Amelia Bagley

Amelia Bagley (2 October 1870 – 30 January 1956) was a New Zealand hospital matron, midwife and nursing administrator. She was born in Dunedin, New Zealand on 2 October 1870. She then spent two years private nursing.

From 1908 to 1911, she was Assistant Inspector of Private Hospitals and Midwives in the Department of Hospitals and Charitable Aid inspecting small maternity hospitals and the practices of traditional midwives.

Bagley, with Hester Maclean and Jessie Bicknell, had a major role in supervising the implementation of the Midwives Act 1904 and setting midwifery standards. In 1911 the Department of Health launched a Native Health nursing scheme to address the health needs of Māori. Bagley was appointed as a superintendent nurse. In 1913, she went to Ahipara, Northland during typhoid and smallpox epidemics where she set up a temporary hospital at the local marae and provided nursing care and advice. She established five nursing stations around the country by the end of 1912, and was made Superintendent of Native Health Nurses in 1913.

Bagley retired in 1930 and died on 30 January 1956 in Auckland, aged 85.