Mrs. S. A. Rhodes Honoured by the King

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume III, Issue 3, 1 July 1910, Page 121

Mrs. S. A. Rhodes Honoured by the King

In addition to appointing the Earl of Dudley and Lord Islington to be Knights e>f Grace of the Order of St. John, His Majesty King George has conferred the distinction of Lady of Grace on Mrs. S. A. Rhodes, of Wellington, for conspicuous services rendered in ameliorating distress among the sick poor. The work of district nursing carried out under Mrs. Rhodes' direction as President of the District Nursing Guild of St. John is widely known, and she is to be congratulated on being made a Laely of the most ancient order in Christendom. The Order of St. John is older than either the Orders of the Garter or the Golden Fleece, having been formally sanctioned by a Bull of Pope Paschal the Second, in the year 1113. For hundreds of years the members protected Christendom, and kings, princes, and nobles of Europe endowed the Order with great wealth. The English branch of the

Order exerted great influence for about 400 years, and among the English members was Richard Couer-de-Lion. The Order of St. John was suppressed in England by Henry the Eighth, and its vast property confiscated. The Continental nations never allowed the Order to die out, and it was re-introduced into England by Chevalier de Chastelain, a French Knight, in 1831. Among other organisations the revived Order of St. John initiated " The Red Cross Society/' and the " Eastern War Sick and Wounded Relief Fund," besides establishing the St. John Ambulance Association and other kindred institutions in England and the Dominions beyond the seas. In 1878 the late Queen Victoria made the Order of St. John in England a Royal one, with herself as Sovereign head. The wide circle of citizens who hold Mrs. Rhodes in great esteem will doubtless be much gratified by the well-merited honour conferred on her by the Sovereign of the British Empire.