Margaret Hitchcock

Last updated

Margaret (Daisy) Hitchcock MBE (1883 - 13 March 1967) was a nurse from New Zealand who served in France in World War I. [1] [2] [3]

Life and career

Hitchcock was born in 1883 to Maria and Henry Hitchcock of Wellington. [2] Hitchcock trained as a nurse in Wellington, passing her nursing registration exam in 1909. [4]

In 1910 Hitchcock travelled with her friend Lily Lind to Ireland to study midwifery at Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital. At the time World War I broke out, the two women were living and working in London as private nurses. [4]

Hitchcock and Lind volunteered their services to the newly formed French Flag Nursing Corps (FFNC), At the end of October 1914 the pair were part of the first contingent of nine nurses that the FFNC sent to France. They were posted to the Hotel Dieu in Rouen, where they worked alongside French nuns to nurse French, Belgian, Algerian, Turkish, and German soldiers. [4] In mid-December the pair were moved to Bordeaux, to work in a large military hospital there. Next, from the end of January to June 1915, they were posted to the small town of Bergues near the Belgian border. There they nursed victims of a typhoid epidemic. [4] While there, the FFNC nurses were exposed to intensive artillery bombardments which destroyed nearby buildings, forcing them to live in cellars. [4]

In July 1915, the pair were moved to Bourbourg and nursed on a hospital barge which ferried sick and wounded soldiers to hospitals via the canals connecting the Belgian city of Nieuport to Dunkirk and Bourbourg in Flanders. In October 1915, Hitchcock and Lind moved again, to a contagious diseases hospital in Steenvoorde. [4]

At the end of January 1916, they relocated to Nice as Lind had fallen ill. Initially she thought she had bronchitis, however she was soon diagnosed with tuberculosis, which she had probably contracted while working on the hospital barge. In February Lind moved into a temporary hospital set up at Le Grande Hotel in Grasse. Hitchcock nursed her friend with gargles, inhalations and poultices. In October 1916, both Lind and Hitchcock resigned from the FFNC and left France to travel home to New Zealand on the hospital ship Maheno. However, Lind died on 21 November, shortly after the ship left Colombo, and she was buried at sea. [4]

Hitchcock arrived back in Wellington on 23 December 1916. In May 1917, she enlisted in the New Zealand Army Nursing Service; she spent six months working at Trentham military camp in Wellington then left in October 1917 to return to England. [5] From December 1917 until May 1919, Hitchcock was posted to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force’s general hospitals at Brockenhurst and Codford. [4]

On her return to New Zealand, Hitchcock spent some time nursing shell-shocked men at Queen Mary Hospital at Hanmer Springs. She then re-trained as an infant nurse with the Plunket Society and worked as a matron at Karitane Hospitals in Auckland, Dunedin and Wellington. [4]

During her time in Europe, Hitchcock received several items of trench art and rehabilitative art from soldiers she nursed, and some of these were later donated to Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. [2]

During World War II Hitchcock worked in nurse management with the Royal New Zealand Air Force in Rongotai, Wellington. In 1946 she was awarded an MBE for her military nursing service. Hitchcock died in Palmerston North on 13 March 1967. [3]

Related Research Articles

Rita Angus New Zealand artist (1908-1970)

Rita Angus, a New Zealand painter, has a reputation - along with Colin McCahon and Toss Woollaston - as one of the leading figures in twentieth-century New Zealand art. She worked primarily in oil and water colour, and became well-known for her portraits and landscapes.

Yuki Kihara is an interdisciplinary artist of Japanese and Samoan descent. In 2008, her work was the subject of a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; it was the first time a New Zealander had been the subject of one-person show at the institution. Titled Shigeyuki Kihara: Living Photographs, the exhibition opened from 7 October 2008 to 1 February 2009. Kihara's self-portrait photographs in the exhibitions included nudes in poses that portrayed colonial images of Polynesian people as sexual objects. Her exhibition was followed by an acquisition of Kihara's work for the museum's collection.

Erenora Puketapu-Hetet was a noted New Zealand weaver and author. A key figure in the Māori cultural renaissance, she helped change perceptions of Māori weaving/raranga from craft to internationally recognized art.

Huria Matenga was a New Zealand tribal leader and landowner. Of Māori descent, she identified with the Ngati Tama, Ngati Toa and Te Ati Awa iwi. She was born in Whakapuaka, Nelson, New Zealand in about 1842.

Averil Lysaght New Zealand biologist, science historian, and illustrator (1905–1981)

Averil Margaret Lysaght was a New Zealand biologist, science historian and artist, best known for her scholarly work on Joseph Banks.

Margaret Sparrow New Zealand medical doctor, activist and author

Dame Margaret June Sparrow is a New Zealand medical doctor, reproductive rights advocate, and author.

Mary Ruddock was a New Zealand businesswoman who ran a dressmaking business in Wellington from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Lily Lind was a nurse from New Zealand who served in France in World War I.

Marion Elizabeth Tylee was a New Zealand artist.

Helen Stewart (artist) New Zealand born painter and printmaker (1900—1983)

Helen Stewart was a New Zealand artist.

Elise Constance Mourant was a New Zealand artist. Works by Mourant are held in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Sofia Tekela-Smith is a New Zealand artist specialising in jewellery and body adornments. Her work is held in the permanent collections of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Mary Elizabeth Greenwood was a New Zealand photographer. She was an early promoter of the autochrome photographic process in New Zealand. Her work is held by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and by the National Library of New Zealand.

Lindah Lepou New Zealand-Samoan fashion designer

Lindah Aaron Lepou is a New Zealand-Samoan fashion designer. Her work is included in the permanent collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Emily Mabel Tustin was a New Zealand photographer. Her portraits of people and bridal parties are held in the collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Gladys Mary Goodall was a New Zealand photographer whose work was used for scenic postcards of the country. Her photographs are held in the collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the National Library of New Zealand.

Marion Queenie Kirker was a New Zealand photographer. Her work is held in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Beatrice Margaret Proffitt was New Zealand designer. Examples of her work are held in the permanent collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Rangituatahi Te Kanawa is a New Zealand textile conservator and weaver. She is affiliated with the Ngāti Maniapoto iwi.

Victoria Alexandrina Muriel May, Lady Plunket was a nursing association founder and vicereine.

References

  1. ↑ "New Zealand Army Nursing Service in the First World War - New Zealand Army Nursing Service | NZHistory, New Zealand history online". nzhistory.govt.nz. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "Loading... | Collections Online - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa". collections.tepapa.govt.nz. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Loading... | Collections Online - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa". collections.tepapa.govt.nz. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "'Actively engaged, often under fire' - Two New Zealand Nurses in the French Flag Nursing Corps | WW100 New Zealand". ww100.govt.nz. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  5. ↑ Auckland Museum. "Margaret Hitchcock" . Retrieved 10 May 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.