Rosalind Paget was one of the original four founders of the Society of Trained Masseuses which later became the Incorporated Society of Trained Masseuses,  in 1920 the Chartered Society of Massage and Medical Gymnastics and ultimately, in 1944 the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. She was the first Chair of Council of both the Society of Trained Masseuses (STM) and the Incorporated Society of Trained Masseuses (ISTM) as well as Director of Examinations. Rosalind was also a member of Council and Honorary Member, later Vice-President of the Chartered Society of Massage and Medical Gymnastics (CSMMG) and Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP).

This is the second part of the full article on Rosalind Paget.  The first part is available here.

Incorporation – The next phase in the Society’s Development and what does Incorporation mean?

In early 1900, when the Society of Trained Masseuses had been in existence for five years and had reached a membership of around 250 the founders were keen that the Society should have official standing.  Previously the Society was a private body with no legal or public status, and no legal authority over its members. Consequently, an Incorporation Sub-Committee was formed to draft the Memorandum and “Articles of Association” for which Paget was chair. When these documents had been completed and agreed the Memorandum was signed by ten early founders and two associate members, presented to the Board of Trade and later circulated to all the masseuses who held the Certificate of the Society.

In June 1900 the Society became the Incorporated Society of Trained Masseuses (ISTM), the Founders being named as: Rosalind Paget (Chair), Augusta Arthur (secretary), Elizabeth Buckworth, Florence Louisa Dove, Rosabella Pauffina Fynes-Clinton, Annie Griffiths, Caroline Frances Maclean, Mary Malony, Elizabeth Anne Manley, Gulielma Manley, Margaret D Palmer and Lucy Marianne Robinson (Wellcome Foundation).

ISTM Examinations Open to Men

Until 1905 the Society was exclusively an all female organisation as men were not permitted to take the examinations for qualification as masseurs. However, in 1905 the War Office (Department of Government) requested the Society to hold examinations for male Royal Army Medical Corps nursing orderlies in massage. The ISTM Council unanimously agreed that the “Articles of Association” should allow masseurs to be examined.

Even though men could then qualify as practitioners they could not be enrolled as Members of the Society itself as they were not permitted to enter the Trained Nurses club premises (until 1920). Nevertheless they were very active in practice. Seventeen men were examined in the first examination session under the new ruling and all of the candidates passed, eight of them with very high marks.

Several other changes in the examination process took place during Paget’s tenure as Director of Examinations including the first examinations to take place in Dublin in 1905, the first examinations in Swedish remedial exercises in 1910 and an examination for teachers in Swedish Remedial Exercise in 1911. These examinations were conducted for candidates who had not had the opportunity to take the examination in Sweden.

By 1908 there were thirty-six blind masseuses and twenty-one blind masseurs who had passed the examination of the London School of Massage and in 1910 the ISTM agreed to examine three blind men who had been trained by Dr Fletcher Little. The candidates wanted to acquire the Society’s prestigious certificate (Jones, 2021). This was an important development in view of the ISTM being a formally recognised organisation through its Incorporation by the Board of Trade in 1900 and the ISTM examinations becoming increasingly recognised by the medical profession (Wickstead, 1948). In 1915 the National Institute for the Blind (now the Royal National Institute of Blind People, RNIB) took over the training of blind students in the new NIB School and in 1916 the ISTM accepted all candidates from the new NIB School for examinations in massage and successful students received the ISTM Certificate (Jones, 2021). One of the blind candidates, Percy Linney Way, later a distinguished and highly respected Principal of the NIB School from 1917 to 1947, achieved the highest marks in the country in this examination. He had passed the examination of the London School of Massage much earlier in that decade.

A blind student, Mr. Percy Linney Way, FRCO (Fellow of the Royal College of Organists) and graduate of Durham University, heads the pass list of the massage examination, recently held by the Incorporated Society of Masseuses. Five blind students, one a surgeon, who were trained at the NIB, passed the whole examination; two, Mr. Way and Mr. Norman Webb, obtaining distinction” (British Journal of Nursing, 1916).

These developments all took place during Paget’s tenure as the Director of Examinations position in ISTM, undoubtedly, she would have had a significant role in fostering these changes.

The Founders’ Lecture and other Key Events of the 1910s

At the Annual General Meeting of the ISTM in 1914 an annual lecture was introduced as a tribute and mark of appreciation for the work of the Founders of the Society and their commitment in bringing the ISTM to fruition and leading it for many years. The lecture would be known as the “Founders’ Lecture” and this has taken place at every Annual General Meeting held in the Annual Congress since that time. At the first Founders’ Lecture an illustrated address was presented to the Founders by the membership.

In grateful recognition of the splendid services which they have rendered by organising the profession of massage in Great Britain and Ireland and raising its standard of efficiency and ethics to a very high degree” (Wellcome Foundation).

Each year the person presenting the Founders’ Lecture was, and still is presented with a medal marking the honour of making this special presentation.

Despite her commitments with the ISTM during the first world war, Paget continued her work in nursing as well. She was given an important role as Inspector of Red Cross Hospitals and was made an Associate of the Royal Red Cross (ARRC), yet another important aspect of her career which was devoted to the service of others. Two of the other important landmarks during the late teens included the publication of the first ISTM Journal in 1915 and also very importantly the consent by Her Majesty Queen Mary to become the first Royal Patron of the Society in 1916 continuing  until her death in 1953. Queen Mary’s consent to become Patron of ISTM was a great boost to public recognition and a step which would have been welcome in helping to pave the long road to the granting of a Royal Charter in 1920 – The Chartered Society of Massage and Medical Gymnastics

Granting of the Royal Charter (1920)

A Royal Charter is a document which emanates from the Crown signifying official endorsement and a range of permissions from the Sovereign. It endows the recipient with the authority and rights specified within the Charter document itself. The endorsement or permissions might, for example relate to a wide range of areas such as trade, education, governance or religious practice.

