Ellen Dougherty

Ellen Dougherty (1844-1919) was a New Zealand nurse who is recorded as the first Registered Nurse in the world. She was born at Cutters Bay in Port Underwood and was inspired to nurse by accounts of Florence Nightingale. It is believed that she worked in a Wellington pharmacy before training at Wellington Hospital from 1885, and she completed a nursing certificate in 1887. In 1893 she became matron of the newly opened Palmerston North Hospital, and in 1899 she was formally registered as a pharmacist. New Zealand was the first country to pass legislation on the registration of nurses, the Nurses Registration Act of 1901, and Dougherty was the first nurse registered under it, on 10 January 1902. She retired in 1908 and died in 1919, the year the United Kingdom began registering nurses. Her grave at Clareville Cemetery in Carterton was restored and rededicated in 2002, and her medal is held in the Nurses Chapel at Wellington Hospital.