British colonial nurses were expected to be highly qualified, many having been trained at prestigious London nursing schools, and they were also expected to be certified midwives. Some nurses decided to study at institutions which would prepare them for colonial service before they submitted their applications. Others were put forward for tropical training courses once they had been selected for colonial work. This paper examines the training which they received, whether at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine which specialised in training nurses for work in West Africa, or the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. At these Schools the nurses were taught by luminaries in the field such as Ronald Ross and Philip Manson-Bahr. Two nurses were sent to East Harlem Nursing and Health Demonstration, New York, County Health Units in Alabama, and universities such as MIT, Yale and Toronto, courtesy of funding from the Rockefeller Foundation. What was appropriate knowledge for these nurses to be taught, what were their experiences of learning in Liverpool, London, the USA and Canada, and what were the successes and limitations in implementing their knowledge in the colonies? In particular, Malaya will be examined, for which a variety of sources exist which document the nurses’ work and experiences in a masculine colonial medical environment.