Vera Deakin
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Vera Deakin White (25 December 1891 – 9 August 1978) was an Australian humanitarian known for her long involvement with the
Australian Red Cross The Australian Red Cross, formally the Australian Red Cross Society, is a humanitarian aid and community services charity in Australia. Tracing its history back to 1923 and being incorporated by royal charter in 1941, the Australian Red Cros ...
. In 1915, aged 23, she established the Australian Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau to assist the families of soldiers. The bureau, initially based in Cairo and later in London, responded to thousands of requests for information during the
First World War 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 ...
.


Early life

Vera Deakin was born on 25 December 1891 at Llanarth, her parents' home in
South Yarra, Melbourne South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Stonnington local government areas. South Yarra recorded a populat ...
. She was the youngest of three daughters born to Pattie (née Browne) and
Alfred Deakin Alfred Deakin (3 August 1856 – 7 October 1919) was an Australian politician who served as the second Prime Minister of Australia. He was a leader of the movement for Federation, which occurred in 1901. During his three terms as prime ministe ...
. Her father was the second
Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...
, serving three non-consecutive terms between 1903 and 1910. The Deakin sisters were initially tutored by their aunt Catherine Deakin, before going on to
Melbourne Girls Grammar , motto_translation = Without the Lord, All is in Vain , established = 1893 , type = Independent, single sex, day & boarding, Christian school. , years = ELC–12 , gender ...
. Vera attended lectures in English literature at the
University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...
, but was primarily interested in music. She took cello and vocal lessons, performing publicly for the first time at the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work in 1907. She went to Europe in 1913 to study music in Berlin and Budapest, chaperoned by her aunt Catherine.


First World War

Deakin was in London when the First World War broke out, but soon returned home where she joined the
Australian Red Cross The Australian Red Cross, formally the Australian Red Cross Society, is a humanitarian aid and community services charity in Australia. Tracing its history back to 1923 and being incorporated by royal charter in 1941, the Australian Red Cros ...
and completed a course in nursing. In early 1915, she accompanied her parents to the Pan Pacific Exhibition in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, where her father was the Australian representative. Hoping to undertake some war work, in August she made contact with
Norman Brookes Sir Norman Everard Brookes (14 November 187728 September 1968) was an Australian tennis player. During his career he won three Grand Slam singles titles; Wimbledon in 1907 and 1914 (the first non-British individual to do so) and the Australa ...
– her sister
Ivy ''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and ...
's brother-in-law and a Red Cross commissioner in Cairo. Brookes encouraged her to come to Egypt, and against her parents' wishes she left Australia in September with her friend Winifred Johnson. They arrived in
Port Said Port Said ( ar, بورسعيد, Būrsaʿīd, ; grc, Πηλούσιον, Pēlousion) is a city that lies in northeast Egypt extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal. With an approximate population of 6 ...
the following month. On 21 October 1915, aged 23, Deakin opened the Australian Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau in Cairo, with herself as secretary and Johnson as assistant secretary. The bureau sought to gather information about Australian Imperial Force (AIF) soldiers in the Gallipoli campaign to communicate to those back in Australia, serving as "the conduit between official sources and the families of soldiers". In May 1916, the bureau moved its headquarters to
Victoria Street, London Victoria is an area of Central London in the City of Westminster. It is named after Victoria Station, which is a major transport hub. The station was named after the nearby Victoria Street. The name is used to describe streets adjoining or n ...
, after the AIF was transferred to the
Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...
. By late 1917, Deakin was managing 60 staff – including agents in Britain, France, and Belgium – and the bureau had to relocate to a larger building in
Grosvenor Place Grosvenor Place is a street in Belgravia, London, running from Hyde Park Corner down the west side of Buckingham Palace gardens, and joining lower Grosvenor Place where there are some cafes and restaurants. It joins Grosvenor Gardens, London, ...
. In three years of operation the organisation created 32,000 files for individual soldiers, and issued 400,000 responses. Deakin later recalled "we were often met with suspicion and eventually jealousy, as we had made ourselves felt as a court of appeal for relatives who were unsuccessful in obtaining satisfaction from the military authorities". For her work she was made an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(OBE) in the
1918 New Year Honours The 1918 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Ja ...
, aged 26.


Marriage and children

In December 1918, Deakin met Thomas White, a former prisoner of war who had managed to escape from the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
several months earlier. She had previously corresponded with him as part of her duties at the bureau. They became engaged a few weeks after their first meeting, despite opposition from some of her family, and married in Melbourne in March 1920. The couple had four daughters, Lilian (b. 1921), Patricia (b. 1923), Shirley (b. 1925), and Judith (b. 1929).


Community work and later life

White maintained her involvement with the Red Cross after her marriage, serving as Victorian divisional commandant (1938–1945) and national vice-chairman (1945–1950, 1964–1966). She was also chairman of its
music therapy Music therapy, an allied health profession, "is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music th ...
service from 1950. During the Second World War, she helped mobilise the organisation in Victoria, establishing emergency training groups and reviving the Enquiry Bureau. She was made a life member of the Red Cross in 1945, and "probably had a greater influence than any other single person on the development of the Australian Red Cross". White served on the management committee of the
Royal Children's Hospital The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) is a major children's hospital in Melbourne, Australia. As a major specialist paediatric hospital in Victoria, the Royal Children's Hospital provides a full range of clinical services, tertiary care, as well ...
from 1931, and was appointed a life governor in 1949. She was also the inaugural chairman of the Committee for Music in Mental Hospitals, inaugural president of the Anzac Fellowship of the Women of Victoria, and president of the Victorian Society for Crippled Children and Adults (1961–1965). From 1951 to 1956, White lived in London where her husband was Australian High Commissioner. After his knighthood in 1952 she was entitled to be known as Lady White. She was widowed in 1957 and died in Melbourne in 1978, aged 86; she was the last surviving child of Alfred Deakin. In 2018 the
Royal Historical Society of Victoria The Royal Historical Society of Victoria is a community organisation promoting the history of the state of Victoria, Australia. It functions to promote and research the history of that state after settlement, and as an umbrella organisation for m ...
hosted "Vera Deakin's World of Humanity", an exhibition about her life.


References


Further reading

* *Woods, Carole (2020). ''Vera Deakin and the Red Cross''. Melbourne: Royal Historical Society of Victoria. {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Vera Deakin 1891 births 1978 deaths Red Cross personnel Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from South Yarra, Victoria Organization founders Women nonprofit executives Australian women of World War I Children of prime ministers of Australia People educated at Melbourne Girls Grammar 20th-century Australian women 20th-century Australian people