Chesley, Annie Amelia

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Sharon Anne Cook, “CHESLEY, ANNIE AMELIA,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 13, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/chesley_annie_amelia_13E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Nursing superintendent and instructor; b. 1857 or 1858 in or near Toronto, daughter of Edward James Chesley and Alpha Mary Turquand; d. unmarried 6 Nov. 1910 in Ottawa.
    • Annie Amelia Chesley was born into a family that had a lengthy association with public service: both her grandfather Solomon Yeomans Chesley and her father were long-time members of the Indian Department. Nothing is known of Annie’s early years. She trained as a nurse between 1893 and 1896 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md, where she remained as a head nurse until early 1898.
    •  In 1897 several of Ottawa’s leading citizens, including Dr Henry Pulteney Wright and lumber magnates John Rudolphus Booth* and John Manuel, had founded St Luke’s Hospital (later incorporated into Ottawa Civic). Although financially sustained by the Presbyterian Church, it received the full support of Ottawa’s élite. 
    • The hospital’s declared objective was to act as “a modern hospital for the scientific care and treatment of the sick and injured.” To help meet this goal a training-school for nurses was established, to be shared with the Lady Stanley Institute, which had been set up in 1891 to provide instruction, as well as a residence, for nurses and to offer public lectures. Chesley was named lady superintendent at St Luke’s.
    • Regarding her position as one of senior management, Chesley stressed the separation of her administrative team from the group of student nurses. Thus, while she yearly awarded a personal medal to her most outstanding pupil, there is little evidence of a less formal, or warm, relationship between Chesley and the students. In addition to her responsibilities at St Luke’s, Annie Chesley was active in the wider nursing profession. She served as first president of the Ottawa Graduate Nurses Association. With several nursing associates, she established the first central registry for professional nurses in Ottawa; it probably attempted to identify certified nurses in the area and perhaps suggest appropriate names to private households in need of nursing care.
  • Second Great Granddaughter of Proven United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=8642
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/187279477/annie-amelia-chesley