Duffield, Margaret (1884-1969)
After her early education in Ireland, Margaret went to South Africa where she graduated from the Kimberly School of Nursing in Kimberley in 1908. She returned to England where she became staff nurse at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and Queen’s Hospital in London, England.
She emigrated to Canada in 1913 where she joined the CAMC, receiving the Royal Red Cross medal for outstanding service. On her return to Canada she spent the next 25 years in nursing leadership positions across Canada. She completed the University of Toronto’s public health nursing program in 1923, and after five years as Superintendent of the VON London office assumed the same position in Vancouver.
She advocated that all racial groups receive the same treatment, lobbying BC Schools of Nursing to admit Japanese and Chinese women. These graduates operated clinics and made home visits in the Japanese and Chinese communities, effectively limiting tuberculosis cases and providing better care for babies and preschoolers.
She was also active in professional organizations, becoming president of the Vancouver Registered Nurses’ Association in 1928-1929, and President of the RNABC from 1938-1943.
Contents of Biographical File
- Background biographical information. Including CV and photocopied photograph.
- Nomination to the RNABC Memorial Book
- Duffield, Margaret. “The Advantages of a Post-Graduate Course for Public Health Nurses,” The Canadian Nurse (1931), pp. 426-427.
- Duffield, Margaret. “Why Draw the Line,” The Canadian Nurse (September 1939), pp. 513-515.
- Duffield, Margaret “Nursing Care for Racial Groups,” The Canadian Nurse (1941), pp. 337-8.
- Wismer, M. “Margaret Duffield Retires,” The Canadian Nurse (1944), p. 326.
- Information copied from The RNABC Presidents’ Book from the North Shore chapter.