Mary Alice Blair
Born 27 Feb 1880 - Died 17 Feb 1962
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About
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- Mary Alice AWMM
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- Blair AWMM
- Ingoa
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- Gender
- Female AWMM
- Iwi / Hapū / Waka / Rohe
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Images
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About birth
- Birth
- 27 Feb 1880 AWMM
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Wars and conflicts
- War
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- France AWMM
- Greece AWMM
- The above information is probably incorrect. She served with Scottish Women's Hospitals.Public - Mary-Anne - Other relative - 30 June 2016 - Family papers, Scottish Women's Hospital website, Imperial War Museum website.
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
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- Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers
- Serbia, Corsica, Malta, Salonika hospitals.Public - Mary-Anne - Other relative - 30 June 2016 - Family papers, Scottish Women's Hospital website, Imperial War Museum website.
Military decorations
- Medals and Awards
- Mentioned in Despatches (MiD) AWMM
Mentioned in General Milne's despatch for services with the Salonika forces AWMM - Awarded Serbian Order of St Sava 1922Public - Ian - Researcher - 22 January 2022 - . Source BMJ, l, Vol. 1, No. 3192 (Mar. 4, 1922 P373
- Mentioned in Despatches (MiD) AWMM
Training and Enlistment
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- Enlistment
- WW1 Unknown AWMM Medical practitioner AWMM
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Embarkations
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- WW1 Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service AWMM
- WW1 Royal Army Medical Corps AWMM
2nd Embarkation AWMM
Prisoner of war
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Medical history
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Last known rank
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Biographical information
- Dr Mary Alice Blair (1880–1962) was born in Dunedin on 27 February 1880, the daughter of William Newsham Blair (c.1840–1891) and Mary Kennedy Blair (c.1854–1940). Her brother was Sir Archibald Blair.
Blair attended Wellington Girls' College and studied at Canterbury College, Victoria University College in Wellington and Auckland University College, graduating BSc in 1902.
She subsequently travelled to Britain to study medicine at the London School of Medicine for Women, qualifying MB BS from the University of London in 1907 and MD in 1910. She was registered as a medical practitioner in Britain on 20 June 1907.
Blair held a number of medical appointments in London, including house surgeon at the Belgrave Hospital for Children, resident medical officer in the maternity department of the New Hospital for Women, and house surgeon and senior obstetric assistant at the Royal Free Hospital. She was also an honorary anaesthetist at the Medical Mission Hospital in Plaistow and medical adviser and lecturer at the British Hospital for Mothers and Babies in Woolwich. She established a private medical practice in London, including at Belgrave Road.
During World War I, Blair volunteered with the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service, an organisation providing medical assistance to Allied forces at a time when women doctors faced considerable barriers to military appointments.
After initially undertaking medical work in France, Blair travelled to Serbia in November 1915 with a Scottish Women's Hospitals unit. As the Serbian Army retreated, she helped establish medical services for displaced soldiers and civilians in Salonika, Greece, organising a hospital with approximately 100 beds.
In February 1916, the Otago Witness reported that Blair's unit had accompanied British troops during their withdrawal from Salonika. The newspaper also reported that Blair had travelled to Ajaccio, Corsica, where the French government was accommodating Serbian refugees, and that she was to take charge of the hospital.
Blair directed the Scottish Women's Hospitals unit in Corsica, providing medical care for Serbian women, children and other refugees displaced by the fighting. Thousands of Serbian refugees were subsequently accommodated on the island.
In August 1916, Blair was engaged as a civilian surgeon attached to the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), departing Corsica for Malta on 16 September 1916. Like other women doctors employed by the RAMC, she undertook military medical duties without receiving a formal military commission.
On 20 June 1917, Blair was attached to No. 65 General Hospital for service with the British Salonika Force. She was mentioned in despatches by Lieutenant-General George Milne on 25 October 1917 for distinguished service, with the announcement published in the London Gazette on 28 November 1917. She continued serving in Salonika during 1918.
In January 1919, Blair was serving with Eastern Command in Britain. In August that year, she was appointed a civilian medical practitioner with Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps at Isleworth Hospital, London.
In 1922, Blair was awarded the Serbian Order of St Sava in recognition of her wartime medical work and assistance to Serbian refugees.
Following the war, Blair continued her medical career in Britain, maintaining a private practice in obstetrics and gynaecology and undertaking medical teaching and public health work. Her appointments included lecturing in nursing, infant welfare and public health. She was also an examiner for Strachan High School for Girls.
Blair visited New Zealand in 1932 but continued to live and practise medicine in London.
