{{Short description|New Zealand nurse (1880–1977)}} {{Infobox person | name = Mary Reidy | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|MBE|size=100%}} | image = Mary Reidy in 1916.jpg | caption = Mary Reidy in 1916 | birth_name = Mary Anne Reidy | birth_date = {{birth date|1880|06|17|df=y}} | birth_place = County Clare, Ireland | death_date = {{death date and age|1977|01|17|1880|06|17|df=y}} | death_place = Hamilton, New Zealand | resting_place = St. Mary's Catholic Church, Hamilton, New Zealand | occupation = Nurse | known_for = Being a community leader, military service }}
'''Mary Anne Reidy''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|MBE}} (1880–1977) was a New Zealand civilian and military nurse and community leader. She was born in County Clare, Ireland in 1880.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mary Reidy |url=https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C35376 |access-date=2026-03-25 |website=Auckland War Memorial Museum |language=en}}</ref> Reidy served as a nurse for the New Zealand military from January 1916 to December 1918. The next 26 years of her life were spent attempting to preserve the hospital at Kawhia and ensuring the welfare of returned soldiers. She became a widely respected figure in her community. Reidy died on 17 January 1977.<ref name="DNZB Reidy">{{DNZB|title=Mary Anne Reidy|first= Jeff|last= Downs|id=4r12|accessdate=23 April 2017}}</ref>
==Early life== Reidy was born on 17 June 1880, at Kilmihil,<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=1998|title=Reidy, Mary Anne|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4r12/reidy-mary-anne|access-date=2021-10-19|website=teara.govt.nz|language=en}}</ref> but her family had moved to Auckland before she was 22. She then helped her father around the house for two years before her nursing career.
==Nursing career== In 1904, Reidy began to work at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, starting out by washing dishes, but she soon became a nurse. In 1911, when Reidy was 31, she received formal training at the Waikato Hospital for three years.<ref name="Waikato Times">{{Cite news |url=https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/waikato-times/20160701/281706908993967 |title=Mary Anne Reidy 1880–1977 |work=Waikato Times |access-date=2017-06-07}}</ref>
==Military service== Reidy served in the military from January 1916 to December 1918. Initially posted in England she nursed at the No 1 New Zealand Stationary Hospital at Wisques, France from 1917 to 1918. She was very kind to the men, who nicknamed her "Ten Franc Reidy" for the money she lent to soldiers.<ref name="Waikato Times"/><ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=Make her praises heard afar : New Zealand women overseas in World War One|last=Tolerton|first=Jane|publisher=Booklovers Books|year=2017|isbn=978-0-473-39965-8|location=Wellington, New Zealand|pages=349–50|oclc=1011529111}}</ref> She concluded her service after the hospital closed.
==Kawhia Hospital== After a brief stint training nurses at Waikato Hospital, Reidy took control of the cottage hospital in Kawhia, where she had been appointed Sister in 1921,<ref>{{Cite web|date=22 Jul 1921|title=Hospital Report KAWHIA SETTLER AND RAGLAN ADVERTISER|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/KSRA19210722.2.14|access-date=2021-10-18|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}</ref> and which faced closure due to finances.<ref name=":4" /> She was a tyrant, but a loving one.<ref name="DNZB Reidy"/> She worked for twenty-six years at various fundraisers to keep the hospital solvent, including a dog swimming race, as late as 1957.<ref>{{Cite web|date=7 Jan 1957|title=General News PRESS|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19570107.2.53|access-date=2021-10-18|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}</ref> In the 1956 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for her contribution to back-blocks nursing and for the welfare of returned servicemen.<ref name="DNZB Reidy"/><ref name=":4" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Mary Anne Reidy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reidy, Mary}} Category:Health professionals from County Clare Category:1880 births Category:1977 deaths Category:Irish emigrants to New Zealand Category:New Zealand nurses Category:New Zealand military nurses Category:New Zealand women nurses Category:New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire
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