In 1920, a Royal Charter was granted by His Majesty King George the Fifth. The purpose of a Royal Charter is to grant specific rights, privileges, authority, functions and constitutions of, for example, universities, cities, companies, borough corporations and professional organisations defining the structure, governance, purposes and functions. A Chartered Society has more rights than a limited company; it has all the powers of an individual except those which are expressly forbidden by its Charter. In the case of a professional organisation its members are restricted by the rules of professional conduct embodied in the Bylaws. The most crucial point is that only one organisation in any field may hold a Royal Charter giving that organisation the sole right and recognition for provision and practice in that specific discipline. Undoubtedly the Royal Charter was a significant landmark in the future development and success of the profession and the process of professionalisation formally recognising the Society’s professional status, purpose, governance structures and the standards it would uphold in its field of practice. The topic of the Royal Charter and its granting is not explored in detail in this paper.

The earliest official record with the suggestion of the possibility of a Royal Charter for the Incorporated Society of Trained Masseuses was in the hand-written Minutes of the ISTM Council meeting on 10th July, 1914, at which time  Paget was Director of Examinations and ISTM council member (Wellcome Foundation). She was also a member of Council when the application for a Royal Charter was submitted to the Privy Council. On 11th June 1920 the news was given that his Majesty the King had signed the Charter and the new Society, the Chartered Society of Massage and Medical Gymnastics emerged. Paget remained on the Council of the newly formed Chartered Society as a founder and Honorary member.

On the granting of the Royal Charter Certificates of Registration were given to all Members of the Society. The Certificate of Registration document presented to Paget which can be found in the CSP Wellcome Archive is shown below, it is dated December, 1920 and signed by a Member of Council, E. Muriel Ford; Edith Mary Templeton, Secretary of the Society and Sir Edwin Cooper Perry, Chairman of the Society (Rivers ,1981).

Rosalind Paget in the era of the Chartered Society of Massage and Medical Gymnastics

The first Annual General Meeting of the CSMMG was held at Armitage Hall, National Institute for the Blind (NIB) in Great Portland Street, London. Sir Edwin Cooper Perry is in the chair of the AGM of the Chartered Society for the first time. Many of the meetings of the society took place at the NIB, evidencing the close relationship between the Society and the NIB. It is significant that Mr Percy Way, a blind masseur and Principal of the NIB School of Massage for the Blind was the first man to be a Council member of the Society.

Following the transition from ISTM to CSMMG by the granting of the Royal Charter in 1920, Paget was less at the forefront of activity in the CSMMG. However, when she eventually ceased an active part in the affairs of the Society she followed proceedings very closely until her final attendance at the Society’s Council meeting which was as late as June, 1938 when she was aged 83 and shortly before an accident in which she injured her hip and consequently withdrew from public activities (Wickstead, 1948).

National Honours 

The first major National Honour awarded to Paget was Associate of the Royal Red Cross (ARRC) which was awarded for exceptional service in the field of military nursing in the First World War. This decoration was first instituted by Queen Victoria in 1883.

In 1935 Paget was appointed to the Order of Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE), a prestigious National Honour in recognition of her lifetime service to midwifery and nursing. She was first asked whether she would accept the honour in 1931 but as John Rivers (1981) noted, she “cared little for honours and declined”. He continued,

When the offer was made again in 1935, when she was 80, this time, with some reluctance, she accepted. She looked on it as a tribute to the midwifery profession as a whole rather than to herself personally. ‘It was not my choice’ She said, ‘but my dear old and youngest midwives are pleased, so nothing matters’”.

The Honour bestowed upon her and National recognition through the award of a Damehood was clearly a fitting national tribute to Paget not only for her outstanding service to the midwifery profession, but also for her exceptional contribution to the development of nursing as well as her work as a social reformer and involvement in the suffrage movement to say nothing of her work as a key founder of the STM, the ISTM and the CSMMG, which itself gave rise in turn to the existence of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP).

Rosalind Paget – A Truly Remarkable Woman!

Undoubtedly physiotherapy in the UK and more widely owes a great deal to this redoubtable lady, a distinguished nurse, midwife ,campaigner for women’s suffrage, social reformer and masseuse who was a key Founder of the physiotherapy profession in the United Kingdom in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Much is owed to her strength of character and powerful personality. A much loved leader, she clearly commanded respect due to her exceptional capabilities and many qualities of care and compassion, dedication, knowledge and will power. Contemporary written records demonstrate her enthusiasm and determination and the affection in which she was held.

Dame Mary Rosalind Paget – born in Lancashire, England on the 4th January 1855, died on the 19th August,1948 (aged 93) at her home at Colwood Park, Bolney, Sussex. Her grave is in Brompton Cemetery, West Brompton, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England.

References

British Journal of Nursing. (1916). “Our Splendid Wounded”. London 18th March 1916.

Jones RJ. (2021). “Blind and Partially sighted physiotherapy in the United Kingdom. A century of Development, success and challenge. Will it still belong?”. Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 37(3), 401-419.

Rivers J. (1981). Dame Rosalind Paget DBE, ARRC 1855-1948. Nursing Notes: London. pp56,24,49, 16,17.

Wellcome Foundation, London. Handwritten Official Papers including Minutes of Meetings, Agendas, Correspondence and Notes of ISTM.

Wicksteed J.H. (1948). The Growth of a Profession. Arnold & Co: London. pp21, 25, 32.