Kofoworola Abeni Pratt

Kofoworola Abeni Pratt, born Kofoworola Abeni Scott in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1915, grew up wanting to become a nurse, but her father discouraged the career, so she trained as a teacher instead, teaching history for several years.

After marrying Nigerian pharmacist Olu Pratt, who moved to London to study medicine, Kofoworola travelled to England in 1946 to pursue her original dream, becoming the first Black student to train at the Nightingale School at St Thomas' Hospital, London.

When the National Health Service launched on 5 July 1948, Pratt was on duty as a working nurse, making her the first Black nurse to work in the NHS; she qualified as a State Registered Nurse in 1950 despite facing racism, including separate accommodation from her white colleagues and a professor who initially refused to let her work on his ward.

Pratt returned to Nigeria in 1954, and following the country's independence in 1960 she was appointed Matron of University College Hospital, Ibadan, in 1964, the first Nigerian to hold the post, which had previously been reserved for British expatriates under colonial rule.

Pratt went on to become Nigeria's Chief Nursing Officer in 1965, founded a nursing school at the University of Ibadan, served as President of the National Council of Women's Societies in Nigeria, and was awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal in 1973, the highest international distinction a nurse can receive.