During World War II, she again contributed to the war effort, providing medical assistance during the bombing of London. She was also reported to have been in charge of a Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) hostel in England.
Blair died in London in 1962, aged 81. AWMM - Her father was engineer in chief and under-secretary of the Public Works Department. He was not a church minister though was active with establishing Dunedin's Knox Church. Her mother is believed to have accompanied her to her war posting but died in 1917.
In World War 2 was the supervising officer of 2 London air raid shelters.Public - Mary-Anne - Other relative - 30 June 2016 - Family papers
- Dr Mary Alice Blair (1880–1962) was born in Dunedin on 27 February 1880, the daughter of William Newsham Blair (c.1840–1891) and Mary Kennedy Blair (c.1854–1940). Her brother was Sir Archibald Blair.
About death
- Death
- 17 Feb 1962 AWMM
Age 81 AWMM - Date of death
- 17 February 1962Public - Mary-Anne - Other relative - 30 June 2016 - Evening Post obituary.
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- BLAIR.— On Feb. 17, 1962, at London, England. Dr. Mary Alice Blair, daughter of the late W. N. Blair and sister of the late Sir Archibald Blair. (DEATHS, Evening Post, 20 February 1962, Page 1)
Dr. Mary Blair
Dr. Mary Blair, a sister of the late Sir Archibald Blair, died in London on Saturday.
Dr. Blair, who was about 70, was one of the first women doctors to serve in the First World War and again gave her services during the bombing of London in the Second World War.
Dr. Blair was in general practice in London throughout her professional life. She was educated at Wellington Girls' College and Victoria University of Wellington.
Obituary: Evening Post, 20 February 1962, p. 22 AWMM - Memorial name
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Sources
- External links
- Headstone photo.
http://www.mdc.govt.nz/asp/publicregisters.asp?level1=public_registers&level2=cemetery_details&ID=10873&FD=&Editok=Y
Further Reference - Wikipedia Entry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Alice_Blair
Further Reference - DEATHS. Evening Post, 20 February 1962, Page 1
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19620220.2.7?
Further Reference - Dr. Mary Blair. Evening Post, 20 February 1962, Page 22
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19620220.2.218.4.1
Further Reference - Lives of the First World War Record
https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/4942530
Further Reference - Dr Mary Alice Blair of the Scottish Women's Hospitals in Corsica. Imperial War Museums
Q 108188.
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205351015
Further Reference - McLaren, E. S. (1919). A history of the Scottish Women’s Hospitals. London : Hodder & Stoughton.
McLaren, E. S. (1919). A history of the Scottish Women’s Hospitals. London : Hodder & Stoughton.
Further Reference
- Headstone photo.
- References
- Poverty Bay Herald (Gisborne)
- Scholefield, G.H. (1940). A dictionary of New Zealand biography. Wellington, N.Z.: Department of Internal Affairs.
- Poverty Bay Herald
Untitled. Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11872, 9 June 1909, Page 3 - Poverty Bay Herald
Captured by the enemy. Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13915, 11 February 1916, Page 5 - Reference File. Women's Archive. Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Auckland War Memorial Museum, Reference Files, Women's Archive. Newspaper clippings (1) - Scholefield, G.H. (1940). A dictionary of New Zealand biography. Wellington, N.Z.: Department of Internal Affairs.
Scholefield, G.H. (1940). vol. 1 p. 73-74 - Who's who in New Zealand (1951-1991). Wellington, N.Z. ; Auckland, N.Z.: Reed.
Scholefield, G.H. (Ed.). (1951). 5th Ed. p. 26 - General Register Office British Death Records
GRO British Death Records. vol. 1, vol. 6. S08.10, So8.33 - The Evening Post
Obituary: Evening Post, 20 February 1962, p. 22 - 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.
- Pat Clarkson Medical Practitioner Research Project (January 2014 - March 2022). This project identified Medical Practioners who served in WWI.
- Harper, G., Clements, C., & Johns., R. (2019). For King and Other Countries: The New Zealanders Who Fought in Other Services in the First World War. Auckland, New Zealand: Massey University Press.
- McClymont, W. (1959). To Greece. Wellington, N.Z.: Department Internal Affairs, War History Branch.
- Wright-St Clair, R. (2013). Historia nunc vivat medical practitioners in New Zealand, 1840 to 1930. Christchurch, N.Z.: Cotter Medical History Trust.
- McLaren, E. S. (1919). A history of the Scottish Women’s Hospitals. London : Hodder & Stoughton.
- Tolerton, J. (2017). Make her praises heard afar : New Zealand women overseas in World War One. Wellington, New Zealand : Booklovers Books.
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