Mary Eleanor McGlade (1902 - 1942)

Ancestors

Australian Nurses of the Vyner Brooke

Biography

Mary Eleanor McGlade

Sister Mary Eleanor 'Ellie' McGlade was born on 2nd July 1902 in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. ^[1] Her mother, Agnes Hume, died shortly after Ellie's birth and her father, Francis McGlade, a succesful lawyer, two years later. Her Auntie Evelyn Mary, Mrs Walter Scott, of Wallalong, in the the Port Stephens district of New South Wales, was appointed Ellie's guardian; however, Ellie was educated at St Ursula's Convent, Armidale. She loved her school and in 1930 donated the Crucifix at the opening of the magnificent convent chapel. When completing her Intermediate Certificate in 1920 Ellie won prizes for singing, violin, piano, and Christian doctrine, and had already begun to care for girls who fell ill. After completing her secondary education, Ellie, together with a cousin, Eleanor Scott, toured Scotland and Ireland. ^[2]

Upon their return, Ellie commenced nursing studies at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney; graduating in 1927 with certificates in general nursing, cooking and dispensing. She then specialised in midwifery, 'an area that would perhaps allow her to help young mothers in a way that her mother had not been helped'.^[2] Ellie appears in the 1927 and 1929 NSW Register of Nurses as lliving at Wallalong, so it seems that after her graduation she based herself in the small town in the Hunter Region.^[3]

On 19th August 1940, Ellie was commissioned as a nursing sister in the Australian Army Nursing Service and was attached to the 2/13th Australian General Hospital, then preparing to deploy to Johor, Malaya.^[4] Along with 64 other Australian nurses and many civilians, including women and children, Mary was evacuated from Singapore on 12th February 1942 aboard the ill-fated Vyner Brooke. The ship was discovered by the Japanese as it was entering the Bangka Strait two days later, bombed and strafed repeatedly, and sank in twenty minutes. After many hours in the water drifting with the strong current, Ellie was washed up on Radji Beach, Bangka Island, Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia).^[2]

Along with twenty fellow nurses, Ellie was murdered – gunned down in the back – by Japanese soldiers on 16th February 1942 in what has become known as the Bangka Island Massacre. She was then 39 years of age. Mary Eleanor McGlade's name is located at panel 96 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra and at Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ New South Wales Birth Index #19519/1902
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Shaw, Ian W. 'On Radji Beach: The Story of the Australian Nurses after the Fall of Singapore'. MacMillan, Sydney, 2010. ISBN 978-1-4050-4024-2
3. ↑ Virtual War Memorial Australia; accessed 12 Mar 2020
4. ↑ Department of Veterans' Affairs nominal roll: NFX76275 (N101867) Sister Mary Eleanor McGlade; accessed 29 Feb 2020
5. ↑ Australian War Memorial roll of honour: NFX76275 Sister Mary Eleanor McGlade; accessed 29 Feb 2020