Nurse Dutton 

Nurse Dutton, is a familiar figure in Newport. She was the district nurse and midwife from August 1939 until December 1969 and as such, has delivered a large percentage people born during those thirty years, in many cases her first babies' babies  this continuity from father to son gives her an intimate link with many of the families in the area as well as a positive identification with the neighbourhood despite the fact that she comes from the opposite end cf the county.
She was born in South East Essex, at  Bicknacre,  the seventh of ten children. Her father died in The First World War from the effects of gas poisoning leaving her mother to bring up the children singlehanded. This meant that the children had to go out to work as soon as possible and Nurse Dutton left school at fourtneen years of age and went straight into service as a kitchen maid in a household in St. Leonard's Sussex. Although she wanted to be a nurse ever since she was a child her family were against the idea for some reason and it was not until she endured a spell as cook to two elderly ladies who were somewhat mean with the pennines that she summoned up the courage to approach the local hospital where she asked If she could be taken on as a probationer. Her courage paid off, she was accepted and she proceeded to take the three year S.R.N. course and, as it turned out, stayed on for a further five years as a Sister. 

After eight years in the same hospital, however, she began to feel she was getting into a rut so applide to do her midwifery and found herself back in Essex in 1936. 

Thanks to ‘Newport News’  for this artarticles