View source for Edith Rudd

{{Short description|New Zealand nurse (1882–1967)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=December 2016}}
'''Edith Mary Rudd''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|RRC|size=85%}} (née '''Lewis'''; 14 February 1882 – 7 May 1967) was a [[New Zealand]] civilian and military nurse. She served in both [[World War I]] and [[World War II]], and received the [[Florence Nightingale Medal]] from the [[International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement|Red Cross]] in 1961.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/9008462/Matrons-medal-on-display-at-RSA|title=Matron's medal on display at RSA|last=Duggan|first=Kat|date=2013-08-07|newspaper=Stuff.co.nz|language=English|access-date=2016-08-31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.redcross.org.nz/what-we-do/overseas/international-aid-worker-programme/|title=International Aid Worker Programme {{!}} New Zealand Red Cross|website=www.redcross.org.nz|access-date=2016-08-31}}</ref>
== Early life ==
Rudd was born in [[Northampton]], [[England]], the daughter of George Llewellyn Lewis and Mary Hunter née Littlejohn.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C48352|title=Edith Mary Lewis|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=Auckland War Memorial Museum|access-date=31 August 2016}}</ref> She trained as a nurse at [[Whanganui]] Hospital in the North Island of New Zealand.<ref name=":3" />
==Career==
Rudd worked as a nurse at Rostrevor Hospital in [[Gisborne, New Zealand|Gisborne]], in the North Island of New Zealand, until 1915, when she enlisted with the [[New Zealand Army Nursing Service]].<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://gisborneherald.co.nz/lifestyle/2276751-135/nurses-at-war|title=Nurses at war|work=Gisborne Herald|date=24 April 2016|access-date=2016-08-31}}</ref> In December that year she sailed from [[Wellington]] on the ship [[SS Marama|SS ''Marama'']].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.marlborough.museums.org.nz/mhs/vewebsite32/exhibit6/e60037a.htm|title=Matron E.M. Lewis, Wairau Hospital|website=WW1 Marlborough Sacrifice, The People|publisher=Marlborough Museums|access-date=2016-08-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911052524/http://www.marlborough.museums.org.nz/mhs/vewebsite32/exhibit6/e60037a.htm|archive-date=11 September 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> She served in [[Egypt]] until 1918, nursing soldiers injured on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]].<ref name=":0" /> On returning to New Zealand, Rudd continued nursing and from 1921 to 1941 she was Matron of Wairau Hospital in [[Blenheim, New Zealand|Blenheim]].<ref name=":1" /> She also became involved with the [[New Zealand Red Cross]], joining the [[Marlborough Region|Marlborough]] branch in 1925.<ref name=":1" />
Rudd served as a nurse again in World War II, as Matron of the New Zealand Hospital Ship ''[[NZHS Maunganui|Maunganui]]'' from 1941 to 1945''.''<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=http://www.armymuseum.co.nz/newsletter/museum-news-june-2015.html#story1|title=Matron 'Momma' Lewis |work=National Army Museum Newsletter |date=June–July 2015|access-date=2016-08-31}}</ref> Rudd and the ''Maunganui'' sailed from Wellington to [[Suez]] in April 1941 with a group of 20 New Zealand nurses.<ref name=":0" /> She became known as the "Momma of the Black Dressing Gown" as she wore a black silk dressing gown to make her night rounds during blackout conditions on board the ship.<ref name=":2" /> By the end of Rudd's service, in 1945, the ship had carried more than 5,600 patients.<ref name=":0" /> Rudd spent some time in 1945 and 1946 nursing at Trentham Military Hospital in Wellington on her return to New Zealand.<ref name=":3" />
In 1952, Rudd became president of the Marlborough branch of the Red Cross.<ref name=":1" /> In 1963, she published her memoirs, titled ''Joy in the Caring''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/18039479?selectedversion=NBD7111608|title=Joy in the Caring |first=Edith M. |last=Rudd |publisher=N. M. Peryer |location=Christchurch NZ |date=1963 }}</ref>
=== Honours ===
In the [[1944 Birthday Honours (New Zealand)|1944 King's Birthday Honours]], Rudd received the highest military nursing award, the [[Royal Red Cross]] (First Class). In 1953, she received the [[Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal]].<ref name=":1" /> In 1961, she was presented with the Florence Nightingale Medal by the Red Cross.<ref name=":0" />
In 2013, Rudd's Florence Nightingale Medal was loaned to the Marlborough [[Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association|RSA]] for display in its rooms.<ref name=":1" />
== Personal life ==
In 1927, Rudd was engaged to a Mr Nees, chairman of Wairau Hospital.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/KT19270401.2.66.2|title=Papers Past {{!}} Marriages and Engagements (Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, 1927-04-01)|last=National Library of New Zealand|date=|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz|publisher=|access-date=2016-08-31}}</ref> Rudd married William George Rudd in 1946.<ref name=":0" />
Edith Rudd died in Blenheim on 7 February 1967 and is buried at Omaka Cemetery.<ref name=":3" />
==References==
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[[Category:20th-century New Zealand people]]
[[Category:Female nurses in World War I]]
[[Category:World War I nurses]]
[[Category:World War II nurses]]
[[Category:1882 births]]
[[Category:1967 deaths]]
[[Category:New Zealand nurses]]
[[Category:New Zealand military nurses]]
[[Category:People from Northampton]]
[[Category:English emigrants to New Zealand]]
[[Category:New Zealand memoirists]]
[[Category:New Zealand Members of the Royal Red Cross]]
[[Category:Burials at Omaka Cemetery]]
[[Category:Florence Nightingale Medal recipients]]
[[Category:20th-century memoirists]]