The Beloved Physician

Dr Margaret Cruickshank was so worn out from her work trying to help those sick during the influenza epidemic, she lost her own life.
She was one of 14 doctors who died trying to save lives during the outbreak.
Margaret Barnet (or Barnett) Cruickshank was born on New Year’s Day, 1873, to farmer George Cruickshank and his wife Margaret.
They lived in Hawksbury - which was later called Waikouaiti - in Otago. Margaret and her twin Christina were about 10 when their mother became gravely ill. Life being hard, the girls alternated going to school - one staying home to care for the five younger kids while the other attended and then that twin taught what they had learned to the other.
Their mother died on June 19, 1883.
Margaret went on to high school where she was joint dux with her sister then she won a New Zealand University Junior Scholarship in 1891. Christina gained an MA and Msc and later became principal of Whanganui Girls College and Margaret went to the University of Otago Medical school.
She became the second woman in New Zealand to complete a medical course and graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine in 1897.
Margaret became the assistant to a doctor in Waimate and in 1897 became the first New Zealand woman to register as a doctor and go into general medicine.
With only one break - in which she studied for a year overseas - she worked at that practice and her patients were devoted to her.
She then obtained the degree of doctor of medicine in 1903 and studied in Edinburgh and Dublin.
Her patients in Waimate presented her with a purse with 100 sovereigns and a gold watch for her trip.
Margaret returned in 1914 to a huge workload - many men were away with the First World War and there was much to be done. Along with the practice she organised the local red cross fund and worked at the hospital.
When the influenza epidemic hit she responded with more work. She was the only doctor left in the district and used a bicycle or horse to get to her patients when her driver fell ill. Sometimes she helped by feeding the children, cleaning and milking the patients’ cows.
In November 1918 she caught influenza herself and while she tried to continue working - and did for several days - she was eventually hospitalised and died of pneumonia on November 28, 1918.
The people of Waimate turned out for her funeral - lining the streets to farewell her.
A statue of her was put up - the first time a statue of a woman other than a royal was put up in New Zealand - with the words The Beloved Physician/Faithful unto Death.
She is buried in the Waimate Old Cemetery.​