Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps

Last updated
Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps
Active1915–present
CountryFlag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
BranchFlag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand Army
RoleMedical support
Commanders
Colonel-in-Chief The Princess Royal
A Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps member at Vung Tau orphanage, in 1971, during the Vietnam War Australian and New Zealand Forces in Vietnam 1962 - 1972 MH16976.jpg
A Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps member at Vung Tau orphanage, in 1971, during the Vietnam War

The Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps (RNZNC) is a corps of the New Zealand Army. The corps was initially formed in 1915 from civilian nurses who volunteered for service during World War I, and who were granted honorary officer ranks. A Nursing Reserve had been formed as part of the New Zealand Medical Corps on 14 May 1908. [1] Today, the corps is an officer-only corps that consists of commissioned officers who are employed for their specialist skills and knowledge as registered nurses, [2] the corps works in conjunction with the Royal New Zealand Army Medical Corps and the Royal New Zealand Dental Corps to promote "health and disease prevention" and to provide "care for the wounded and sick". [3] Nursing Officers in the New Zealand Army can be employed broadly in primary health, perioperative, surgical or emergency settings, [2] which can see RNZNC personnel providing health services in a garrison health centre, in a civilian practice, or deployed on operations. [4]

Contents

Up until 1945, the corps was a part-time only formation with personnel being called up for full time service during times of war only. However, since then the RNZNC has developed into a corps of both Regular and Reserve personnel. Throughout the corps' history, personnel have been deployed to various operational theatres. Aside from service during World War I and World War II, the corps has deployed personnel support to operations during the Vietnam War, and more recently to peacekeeping operations such as those in Bosnia and Somalia in the 1990s, the 1991 Gulf War, the East Timor intervention, Bougainville, Iraq and Afghanistan. [4] [5]

New Zealand Nurses: Boer War

New Zealand Nurses: Samoan Expeditionary Forces 1914

Leadership

NameTerm startTerm end
Matron-in-chief (1915–1957)
1 Hester Maclean
RRC
7 August 19109 November 1923
2 Jessie Bicknell
ARRC
10 November 192331 March 1931
3 Fanny Wilson
RRC
7 May 19314 July 1933
4 Ida Willis
OBE ARRC ED
5 July 193322 February 1946
5Eva Mackay
OBE RRC ED
23 February 194614 August 1954
6Doris Brown (Milne)
RRC ED
15 August 195431 December 1957
Principal matron (1958–1977)
1 Christina McDonald
RRC
1 April 195821 August 1964
2Mary Wilson
RRC
22 August 196429 April 1970
3Lois Jones
ARRC
29 April 197017 May 1977
Lieutenant colonel (1977–1991)
1Helen Macann
RRC
18 May 197714 July 1983
2Noeline Taylor
ARRC
14 July 19831 March 1985
3Thursa Kennedy
RRC
1 March 19853 June 1991
Chief nursing officer (1991–present)
1Daphne Shaw
RRC
1 July 19911 January 1997
2Diane Swap
MNZM
2 January 199723 June 2002
3Gerard Wood
CStJ
24 June 200212 December 2007
4Maree Sheard13 December 200710 December 2012
5Lee Turner10 December 2012 ?
Michelle Williams
David FooteDecember 2023present

Order of precedence

Preceded by New Zealand Army Order of Precedence Succeeded by

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References

  1. "RNZANC" . Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Nursing Officer". Defence Careers. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  3. "Our Ranks and Corps". New Zealand Army. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  4. 1 2 Sheard, Maree; Huntington, Annette; Gilmour, Jean (February 2016). "Nursing Services in the New Zealand Defence Force: A Review After 100 Years". Journal of Military and Veterans' Health. 24 (1). Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  5. "Book commemorating 100 Years of New Zealand Army Nursing – 1915 to 2015" . Retrieved 8 April 2017.

Further reading