Mary Ethel Josephine (Cantwell) Hughes (1897 - 1965)

Born 12 Feb 1897 in Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia

Ancestors

Wife of Angus Pollard Thornton — married 1925 in Victoria, Australia

Died 21 Jul 1965 at age 68 in Taree, New South Wales, Australia

Biography

Mary Ethel Josephine Cantwell was born on 12th February 1897 at Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia, the eldest of four children of Philip Percy Cantwell and Alice Maud nee Howes.^[1] She graduated from the University of Medicine with Bachelor of Medicine (MB) and Bachelor of Surgery (BS).

She married Angus Pollard Thornton in 1925.^[2] She divorced Angus in 1935 on the grounds of desertion. They had a son, Graham Thornton, born about 1927.

In 1929, Mary was appoinbted as medical adviser to both the Victorian Women’s Athletic and Women’s Hockey Associations, during which time they introduced rules that their players must undergo a medical examination before competing. By 1934, Mary was listed as resident medical practitioner at the Austin Hospital. In 1935-36 it was noted that Mary had returned from twelve months at the Otago District Hospital in New Zealand, and, after a short holiday, was to return to take up the position of radiologist at the Wanganui Hospital.

In 1937-38 Mary and 72 year-old widower and divorcee, Dr Wilfred Kent Hughes, began a de facto relationship that ended at his death in 1941. Mary is on record as having represented herself socially as the wife of Dr Wilfred Kent Hughes, however there is no marriage record, no newspaper wedding notices, and her death record lists her name still as Thornton.

In February 1939, while in practice at 22 Collins Street, the address listed for her husband’s medical practice over many years, she was elected a Fellow of the British Faculty of Radiologists for her original work on the radiological aspects of metastases of cancer. She was the first woman in Australia and New Zealand to obtain this distinction.

On the outbreak of the Second World War, while she held the positions of assistant honorary radiologist at Austin Hospital and clinical assistant to the radiologist at St Vincent’s Hospital, Mary offered her services to the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), which at the time included chest X-rays in its medical examinations, but was rebuffed as the Army still refused to utilise women doctors, either locally or on overseas service. In February 1940, it was announced she was about to leave Melbourne for London to join the Royal Army Medical Corps as a radiologist with the commissioned rank of lieutenant. On arrival in England in early April, Lieutenant Thornton was posted to an army hospital at Aldershot. She was promoted to Major when she was transferred to Palestine. She arrived home late in September 1941, however, and resumed practice in Collins Street while waiting on a change of heart from the AIF. Dr Wilfred Kent Hughes died on 8th November 1941 at their home in Warrandyte.

She also wrote a novel, “Dust of Nineveh”, Heinemann, 1946; a biography of Dr John Singleton, a founder of the Flying Doctor service, published by OUP in 1950; and a book on her travels in Europe sequel to her original work, “Matilda Waltzes On” published by William Heinemann in 1954. There were also two of her short stories published in The Bulletin – “The Story of Dog Collar Dan”, 4th January 1956; and “Storm”, 18th February 1959.

Mary passed away in Taree, New South Wales on 21st July 1965 and was buried in Newcastle Cemetery.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ Victoria Birth Index #3870/1897
2. ↑ Victoria Marriage Index #10080/1925
3. ↑ New South Wales Death Index #32959/1965

• Wikinorthia Mary Ethel Thornton.
• unsubstantiated records