Louise Alexa McNie

Born 15 Jul 1884 - Died 9 May 1941

Service number: WWI 22/144 AWMM
WWI 3/74 AWMM
Also known as: Buchanan AWMM
Armed force / branch: Army AWMM
Last rank: —
War: World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM

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Louise Alexa McNie — Photo from Kai Tiaki - the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume VII, Issue 4, October 1914, Page 165, provided by Sarndra Lees. - Image has All Rights Reserved. All Rights Reserved

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Biographical information

Louise Alexa McNie was born in Canterbury on 15 July 1879, the daughter of Lizzie and Alexander Raymond McNie. She trained at Christchurch Hospital and passed the state nursing examination in 1909.

In August 1914, McNie was one of six New Zealand nurses selected at short notice to accompany the New Zealand Expeditionary Force Advance Party to German Samoa. The only member of the original group based outside Wellington, she was called on her day off and had about a day to prepare before travelling north to join the contingent. McNie sailed aboard Monowai with Bertha Nurse and Vida MacLean. The nurses travelled via Nouméa and Suva before reaching Apia, where they worked at the hospital following the New Zealand occupation.

McNie spent about nine months nursing in Samoa. In a letter published in Kai Tiaki in January 1915, she described the heat and humidity as particularly difficult and noted that the hospital was treating an average of around 25 patients, chiefly suffering from dengue fever and dysentery. She returned to New Zealand aboard Atua in May 1915.

McNie soon returned to overseas nursing. She served as a theatre sister aboard the hospital ship Maheno during the Gallipoli campaign. Maheno carried casualties from Anzac Cove to hospitals on Lemnos, and nursing staff often worked long hours caring for wounded and sick servicemen.

After returning to New Zealand aboard Maheno in January 1916, McNie was appointed Matron of Featherston Military Hospital. She later served aboard the hospital ship Marama. In March 1917 she again embarked for overseas service and later served as Matron at No. 3 New Zealand General Hospital, Codford, England. Her wartime service totalled just over five years, including more than four years overseas.

McNie was appointed an Associate of the Royal Red Cross in 1917. A recommendation for the award referred to her service in Samoa, aboard Maheno, at Featherston Military Hospital and aboard Marama. In 1919 she was awarded the Royal Red Cross, First Class.

On 4 February 1920, McNie married Dr Henry Meredith Buchanan, a Scottish-born medical practitioner who later became Medical Superintendent of Auckland Mental Hospital. She was subsequently known as Louise Alexa Buchanan.

Louise Alexa Buchanan died in Auckland on 9 May 1941, aged 61. AWMM
Died May 9 1941, Auckland
Public - Anjuli - Researcher - 15 October 2024 - New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23961, 10 May 1941, Page 1

Sources

External links: Military personnel file
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R10926971
Further Reference
Wikipedia Entry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Alexa_McNie
Further Reference
Wikipedia Entry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Alexa_McNie
Further Reference
McNabb, S. (2022, April). New Zealand Army Nursing Service – Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps. NZANS. Archived from the Wayback Machine on 26 January 2023.
https://web.archive.org/web/20230126100532/https://www.nzans.org/
Further Reference
Elborough, Sophie. New Zealand Nurses in Samoa. Auckland War Memorial Museum - Tāmaki Paenga Hira. First published: 5 April 2024.
https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/features/new-zealand-nurses-in-samoa
Further Reference
References: McDonald, W. (2013). Honours and Awards to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the Great War, 1914-1918. (3rd ed.). Hamilton, N.Z.: Richard Stowers.
New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1914-1919). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Volume I. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
Vol1: 472
New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1917). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume II. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
42: 3
New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1918). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume III. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
57: 27
Service Women Project: Sponsorship to research this record was kindly provided by the Auckland Returned Services Association, Returned Servicewomen's Branch; Marjorie Traill, Dorothy Grant, Daphne Shaw and Margaret Woollett.
Liverpool, Arthur William de Brito Savile Foljambe, Earl of, (compiler). (1916). The New Zealand hospital ship "Maheno" : the first voyage July 1915 to January 1916. Auckland, N.Z.: Whitcombe and Tombs Limited.
p.59
Beattie, P.J. & Pomeroy, M. (2013-2020). Onward : portraits of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (vols 1-5). Auckland, New Zealand: Fair Dinkum Publications
Vol. 1: Includes portrait
McNabb, S. (2015). 100 years New Zealand military nursing : New Zealand Army nursing service : Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps, 1915-2015. Hawke's Bay, N.Z.: Sherayl McNabb.
HMNZT 80. Tiki-talk / edited by A. Allen, S.D. Waters and J. Carmody ; artist, Gordon Calman. (1917). London: Printed and published by the Angus Printing Co. for the executive committee of Tiki-talk.
Tolerton, J. (2017). Make her praises heard afar : New Zealand women overseas in World War One. Wellington, New Zealand : Booklovers Books.
Rogers, A. (2003). While You're Away: New Zealand Nurses at War 1899-1948. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland University Press.

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Louise Alexa McNie

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