Alice Hannah Holford (12 November 1867 – 22 December 1966) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

nurse, midwife and hospital matron.

Early life

Holford was born in

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

, New Zealand. Her parents were Captain J.A. Holford,

Port Taranaki Port Taranaki is a port complex located in New Plymouth, New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ...

's harbour master, and Alice Holford, née Brooking. She applied to be a probationer (trainee nurse) at New Plymouth Hospital in 1886, however the hospital was not ready to train nursing staff and her father was also reluctant to allow her to train. As a result, she had to wait until 1897 to be admitted, during which time she helped her family with raising siblings and cousins, and went out with the local doctors on their rounds. She graduated in 1901, the fourth nurse to be trained at the hospital.

Career

Holford was determined to nurse babies, however there was no suitable training available in New Zealand at the time. So, in 1902 she borrowed money and travelled to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

to train as a midwife at

Crown Street Women's Hospital Crown Street Women's Hospital (now-closed) was once the largest maternity hospital in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was located at 351 Crown Street (corner of Crown and Albion Streets), Surry Hills. The hospital was one of severa ...

. She was criticised for this by nursing colleagues who thought that it was inappropriate for an unmarried woman to deliver babies. On her return to New Zealand, she worked with Grace Neill to establish the St Helens Hospitals as training schools for midwives, and to have legislation passed to register midwives. The first St. Helen's Hospital was opened in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

in 1905, followed by

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

two months later. Holford was appointed the founding matron of the Dunedin hospital, and held this position until her retirement in December 1927 at the age of 60. Her duties as matron were considerable - she oversaw all deliveries, and managed midwifery training for nurses, trainee midwives, and medical students. She had to deal with opposition to the hospital's existence, as midwifery training was new and unestablished in the country at the time. Some doctors feared that trained midwives would compete with them for patients, and some older nurses, as well as the public, thought it was unseemly for young unmarried women to deliver babies. In 1914 Holford was one of a group of nurses who approached the Minister of Defence, James Allen, and suggested that New Zealand send nurses to assist in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The deputation was successful, and led to the development of the

New Zealand Army Nursing Service The New Zealand Army Nursing Service (NZANS) formally came into being in early 1915, when the Army Council in London accepted an offer of nurses to help in the war effort during the First World War from the New Zealand Government. The heavy losses ...

. During the war years, Holford was matron of the Hanmer Convalescent Home for Soldiers in

Hanmer Springs Hanmer Springs is a small town in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand. The Māori name for Hanmer Springs is Te Whakatakanga o te Ngārahu o te ahi a Tamatea, which means “where the ashes of Tamate’s (sic) fire lay” ...

, North Canterbury. She later returned to take charge at Queen Mary Hospital in Hanmer Springs after World War 2. Holford was active in a number of nursing and community organisations. In 1907 she founded a nursing group in Dunedin which later became a branch of the New Zealand Nurses' Association. She served as vice-president and president and was made an honorary life vice-president on her retirement from St. Helen's in 1927. She was a committee member for the New Zealand Nurses' Memorial Fund in the 1920s. Holford was also a founding member of the

Plunket Society The Royal New Zealand Plunket Trust provides a range of free services aimed at improving the development, health and wellbeing of children under the age of five within New Zealand, where it is commonly known simply as Plunket. Its mission is "t ...

and was involved with the Order of St. John, Otago Pioneer Women's Society, the National Council of Women and the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

. In her later years, she was instrumental in Dunedin opening a Citizens' Day Nursery for children, and a women's rest room in the city centre. Holford retired in 1927. In 1956, she suffered a fall while in New Plymouth for a nursing conference, and was admitted to Westown Hospital. She remained there until her death in 1966, aged 99.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holford, Alice Hannah 1867 births 1966 deaths New Zealand nurses People from New Plymouth New Zealand midwives New Zealand women nurses