in Shanghai, the city was experiencing a turbulent time. The Victoria Nursing Home, appears to be near to the isolation hospital which was close to areas affected by Japanese bombing in 1932, in their attempt to increase the Japanese influence in the Settlement, which was sometimes known as the ‘Paris of the East’.

Ada worked for the CNA as a nursing sister and later hospital matron for twenty years, until her retirement in 1934. She travelled to and from Shanghai many times throughout these years. The journeys were long, sometimes taking up to six weeks, and involved at least two ships, sometimes three, and occasionally a train journey from Montreal on the east coast of Canada to Vancouver on the west coast.

Return to England

At the age of 56, Ada left Shanghai for the final time on 7th April 1934, travelling first class on the SS Chichibu Maru, returning home via Los Angeles and New York finally docking in Glasgow on 28 May the same year. Ada returned to the family home in Dalston and lived there with her sister Amy until her death in 1973. After this, a number of her dresses were donated to Tullie House Museum in Carlisle.

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