Mary Ann Nicolay (1850 - 1939)

Born 2 Aug 1850 in Chelsea, London, England

Ancestors

Died 15 Oct 1939 at age 89 in Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Biography

Mary Ann Nicolay

Mary was a nurse, trained by Florence Nightingale

Mary Ann Nicolay was born on 2nd August 1850 at Chelsea, London, England. She was the third daughter of Reverend Charles Grenfell Nicolay, formerly librarian of King's College Hospital (which had a nursing school), and his wife Mary Ann Raven. Upon completing her formal education at Clifton High School, Bristol, young Mary became a pupil-teacher. In March 1876, she joined the Nightingale School of Nursing at St Thomas's Hospital, London. Given just moderate assessments by Florence Nightingale, Mary left in March 1877 for the National Nursing Association. ^[1]

Nursing career

Mary Nicolay migrated from England to Western Australia.

In 1878 Mary Ann, her mother and some of her siblings joined her father – chaplain to Geraldton since 1870 – in Western Australia. After a relatively short stay she went back to Britain, where she worked at Dorchester Hospital. Some time after her mother died in 1887, Mary returned to Western Australia to be near her father at Fremantle. In 1890 she was appointed matron at Perth Colonial Hospital, however resigned after six months; remaining in office until the end of the year. From 1891 Mary undertook private nursing. After the outbreak of a smallpox epidemic in April 1893 Mary took charge of the Woodman's Point quarantine settlement. By 1897 she was running a private hospital in North Perth. ^[1]

Second Boer War

On 21st March 1900, sponsored by the public (that is, they had no connection with the army), Sister Nicolay conducted ten nurses to the Second Boer War in South Africa, aboard the steamer Salamis. Co-ordination of the contingent was by the Western Australian Nurses Contingent Fund, chaired by Lady Forest. Of all the official contingents, the Western Australian nurses situation was the most chaotic, either someone had blundered or little consideration was given to how they would get to South Africa or thought to tell either the army or British authorities that they were coming or provide letters of introduction. They were dumped on the wharf at Cape Town and left to fend for themselves. Initially, they were employed as Red Cross nurses in a private facility in Ladysmith, Natal, by September 1900. Unsure what to make of them the British Army eventually regarded them as an official contingent like those nurses from Victoria or New South Wales. Mary worked at No 1 General Hospital Wynberg, No 4 General Hospital Mooi River, No 12 Stationary Hospital Ladysmith and No14 Stationary Hospital Pietermaritzburg. She was also assigned to boat service, caring for invalids and convalescents on voyages back to Australia. Mary returned to Western Australia in late 1901 and, for her service in South Africa, was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal. ^[1]

Later career

From February 1902 Mary was inspecting and relieving matron, Perth, a post that also involved travel to government hospitals as far distant as Broome and Albany. She retired in 1917 and was presented with a silver tea service by the children of Kalgoorlie. She returned to Perth Hospital in 1919 during the influenza epidemic. ^[1]

In 1921 Mary was awarded honorary life membership of the Australasian Trained Nurses' Association; she was also a member of the Royal British Nursing Association. She published several biographical accounts, including reminiscences in the April 1930 issue of Magazine. Mary is credited with establishing a training regime for probationers and was remembered as a disciplinarian who brought modern nursing ideals to Western Australia. She was also a strict Church of England (Anglican) churchwoman. In 1937, Mary was awarded the King George VI Coronation Medal. ^[1]

Mary passed away, aged 89 years, on 15th October 1939 at Perth Hospital, Perth and is buried in Karrakatta Cemetery. ^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Bosworth, Michal. 'Nicolay, Mary Ann (1850-1939)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, with editing and additions by David Deasey; accessed 14 Jun 2020
2. ↑ Western Australia Death Index #2019/1939