Agnes Elizabeth Lloyd Bennett

Born 24 Jun 1872 - Died 27 Nov 1960

Service number: —
Also known as: —
Armed force / branch: Army AWMM
Last rank: —
War: World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
World War II, 1939-1945 AWMM

Agnes Elizabeth Lloyd Bennett — Dr Agnes Bennett. Seated portrait. Shows her in army uniform. Possibly taken between 1916-1917 while she was commanding officer of the 7th Medical Unit of the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service, Macedonia, Serbia, during World War I. Photographer unidentified. Ref: PAColl-6972-12-25-1. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. Image may be subject to copyright restrictions.

Show empty fields Hide sources

Biographical information

Dr Agnes Elizabeth Lloyd Bennett (1872–1960) was born in Sydney, Australia. She studied at the University of Sydney before completing her medical training at the University of Edinburgh in 1899. She subsequently moved to New Zealand, establishing a medical practice in Wellington. She was medical officer at St Helens Maternity Hospital and honorary physician to the children's ward at Wellington Hospital.

At the outbreak of World War I, Bennett offered her services as a medical practitioner but encountered difficulties obtaining a military appointment. In May 1915, while travelling to Europe, she saw wounded New Zealand soldiers arriving in Egypt following the Gallipoli campaign. She approached Major Matthew Holmes of the New Zealand Medical Corps (NZMC), whom she knew from Wellington, and was appointed to assist with their treatment.

Bennett served at Pont de Koubbeh Hospital in Cairo, which had been adapted to accommodate military casualties, before transferring to the infectious diseases hospital at Choubbrah. There she treated British, Australian and New Zealand soldiers suffering from illnesses including dysentery and epidemic jaundice.

Although Bennett was appointed with the rank and pay of captain in the NZMC, her military status remained uncertain throughout her service. Correspondence between military authorities in Egypt and New Zealand concerned the approval of her appointment and payment of her salary. Subsequent clarification established that she had not received a formal military commission.

Bennett resigned from the NZMC in April 1916 and travelled to Britain. She subsequently became chief medical officer of the 7th Medical Unit of the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service, which served with the Serbian Army on the Salonika front. She directed the unit's medical work until illness forced her to relinquish command in 1917.

Following her recovery, Bennett undertook further hospital work in Britain, including at Netley Military Hospital, before returning to New Zealand aboard the troopship Paparoa.

After the war, Bennett resumed her medical career in Wellington and continued her involvement in women's education and public health. She was the first president of the New Zealand Federation of University Women.

Bennett was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1948. She died in Wellington on 27 November 1960.

Biographical information compiled from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (Te Ara); Antonia Newell, Was the Involvement of Women Doctors in British Military Medical Service in the First World War a Success or a Failure? (MA dissertation, University of Wolverhampton, 2020), pp. 22–27 and Appendix D; and Archives New Zealand records relating to Bennett's service with the New Zealand Medical Corps. AWMM

Sources

External links: Bennett, Agnes Elizabeth Lloyd, Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand Biography
https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3b28/bennett-agnes-elizabeth-lloyd
Further Reference
Agnes Bennett, Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Bennett
Further Reference
Bennett, Agnes Elizabeth Lloyd (1872–1960), Australian Dictionary of Biography
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bennett-agnes-elizabeth-lloyd-5206
Further Reference
Wikidata Entity
http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q4693030
Further Reference
Newell, Antonia. ‘Was the Involvement of Women Doctors in British Military Medical Service in the First World War a Success or a Failure?’ MA dissertation, University of Wolverhampton, January 2020.
https://www.friendsofmillbank.org/downloads/Women%20doctors%20in%20WW1%20-%20Antonia%20Newell.pdf
Further Reference
Staff, miscellaneous - Officers (Medical) appointment - Dr Agnes Bennett to Egyptian Army Hospital, Archives New Zealand.
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R22432594
Further Reference
DR. AGNES BENNETT, of Wellington, the first woman army doctor, who this week addressed the British Federation of Business and Professional Women in London. Dr. Bennett was medical officer in charge of Wellington St. Helens Hospital for 32 years. She was the first woman doctor to become an attested soldier in the last war, and served in Egypt and Serbia. Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20497, 6 March 1941, Page 9
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GISH19410306.2.95.1.1
Further Reference
McLaren, E. S. (1919). A history of the Scottish Women’s Hospitals. London : Hodder & Stoughton.
https://electricscotland.com/history/women/womenshospitals.pdf
Further Reference
References: Pat Clarkson Medical Practitioner Research Project (January 2014 - March 2022). This project identified Medical Practioners who served in WWI.
Wright-St Clair, R. (2013). Historia nunc vivat medical practitioners in New Zealand, 1840 to 1930. Christchurch, N.Z.: Cotter Medical History Trust.
Rogers, A. (2018). With them through hell : New Zealand Medical Services in the First World War. Massey University Press, Massey University Press.
McLaren, E. S. (1919). A history of the Scottish Women’s Hospitals. London : Hodder & Stoughton.
Sheard, H. (2019). Women to the front : the extraordinary Australian women doctors of the Great War. North Sydney, NSW : Ebury Press.
Tolerton, J. (2017). Make her praises heard afar : New Zealand women overseas in World War One. Wellington, New Zealand : Booklovers Books.

The development of the Online Cenotaph is an ongoing process; updates, new images and records are added weekly. In some cases, records have yet to be confirmed by Museum staff, and there could be mistakes or omissions in the information provided.

Online Cenotaph Data by Auckland War Memorial Museum is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Agnes Elizabeth Lloyd Bennett