Waimate’s doctor in ordinary days and epidemic
1873-1918
Doctor
The marble figure standing in Waimate’s Seddon Square remembers Dr Margaret Cruickshank during the crisis that ended her life. Her contribution to South Canterbury, however, began more than twenty years before the 1918 influenza pandemic.
Margaret Barnet Cruickshank, whose middle name is also sometimes written Barnett, was born on 1 January 1873. She and her twin sister, Christina, were the eldest of seven children. After their mother died, the twins attended school on alternate days so that one could remain at home with their younger siblings, teaching each other in the evenings.
Margaret entered the University of Otago Medical School and became the second woman in New Zealand to complete a medical course, graduating in 1897, one year after Emily Siedeberg.
On 3 May 1897, Margaret became the first woman registered as a doctor in New Zealand. She then joined Dr H. C. Barclay’s practice in Waimate, eventually becoming his partner. Apart from a period of overseas study, she continued practising in Waimate for the rest of her life.
Her work involved more than seeing patients in a consulting room. She travelled by bicycle, horse and gig to reach people across the district. She earned a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1903 and undertook further study in Edinburgh and Dublin in 1913.
During the First World War, with Barclay serving overseas, Margaret carried much of the medical practice and shared responsibility for Waimate Hospital. She also organised local Red Cross activity.
When influenza reached Waimate in 1918, she worked through homes in which entire families were ill. Accounts describe her feeding infants, preparing food and milking cows as well as providing medical care. These recollections show how community medicine could extend into the everyday tasks necessary to keep a household alive.
Margaret contracted influenza and died of pneumonia on 28 November 1918. She was one of 14 New Zealand doctors who died during the pandemic.
The statue unveiled in 1923 made her service visible, but her impact was already present in two decades of medical care. She helped make professional treatment available to a small town and its surrounding rural district, not only during an emergency, but year after year.
Read the WuHoo story: The Cruickshank Twins: Teachers and Healers
Sources
Dictionary of New Zealand Biography: Margaret Barnet Cruickshank
Supports her family history, education, registration, Waimate practice, medical study, wartime responsibilities, epidemic work, death and memorial.
NZHistory: Margaret Cruickshank
Confirms her registration status, Waimate service from 1897 to 1918, Red Cross work, epidemic service and later memorials.
NZHistory: Margaret Cruickshank memorial
Supports the 1923 memorial and its location in Seddon Square.