Betsi Cadwaladr

Welsh nurse Betsi Cadwaladr has been called 'the forgotten Florence Nightingale'. The daughter of a Methodist preacher from North Wales, Betsi seems to have had a fiercely independent character, running away from home to work as a maid in Liverpool, running away again to avoid marriage, and travelling the world as maid to a ship's captain.

She was over 60 when, having read of the plight of soldiers in the Crimea, she decided to train as a nurse and joined the military nursing service. She clashed with Nightingale – there was a big difference in age and temperament – but eventually Florence did give Betsi credit for the work she did at the front line in Balaclava.

Sadly, Betsi returned to Britain suffering from cholera and dysentery, dying five years after her return, and was buried in a common grave. In 2012, the Royal College of Nursing and the Welsh health board that shares Betsi's name installed a headstone to mark Betsi's final resting place and share her story with visitors to the cemetery.