Alice Hannah Holford

Alice Hannah Holford (12 November 1867 – 22 December 1966) was a New Zealand nurse, midwife and hospital matron. Her parents were Captain J.A. Holford, Port Taranaki's harbour master, and Alice Holford, née Brooking. She applied to be a probationer (trainee nurse) at New Plymouth Hospital in 1886, however the hospital was not ready to train nursing staff and her father was also reluctant to allow her to train. She had to deal with opposition to the hospital's existence, as midwifery training was new and unestablished in the country at the time. Some doctors feared that trained midwives would compete with them for patients, and some older nurses, as well as the public, thought it was unseemly for young unmarried women to deliver babies. The deputation was successful, and led to the development of the New Zealand Army Nursing Service. and was involved with the Order of St. John, Otago Pioneer Women's Society, the National Council of Women and the Red Cross. In her later years, she was instrumental in Dunedin opening a Citizens' Day Nursery for children, and a women's rest room in the city centre.

Holford retired in 1927. In 1956, she suffered a fall while in New Plymouth for a nursing conference, and was admitted to Westown Hospital. She remained there until her death in 1966, aged 99.