This show is devoted to the engaged philosophy of Dame Cicely Saunders (1918-2005), the pioneer of the modern hospice movement, a movement which includes a distinct philosophy of life which does not ignore, but fully incorporates the inevitability of death, suffering, and the need for meaning. As she writes in her essay The Philosophy of Terminal Care, “we are concerned with the nature of man, with living and dying, and with the whole man body, mind, and spirit…” Joining us today is Hannah Amos, the Perseverance Curator at the Florence Nightingale Museum (FNM) in London who conducted research for the special “In Focus” exhibit on Dame Saunders at the FNM, which opened on July 14, 2005, the 20th anniversary of her death, is currently on display at the FNM until March 1, 2026.

This show continues the discussion of the “legacy of learning” bequeathed by Nurse Catherine Pine in her Last Will & Testament (discussion of 4/21/24). In that show, we were joined by British historian Elizabeth Crawford, who discussed her research on the Last Will and Testament of Nurse Catherine Pine (1864-1941), and in particular, on the gift of the “suffragette medal” which Pine bequeathed to the British College of Nurses. In this show, we focus on the other "suffrage memorabilia provision" of Nurse Pine’s Will which bequeathed “books and photographs” to the “Women’s Social and Political Club”. As we discuss, the “Women’s Social and Political Club” was the “Suffragette Fellowship Club," and it is the early history of the Suffragette Fellowship Club on which we focus.