Elizabeth Grace Neill

Elizabeth Grace Neill (née Campbell; 26 May 1846 – 18 August 1926) was a nurse from New Zealand who lobbied for passage of laws requiring training and national registration of nurses and midwives; in 1901, New Zealand was the first country in the world to introduce such laws.

Early life Elizabeth Grace Neill was born 26 May 1846 in Edinburgh, Scotland. She was the oldest daughter of nine children born to James Archibald Campbell and Maria Grace of Barcaldine. Neill's father was a retired colonel of Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and he was also a deputy lieutenant of the county of Argyllshire and colonel of the militia in that area. Maria Grace was Campbell's second wife. In Campbell's household, discipline and intelligence were valued highly. Tall and red-headed, Elizabeth Neill was a very intelligent child and received a strong education. She was schooled partly at home and partly at a private school in Rugby. Her desire was to study medicine, which she undoubtedly would have done well at, but her father completely disapproved of her doing that. Instead she became a paying probationer nurse in St. John's House Sisterhood in London. This institution supplied nursing staff to both King's College Hospital and Charing Cross Hospitals. Elizabeth Neill easily completed her training in general nursing and midwifery. She then became the lady superintendent at the Pendlebury Hospital for Children near Manchester. She stayed there for two years until she met Dr. Channing Neill, whom she eventually married much to her father's dismay. The couple moved to Ryde, in the Isle of Wight, where they had their first and only son, James Oliver Campbell Neill. Two years later, her husband died, and Neill turned to journalism to make a living. She was a sub-editor of the Boomerang and a freelance journalist for the Brisbane Daily Telegraph and the Courier. A year later she was appointed by the Queensland Government to a Royal Commission on working conditions for shop and factory workers. Combined with her work as a journalist, her knowledge of the problems associated with giving charitable aid led to her appointment in 1893 as the first female factory inspector in New Zealand. She was then also given a job as assistant inspector in the department in charge of hospitals, asylums and charitable aid.