A BLUE plaque memorial to a Quaker nurse from Thirsk who helped to set up a South American country’s nursing system has been erected.

The plaque has been put up in the memory of Hannah Packer who was born in the North Yorkshire market town in 1841.

She is credited by Uruguayan officials as having created the country’s national nursing profession in the late 19th century.

A blue plaque has been erected in Thirsk near to where she once lived on the corner of the market place, near Kirkgate.

It is the latest in a series of over 15 blue plaques put up to mark the famous sons and daughters of Thirsk and neighbouring Sowerby.

Councillor Janet Watson, mayor of Thirsk, said: "It’s absolutely fantastic that someone from Thirsk has had such an impact.

"To mark her work in Uruguay we have decided to erect a blue plaque in her memory."

Hannah Packer trained as a nurse before she met and married Scottish doctor Francis Davison and they moved to Uruguay in the late 19th century.

They went to the lawless gold mining town of Minas de Corrales where she worked as a nurse and a midwife.

Hannah Packer lived until 1930 when she died aged 89 but her work lived on to form the basis of the Uruguayan nursing profession.

The Hospital of Minas de Corrales was re-named the Hospital Ana Packer in a re-dedication ceremony in 2008.

A date to officially unveil the blue plaque in Thirsk has to be set but it is likely to be at the end of May.