Christina Graham Knight, OBE was a nursing leader and matron of the Albert Dock Seamen's Hospital, - - the Dreadnought Branch Hospital in the Royal Victoria and Albert Docks, in London's Docklands for over twenty years.Rogers, Sarah (2022). "A Maker of Matrons"? A study of Eva Lückes's influence on a generation of nurse leaders:1880–1919 (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Huddersfield, April 2022) She was a founding member of the College of Nursing (now Royal College of Nursing).The first 500000 members were Founding Members, Knight was member 20,880. See: GNC Roll of Nurses1923, p. 335
Early life Knight was born on 20 November 1862 at 1 Trinity Quay, Aberdeen. She was the third eldest of at least four children born to her parents, George Knight, a grocer and spirit dealer, and his wife Jessie. Knight worked for a while as a salesperson in a confectioner's shop before she commenced nursing.
Nursing career Knight trained as a nurse from 1891 to 1893 under Eva Luckes, Matron of The London Hospital, Whitechapel. Afterwards, she worked as a staff nurse at the hospital for three years, before being promoted to Sister at the Dreadnought Branch Hospital in the Royal Victoria and Albert Docks in 1896. In 1898 Knight was appointed as matron at the hospital, and she remained there for 21 years. In November 1919 she resigned and was appointed matron of the Tropical Diseases Hospital, Endsleigh Gardens, London.
She was a founding member of the College of Nursing.
Retirement and death By the Second World War Knight had retired, and was living in Great Bookham, Surrey. She died twenty years later on 20 January 1959 at Teddington Medical Nursing Home, Teddington, Middlesex. Her estate was valued at over £7500.
Honours
Knight was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), in the 1918 Birthday Honours.
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