Edna Pengelly

Edna Pengelly (5 July 1874 – 20 August 1959) was a New Zealand teacher, civilian and military nurse and matron.

Early life and education

Pengelly was born in Canada in 1874 and came to New Zealand as a child. She attended primary schools in Waddington and Annat in Canterbury. She then attended Christchurch West School before boarding at Christchurch Girls' High School.[1]

Career

Pengelly taught in Rangiora after leaving school.[1] She did her nursing training at Wellington Hospital and continued to work there after she gained her nursing registration in 1908.[1][2] She was also matron of the nurse's home.[1]

During World War 1 she served with the New Zealand Army Nursing Service in Egypt and England.[1][3] She left New Zealand in 1915 on the ship Rotorua.[4] She published some experiences of nursing in Egypt in the nursing journal Kai Tiaki in 1916.[5] In England she was assistant matron at the No. 3 New Zealand General Hospital at the camp in Codford in Wiltshire and then took charge of the Oatlands Park Hospital, an off-shoot of the No. 2 New Zealand General Hospital in Weybridge, Surrey for convalescing New Zealand soldiers.[6][7][8][9]

She returned to New Zealand in 1919 to become matron of Queen Mary Hospital in Hanmer Springs, a hospital providing rehabilitation services for returned servicemen.[1] From 1921 to 1929 she was matron of a private hospital in Hobson St in Wellington, after which she became matron at Whanganui Collegiate School until 1937.[1][10] In 1956 she published her diaries Nursing in peace and war which were one of the few accounts of a nurse's wartime service.[1][11] She retired in 1941.[1]

Pengelly died in Wellington Hospital on 20 August 1959.[1]

Awards

Pengelly was awarded two medals in World War 1: the Associate Royal Red Cross in 1917 and the Royal Red Cross in 1919.[4][12][13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rodgers, Jan. "Edna Pengelly". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  2. ^ "The recent state examination of nurses". Kai Tiaki: The Journal of the Nurses of New Zealand. 1 (1): 9. 1 January 1908 – via Papers Past.
  3. ^ Tolerton, Jane (2017). Make her praises heard afar: New Zealand women overseas in World War One. Wellington, New Zealand: Booklovers Books. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-473-39965-8. OCLC 1011529111.
  4. ^ a b "Edna Pengelly". Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  5. ^ Pengelly, Edna (1 January 1916). "A nurse's impressions of work in Egypt". Kai Tiaki: The Journal of the Nurses of New Zealand. IX (1): 21 – via Papers Past.
  6. ^ "Notes for women". New Zealand Times. 27 December 1917. p. 2. Retrieved 10 July 2025 – via Papers Past.
  7. ^ "News from our nurses abroad". Kai Tiaki: The Journal of the Nurses of New Zealand. XI (1): 9. 1 January 1918 – via Papers Past.
  8. ^ "The after care of disabled soldiers". collections.tepapa.govt.nz. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  9. ^ "Oatlands Park Hotel, Surrey, England". National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  10. ^ "Resignations and appointments". Kai Tiaki: The Journal of the Nurses of New Zealand. XXII (1): 38. 1 January 1929 – via Papers Past.
  11. ^ Pengelly, Edna (1956). Nursing in peace and war. Wellington: H. Tombs. OCLC 153630620.
  12. ^ "Honours for New Zealand nurses". Kai Tiaki: The Journal of the Nurses of New Zealand. XI (1): 15. 1 January 1918 – via Papers Past.
  13. ^ "Investiture". Kai Tiaki: The Journal of the Nurses of New Zealand. XIII (3): 136. 1 July 1920 – via Papers Past.
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