Margaret Mary Henderson OBE MD (1915 - 2017)

Born 13 Nov 1915 in Kew, Victoria, Australia

Ancestors

Died 18 Aug 2017 at age 101 in Kew, Victoria, Australia

Biography

Margaret Henderson OBE MD is Notable.

Margaret Henderson OBE MD was born in Victoria, Australia

Doctor Margaret Mary Henderson OBE MD MBBS DMedSc was born on 13th November 1915 at Kew, Victoria, Australia. She was the eldest child of Reverend Kenneth Henderson and Charlotte Mary Tickell.^[1] She attended Church of England Girls’ Grammar School at South Yarra.

In 1927, Margaret's father accepted an offer as a lead writer for The West Australian. The family travelled by sea from Melbourne, the only route then available for getting to Perth. Although an Anglican clergyman, Kenneth enrolled his three daughters in Perth’s Presbyterian Ladies’ College. The great strength of the school was in the quality of its teachers. Margaret studied biology and was introduced to scientific methods, accurate observation and recording. In 1931, at the age of sixteen, she won the University Medal for best essay in English in Leaving Honours and was awarded a government university scholarship. As there was no medical school in Western Australia, she enrolled in first-year science at the brand-new campus of the University of Western Australia, at Crawley on the Swan River. The following year she moved to the University of Melbourne, enrolled in medicine and forged her first links with Janet Clarke Hall, where she later became its medical officer for sixteen years and ultimately a Fellow of the College (appointed in 1966). She graduated MBBS in 1938 and MD in 1941. ^[2]

Margaret Henderson OBE MD is a Military Veteran.
Served in the Second Australian Imperial Force 1940-1945
Australian Army Medical Corps

During 1941-42, Margaret was commissioned in the Australian Military Forces as a medical officer, with the rank of Captain. In late 1945, she was recruited by the Red Cross for post-war civilian work and was posted to Malaya as a senior medical officer working on a range of nutritional problems and tropical diseases. She continued her work for the Red Cross in London and Switzerland, developing an interest in respiratory and thoracic medicine. In 1947, she passed the examinations in London for membership of the Royal College of Physicians. ^[2]

Back in Melbourne, Margaret became an honorary physician from 1947-75 and a specialist physician from 1976-82 at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. She was also a consultant physician at the Queen Victoria Hospital for Women (now the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital for Women and Children), vice-president of the Royal District Nursing Service and a member of their management committee for eighteen years. In 1976, she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to medicine. ^[2]

In her 'so-called' retirement, Margaret lived at Karana, Walpole Street, Kew, supporting many causes and writing about her career and family history. Her works included: ^[2]

• Perspectives, Cursory and Clinical (1999)
• A Williamstown Doctor (1997), and
• George G Henderson’s Story (2000)

Margaret passed away, a centenarian at 101 years of age, on 17th August 2017. A memorial service was held in the Chapel of the Holy Trinity, University of Melbourne. ^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ Victoria Birth Index #31655/1915
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4} University of Melboure obituary: Dr Margaret M Henderson OBE; accessed 21 Oct 2019