Heroic woman doctor succumbed to flu
THE Waimate Daily Advertiser did not hold back when the South Canterbury town’s doctor died on November 28, 1918.
‘‘One of the noblest, most revered and loved citizens that Waimate ever had passed peacefully to her rest and reward yesterday afternoon,’’ Margaret Cruickshank’s obituary recorded.
Despite the increasingly florid language of the obituarist, one point shines through — Margaret Cruickshank, a woman who had begun her medical career as a trailblazer had ended it at the heart of the community she served for 22 years.
Dr Cruickshank earned her education the hard way.
She and twin sister Christina were born in Palmerston in 1873. After their mother’s death in 1883, the sisters went to school on alternate days so one could stay home to look after their five younger siblings.
The sisters must have got full benefit from their school days: they went on to become joint duxes at Otago Girls’ High School, and Christina would eventually become principal of Wanganui Girls’ College.
Margaret enrolled at the University of Otago, following through the door opened by classmate and friend Emily Siedeberg the previous year when she successfully argued for women to be allowed to study medicine.
Despite some opposition from authorities and hazing from some male classmates, the two women became the first woman to qualify as a doctor (Emily) and the first woman registered to practise (Margaret).
Margaret Cruickshank graduated alongside Ethel Benjamin — the first woman to qualify as a lawyer in New Zealand.
Benjamin spoke on behalf of the students at graduation and touched upon ‘‘the advancement of our women, and the opening to them of the doors of professions hitherto kept fast locked against them,’’ noting that Dr Cruickshank was now practising in Waimate.
Unsurprisingly, Dr Cruickshank was initially regarded as a curiosity when she arrived as Dr Herbert Barclay’s assistant.
‘‘The day of the lady doctor, like the women’s franchise and the labour legislation, seems to be upon us,’’ the Waimate Times editorialised in 1897.
‘‘We cannot do less than wish this clever pioneer much happiness and success in the profession she has selected.’’
The Bruce Herald, however, was less enthusiastic, snidely heading its story on Dr Cruickshank’s appointment ‘‘Licensed to Kill’’.
Any scepticism in Waimate about the new lady doctor was seemingly soon dispelled by her diligence and dedication.
By 1900 she was a partner in Dr Barclay’s practice, and in 1913 — when she took a year’s study leave — the town presented her with a gold watch and 100 sovereigns.
Soon after returning home, war was declared and Dr Barclay left on active service. Dr Cruickshank shouldered his caseload and also took on his role as a Waimate Hospital superintendent.
When the influenza pandemic arrived in 1918, despite already being tired and overworked, Dr Cruickshank reportedly redoubled her efforts to care for the sick.
When her driver fell ill, she completed her rounds by either bicycle or horse and cart, and if she found a patient’s farm or household chores undone due to illness, Dr Cruickshank would often do the work herself.
Like all medical professionals, Dr Cruickshank was at risk of infection, and her punishing workload would have left her even more vulnerable.
In midNovember she contracted influenza herself, and eventually succumbed to the disease after 10 days — one of 14 doctors killed by the pandemic.
Dr Cruickshank (45) never married.
‘‘The good doctor’’ had served Waimate with perfect devotion, the Daily Advertiser wrote.
‘‘Margaret Cruickshank was a saint without knowing it, in fullest sympathy with everything good.’’
Waimate erected a statue in her memory; at that time the only other woman remembered in statuary in New Zealand was Queen Victoria, and it was to be decades before another such tribute was paid.
Historian Dorothy Page, who has written about Dr Cruickshank and her contemporaries, said she normalised women becoming GPs.
‘‘She was obviously a heroine of her community . . . she seems to have been a very downtoearth person and a very charming one.’’
Dr Cruickshank was extremely bright but crucially had the drive to succeed in her career, Dr Page said.
‘‘I think they all had to be pretty determined to be in the medical school in those early years — there was just the two of them there, and then a gap of some years before there were more [women] there,’’ she said.
‘‘She wore herself out eventually, which is probably why she was claimed by the flu.’’
A series of events is being held in Waimate on November 28th to mark the centenary of Dr Cruickshank’s death — a rare honour, members of her extended family say.
‘‘We were always aware she was a wellrespected citizen of Waimate and we often used to swing by and visit the statue,’’ said Jock Scott, grandson of Dr Cruickshank’s younger sister Isabella.
‘‘We’re super chuffed at what Waimate are doing and the great lengths they are going to to commemorate her passing.’’
Waimate is staging a commemorative treeplanting, a gathering at the Cruickshank memorial and an official function which will include the unveiling of a memorial stamp.
‘‘I was at the 75th anniversary of her death, a small group of us made a special trip to Waimate that day,’’ Mr Scott said
‘‘My father and his three brothers were still alive then — Isabella’s sons — and they all stood for photographs at the statue and the graveside.’’
Annette Beattie, Mr Scott’s cousin and also a granddaughter of Isabella, actually met Emily Siedeberg while helping at a resthome when a school pupil.
Her father had passed on stories of ‘‘Aunty Margaret’’ and the family were very proud Waimate still remembered her.
‘‘My grandmother went overseas with Margaret to England and did some study there — she ended up as the Matron of Naseby Hospital,’’ she said.
‘‘We are very humbled as a family by what the district is doing for her.’’