Jane McCotter, nursing sister of Irish descent and founder of the Infant Welfare Center in Abeokuta was born in 1870. McCotter worked briefly in the colonial nursing service, but after an ideological conflict with British authorities who disfavoured ‘home birth’, she joined the Egba native authority. By 1955 when she died, McCotter had received several high honours by British and native authorities. She had also trained mid-wives who would carry her methods to many Nigerian towns and villages.