MACLEAN, HESTER (1868-1932) was born in New South Wales, a daughter of Harold Maclean, Comptroller-General of Prisons. She attended a private school in Sydney, and received her nursing certificate in 1893 at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney. She was matron of the Kogarah Hospital (1894-97), and of the Women's Hospital, Melbourne, and in 1900 came to New Zealand as assistant-inspector of hospitals. In 1906 she joined the New Zealand Army Nursing Service as matron-in-chief, and from 1914 until she retired in 1923 she was director of the division of nursing in the Health Department. During the war of 1914-18 she both nursed abroad and organised detachments of nurses in New Zealand, being awarded the Royal Red Cross and the Florence Nightingale medal. She was the first president of the New Zealand Trained Nurses' Association, edited Kai Tiaki (the New Zealand nurses' journal) and in 1932 published her reminiscences Nursing in New Zealand. She died in Wellington on 2 Sep 1932.

Who's Who N.Z., 1932; Maclean, op. cit. (p); Evening Post, 2 Sep 1932

Reference: Volume 2, page 20

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