18 Facts About Agnes Bennett

Agnes Elizabeth Lloyd Bennett was an Australian New Zealand doctor, a Chief Medical Officer of a World War I medical unit for which she was awarded the Serbian Order of St Sava and later was awarded an OB.

Agnes Bennett was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on 24 June 1872, the sixth child of William Christopher Bennett, and his first wife Agnes Amelia, nee Hays.

Agnes Bennett attended Sydney Girls High School, as well as Cheltenham Ladies' College, Dulwich Girls' High School and Abbotsleigh.

In 1878 Agnes Bennett had taken her children to England for their schooling, but after she died of smallpox in June 1881 they returned to Australia.

Agnes Bennett was secretary of and a night-school teacher for the Women's Association.

Agnes Bennett studied with fellow Australians Kate Welton Hogg and Mary Booth, and Irish women Eleanor Sproull and Elizabeth Macrory.

Agnes Bennett graduated MB CM from the University of Edinburgh in 1899.

Agnes Bennett returned to Sydney in 1901 and set up in private practice in Darlinghurst Road, but although she gave free medical advice she was forced to give up her practice because of the then-common prejudices against female doctors.

Agnes Bennett briefly worked at Callan Park, the hospital for the Insane before leaving in 1905 to take over the practice of a woman doctor in Wellington, New Zealand.

Agnes Bennett was a chief medical officer at St Helens maternity hospital, and honorary physician, with Dr Daisy Platts-Mills, to the children's ward of Wellington Hospital from 1912.

In 1915, Agnes Bennett became the first female commissioned officer in the British Army, when as a captain she worked as a medical officer in war hospitals in Cairo.

On 2 August 1916, the America Unit, in the command of Agnes Bennett, reached Southampton preparatory to embarking on the hospital ship Dunluce Castle for Salonika.

Agnes Bennett succumbed to the disease and was forced to resign because of ill health.

Agnes Bennett was replaced by another Australian, Mary De Garis.

Agnes Bennett became the first president of the Wellington branch of the International Federation of University Women in 1923 and represented New Zealand at its world conference at Cracow, Poland, in 1936.

Agnes Bennett returned to Wellington and in 1939, helped to form the Women's War Service Auxiliary.

Agnes Bennett died in Wellington on 27 November 1960 and was cremated with Presbyterian rites.

Agnes Bennett contributed largely to the improvement of maternal and infant medical care in New Zealand, and through example, argument and organisation, did much to advance women's status.