Lorraine Dyer Bizek was one of the first Bermudians to venture to the UK for nurse’s training and the first Bermudian to become a Queen’s Nurse.
Her top-flight credentials as a State Registered Nurse (SRN), State Certified Midwife (SCM) and Queen’s Nurse—in addition to her experience caring for civilian and military casualties during the Second World War—made her one of the most qualified Bermudian nurses of the 1940s and 50s.
But they counted for nothing in the land of her birth. Denied a position at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital because of her race, she spent her whole working life in the United Kingdom. |
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Bermuda's first permanent settlers landed in St George's on the afternoon of July 11, 1612 aboard the Plough.
They had set sail from England three months earlier on April 28. Led by Governor Richard Moore, they stayed on Smith's Island initially but later moved on to St. George's. There were 60 men, women and children in all, and under Moore's leadership, the settlers planted corn and tobacco and learned how to sustain themselves by fishing with nets and hunting hogs and wild birds.
The settlers were welcomed by Christopher Carter, Edward Waters and Edward Chard, the "three kings", who had remained on the Island since the wreck of the Sea Venture in July 1609. Moore, a carpenter, oversaw the construction of the Island's first church, St. Peter's, as well as homes and forts, the latter to protect the settlers from attacks by the Spanish.
Since 2010, University of Rochester historian Dr. Michael Jarvis has been leading archaeological digs on Smith’s Island, unearthing discoveries that shed light on the lives of Bermuda’s first settlers and providing training for Bermudian and American students.
Sources: Bermuda: Five Centuries by Rosemary Jones; The Ship that Saved Jamestown by Lorri Glover and Daniel Blake Smith
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Bermuda's first governor, Richard Moore, a carpenter, oversaw the construction of the Island's first church, St. Peter's in St. George's.
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