Marsden, Kate (1859–1931)

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Marsden, Kate (1859–1931)

British nurse. Name variations: Katherine Marsden. Born Katherine Marsden, 1859, in Edmonton, North London, England; died 1931 in England; dau. of J.T. Marsden (solicitor).

Trained at Snell's Park and Tottenham Hospital; traveled to Bulgaria to tend soldiers in RussoTurkish war (1877); went to New Zealand (1884) and became Lady Superintendent of Wellington Hospital; returned to England and was invited to St Petersburg to receive medal from Russian Red Cross (1890); with friend Anna Field, traveled to northern Russia to nurse lepers; journeyed for 3 months under arduous conditions and reached Viluisk where she visited leper colonies; reported journey in Moscow and raised money for lepers to open hospital in Viluisk; made Free Life Fellow of Royal Geographic Society (1916). Story of travels recounted in On Sledge and Horseback to Outcast Siberian Lepers (1893) and My Mission to Siberia: A Vindication (1921).