Thames - Coromandel
Paeroa
Ada Ann Manning née Oppenheim (1857-1927), Rye Lane (1909-1916). Her husband Henry Daniel Manning died in 1908 at Rye Lane, Paeroa, aged 70. The couple married in 1878, and were in Paeroa at least as early as 1892, when Henry worked as a coachdriver and general carrier, later as a locksmith from 1897, and a bailiff from 1898. Ada was his second wife.
"FOR SALE. House 6 rooms and scullery in good repair, section 100 x 50, situated corner Rye Lane and Lincoln Street. Price £250 cash. Further particulars. Apply - Mrs H D Manning, Paeroa." (Ohinemuri Gazette, 16 May 1917)
Ada Manning retired 1917 to Hamilton. (Part of info from descendant Jeni Palmer)
Nurse Annie Settatree Odgers (Mrs), "Waimarie" Albert Street (1913-1917). Shifted to Morrinsville.
Nurse Alice Maria Clymo, "Arohanui", Moore Street (1923-1938). Miss Alice Clymo (1871-1957) died in Bayswater, Auckland. In the 1890s, she lived in Coromandel as a milliner. Apparently worked at Redruth Hospital, in Cornwall. Report from Medical Officer of Health, 6 August 1934 (R6901579, BAAK A49 19836, Archives NZ): "I interviewed Dr Davis who was satisfied with Nurse Clymo's work. He said that although the outfits and sheet were not of a good colour they were clean. He said Miss Clymo had a hard struggle and one could not expect the linen to be as good or as new as in a better class private hospital. Dr Davis considered that for the poorer people Miss Clymo's private hospital is very necessary in Paeroa.
"I also interviewed Dr Little. He admitted that he had made small use of Miss Clymo's hospital for medical or surgical cases, but appeared to think it would be convenient for him to have this facility.
"At the time of my visit Miss Clymo seemed to wish to retain the concession for medical and surgical cases, but mentioned the fact that Dr Little had not sent her the cases which she had anticipated. It is evident that Miss Clymo has to consider Dr Little's requirements.
"The general conditions of the premises was much the same as at my former visit -- shabby and uninviting. Miss Clymo stated that she would like to make improvements (one room was re-papered) but has not the money. Her patients are the wives of relief workers and others in poor circumstances. They manage to save the £6/-/- for the stay in her hospital -- generally, but sometimes she does not get fully paid.
"As Dr Davis said, Miss Clymo's house is a "Palace" to these women, and she is very kind to them. I noted, it being lunch time, that the trays were nicely prepared and the food very good."
Mrs Leonard, Seymour Street (1925) -- referred to in letter from Inspector of Hospitals, December 1925, file for Arohanui (see above).
Nurse Mary Jane Rolton , 4 Russell Street (1924-1928). Worked at the time with Mrs Matkovich (Rolton's daughter) possibly midwife). Husband Thomas Rolton (died 1927). Mrs Rolton died 1935, aged 69
Nurse A M Matkovich Station Road, (1939-1942)
While Mary Pennell (1845-1918) was an active midwife in the area from the latter part of the 19th century, there is no indication that she operated a maternity home as such. She was memorialised in the later cottage hospital, however.
Parawai
Nurse Ledger (1926)
Thames
Mrs Moore, maternity nurse, shifted from Kirkwood Street to Karaka Road, 1917.
Sperry Home, Mrs Isabella Smith, and her mother Janet Waddell (c.1840-1924), Bella Street (1910-1931). http://thamesnz-genealogy.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/thames-nz-sperry-home.html - Janet Waddell was said to have been the district's first maternity nurse when she and her husband first arrived in the area in the late 1860s, offering midwifery services and travelling on horseback. (NZ Genealogist, Nov/Dec 2003, pp. 392-393). Isabella, as Isabella Gardner, died at Sperry Home 21 September 1949.
The Sperry Home. My sincere thanks to Althea Barker from the Thames Genealogy blog for the use of this image.
Janet Sharp Brown, according to a talk I attended at Thames in March 2018, was born in Glasgow in 1837. In 1860, she married Alexander Law at Tradeston, a district of Glasgow. The couple had two children. As part of the Waikato Immigration Scheme the Laws travelled to Auckland in 1864, and lived for a time in Onehunga. Alexander Law died 31 May 1865. Janet remarried, to William Waddell on 7 July 1867, and the family journeyed to Thames. There, Janet Waddell had six more children, including Isabella. Initially, Janet worked as a midwife in the area. She died in 1924.
In use from 1908, named after Admiral Sperry of the American Great White Fleet of that year. The Sperry house was on the Te Kopi block, remaining Maori-owned land right through from the 1880s to when it was absorbed into the hospital grounds (and after the creek was rechannelled, became the helicopter landing area). The owners from 1885 were Wirope Hotereni Taipari and Raika Whakarongotai. The house had four bedrooms, lounge, maternity room and kitchen. It boasted a large laundry out-building, wood shed, and garden with fruit trees. Marriages apparently took place there as well as other Waddell family functions.
Nurse Walther, Mackay Street (1921). A Nurse I M Walther, late of Napier Hospital, died in Thames the previous year, so this is a mystery why a birth notice from her home would appear a year later.
Nurse (Anne?) Harold, (Mackay St?) (1921-1922)
Nurse Lewis (1922)
Nurse (Jeanie?) Wallace, Queen Street (1922)
Sister E Bremner (until 1926), Braemar Private Hospital (1923-1937)
Nurse Godfrey, Franklyn Street (1925)
Turua
Nurse Markham (1921)
Mrs C K Sheridan, Fernlea, Waihou Street (1939)
Waihi
Nurse Marion Kerr is establishing a private hospital for maternity cases at Waihi. (Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume III, Issue 4, October 1910, Page 167)
Nurse Sylvia Mary Burke (c.1880-1959), Walmsley Road (1920- at least 1945). Husband Patrick Thomas Burke died in 1935.