Elizabeth Rennie Hay

Born 1869 - Died 21 Mar 1944

Service number: —
Also known as: Mackenzie AWMM
Armed force / branch: Army AWMM
Last rank: —
War: South African War, 1899-1902 AWMM

Elizabeth Rennie Hay — Group portrait of Fourth Contingent NZ Rough Riders from Otago and Southland. From left to right: "Nurse Monson, Nurse Harris, Nurse Williamson (Superintendent), Nurse Piper, Nurse Ross, Nurse Hay, Nurse Campbell." Muir & Moodie. (ca. 1899 - 1902) Nurses' Contingent. Auckland War Memorial Museum copy neg. C30702. Image has no known copyright restrictions. No Known Copyright Restrictions

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Biographical information

Wife of Robert Mackenzie, mother of three.

Elizabeth Hay was a New Zealand trained nurse who served in the South African War. She had to approach the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, to ask for permission for New Zealand nurses to go to South Africa to nurse sick and wounded New Zealand troops.

Seven nurses left from Dunedin and five from Christchurch: from Dunedin, Nurse Williamson, Superintendent Nurses Harris, Piper, Hay, Manson, Ross and Campbell.

Upon arrival in South Africa the New Zealand nurses were drafted to different British Hospitals. Nurse Hay did a lot of night duty. Because the English nurses kept getting lost in the dark she was always being called on duty!

One of her duties was to escort wounded and sick on hospital trains to the coast. There they were transferred to a hospital ship. Laurenco Marques was the usual port.

On one occasion she was sent to England to care for hospital ship patients. In England the Army HQ discharged her saying there was no recognised nursing training in New Zealand. Nurse Hay was staying with a kinsman, Sir John Dalrymple Hay, an Admiral of the British Navy. He confirmed that New Zealand nurses were registered and fully qualified. She was given back pay and asked if she would rather return home or to South Africa. She returned to South Africa.

Her last posting was to assist during the typhoid epidemic at Langman Hospital, British Military No. 5 General Hospital, where Dr Arthur Connan Doyle was in command. Matron Hardarman was in charge of the nurses. Nurse Hay was the only New Zealand nurse. Five thousand died between April and May of typhoid. The Boers had thrown their dead into the water supply of the British and the troops were drinking infected water at Paadeburg. The Langman Hospital was not equipped to cope with such an outbreak. Queen Alexander visited the hospital after the war ended.

The Union Jack and the Red Cross flags were presented to Nurse Hay because she was the last nurse to leave the hospital. She also brought back the bugle that sounded the retreat at Paardeburg. The flags are now held in the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Elizabeth Hay married Robert Mackenzie, a farmer, of Pretoria and stayed there for several years. Eventually (1913?) she returned to New Zealand with her three children.

Captain Bruce Somerville Hay (406 9/530), her brother, served in the South African War and was killed in World War I.

Portrait in Kendall, 1990 p. 4. National Archives New Zealand. PRO File WO 100/370 Page 306 Register of Individuals entitled to KSA Film 197

It is understood that the Queen Elizabeth II Army Memorial Museum, Waiouru, has a tape recording of the interview with Nurse Hay's son, Mr Bruce B. Mackenzie.

Elizabeth Rennie Hay (1869–1944) served as one of the earliest New Zealand nurses to deploy overseas during the South African War. Trained in New Zealand, she was among the small group of nurses who travelled to South Africa in 1900 to care for sick and wounded New Zealand troops.

On arrival she was assigned to British military hospitals and undertook demanding duties, including escorting wounded soldiers by hospital train to coastal ports for transfer to hospital ships. She later served at the Langman Field Hospital, Bloemfontein, during a severe typhoid epidemic that followed the Battle of Paardeberg. At Langman Hospital she worked under the direction of Dr Arthur Conan Doyle, then serving as a medical officer. Hay was the only New Zealand nurse posted there and was reportedly the last trained nurse to leave the hospital when it was handed over to the British Government in November 1900.

She was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal and the King’s South Africa Medal. She later married Robert Mackenzie of Pretoria and eventually returned to New Zealand with their three children.

Elizabeth Rennie Hay died on 21 March 1944 at Te Awamutu. Her wartime service is reflected in objects now held at Auckland War Memorial Museum, including a bugle and two flags associated with Langman Field Hospital (Profile written for “A Flight to Remember”, an Anzac Day 2026 initiative by Online Cenotaph and Air New Zealand). AWMM

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Elizabeth Rennie Hay