View source for Mary Rae

{{Short description|New Zealand nurse (1880–1915)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Mary Rae
| image         =Staff Nurses Catherine Anne Fox - Mary Helen Rae - Lorna Aylmer Rattray - The Sphere 22 April 1916.jpg
| alt           =
| caption       = Staff Nurses Catherine Anne Fox - Mary Helen Rae - Lorna Aylmer Rattray from The Sphere 22 April 1916
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1880|09|29|df=y}}
| birth_place   =
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1915|10|23|1880|10|06|df=y}}
| death_place   =
| death_cause  = Sinking of [[SS Marquette (1897)|SS ''Marquette'']]
| nationality   = New Zealand
| occupation    = Nurse
| years_active  =
| known_for     =
}}
'''Mary Helen Rae''' (29 September 1880 – 23 October 1915) was a [[New Zealand]] nurse who served in the [[First World War]] and died when the [[SS Marquette (1897)|SS ''Marquette'']] was torpedoed and sunk in 1915.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nzwargraves.org.nz/news/marquette-sinking-centenary|title=The Marquette Sinking Centenary|website=|publisher=New Zealand Wargraves Project|access-date=2016-06-27}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nzwargraves.org.nz/casualties/mary-helen-rae|title=Mary Helen Rae|website=|publisher=New Zealand Wargraves Project|access-date=2016-07-02}}</ref>
[[File:New Zealand nurses on board SS Maheno, 1915.jpg|300px|thumb|Unidentified group of New Zealand nurses on board SS Maheno, 1915]]
==Early life==
Rae was born at [[Raes Junction|Raes' Junction]], near [[Dunedin]], on 29 September 1880 and trained at [[Dunedin Hospital]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nzans.org/Roll%20of%20Honour/rae%20nurses%20died.html|title=Mary Helen Rae|last=|first=|date=|website=New Zealand Military Nursing|publisher=New Zealand Army Nursing Service|access-date=2 July 2016}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/359733/trust-fund-helping-nurses-century|title=Trust fund helping nurses for a century|website=[[Otago Daily Times]]|date=18 October 2015|access-date=2016-07-02}}</ref>
==First World War==
In April 1915, Rae enlisted in the [[New Zealand Army Nursing Service]] and left [[Wellington]] on board the [[SS Maheno|SS ''Maheno'']] in July that year. The ship sailed to [[Suez]], [[Egypt]], and the contingent of nurses worked in a stationary hospital at [[Port Said]]. In October 1915 Rae was on board the SS ''Marquette'' when it was torpedoed by a German submarine and sunk.
=== Recognition ===
Two years after her death, the Otago Nurses' Association created the New Zealand Nurses' Memorial Fund in memorial to Rae and fellow Otago ''Marquette'' victim, [[Lorna Rattray]]. Donations from the medical community in Dunedin started the fund, which aimed to be a practical fund of "people helping people". Most grants are given to retired nurses who are struggling financially.<ref name=":0" />
Rae is named on the [[Mikra British Cemetery]] in Greece and in the [[Nurses' Memorial Chapel]] at Christchurch Hospital.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzlscant/marquette.htm|title='Marquette'. Thirty-one New Zealanders died on 23 Oct. 1915.|website=www.rootsweb.ancestry.com|access-date=2016-06-26}}</ref> She is also remembered in the [[Five Sisters window]] at [[York Minster]] in York, England.
==References==
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[[Category:1880 births]]
[[Category:1915 deaths]]
[[Category:New Zealand nurses]]
[[Category:New Zealand military nurses]]
[[Category:Female nurses in World War I]]
[[Category:World War I nurses]]
[[Category:20th-century New Zealand women]]
[[Category:Nurses killed in World War I]]
[[Category:Sinking of the SS Marquette]]
[[Category:Health professionals from Dunedin]]
[[Category:New Zealand women nurses]]