A midwife who delivered more than 2,000 babies in Southend has died at the age of 94.

Phoebe Young became a district midwife in 1947, a year before the birth of the NHS.

She first started her nursing career in 1922, but had to give up ten years later when she wed James Priest as nurses were not allowed to be married.

After raising her family in Benfleet she was widowed in 1945.She later remarried Herbert Young, who passed away 10 years ago.

She returned to the nursing profession in 1947 as a midwife. Her son, David Priest, said: "She became a well-known figure, travelling on a scooter at all hours to patients in labour.

"Some mothers saw her four or five times as their families grew.

"On one occasion she had three women in labour at the same time and had to keep dashing from one to the other."

Over the next 20 years she delivered thousands of babies, mainly in the Southend area.

After each birth she always offered a prayer of thanks with the mother asking for God's blessing on the new life.

Born in Renfrew in Glasgow, she moved to London to train, before moving to Earls Hall Road, Southend.

For the last two years of her life she was living at the Braemar Lodge Residential in Victoria Avenue.

Having retired from midwifery, she worked in the maternity ward at Rochford Hospital and the gynaecological unit at Southend Hospital.

She also worked as an industrial nurse at the ECKO radio and television factory and at the antenatal clinic, then in Warrior Square.

In the late 1950s she met the Queen Mother at a reception to mark the 60th anniversary of the Midwives Act 1902.

Both of Phoebe's sons and their wives were educated at the Westcliff high schools.

Robin, 66, became professor of psychiatry at St Mary's, London, and David, 63, is managing director of the international fan manufacturer Woods Air Movement in Colchester.

Phoebe became a life Deacon at Earls Hall Baptist Church, whose minister the Rev Richard Lewis conducted today's service at Southend Crematorium.

Donations towards the Midwifes' Benevolent Fund can be made through Tate's Funeral Directors.

(Right) Well-known figure - over decades as a nurse Phoebe Young not only became an expert on midwifery but also delivered thousands of babies

(Left) Life's work - Phoebe Young began her career as a nurse in 1922

By Keily Oakes

Reporter's e-mail: keily.oakes@notes.newsquest.co.uk

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