The nurse who helped shape Timaru’s private healthcare and Bidwill
c.1872–1945
Before Timaru’s private hospital services were brought together in the institution that became Bidwill, Sister Elizabeth Shanks had spent more than 20 years operating a hospital of her own.
Elizabeth trained at Riverton Hospital, passed the State nursing examination in 1904 and was registered that December. She worked at Palmerston North and Riverton hospitals before becoming matron of Waimate Hospital in 1909.
In 1910, she left Waimate Hospital to manage Dr Herbert Barclay’s private hospital in Shearman Street. By 1914, she had moved to Timaru and taken over a private hospital previously operated by Nurse Morris.
Contemporary advertisements show that Elizabeth’s hospital treated medical and surgical patients. She employed registered nurses as well as cooks and domestic assistants. A public notice in 1930 thanked “Sister Shanks and her staff”, confirming that she led an established healthcare team rather than working alone.
The hospital’s precise location still needs investigation. Early newspaper references place it in Theodocia, now Theodosia, Street, while later Bidwill histories identify Elizabeth’s hospital in Elizabeth Street. The property may have changed, moved or had access from both streets.
During the 1930s, doctors and businesspeople formed the Timaru Private Hospital Company to provide larger premises and modern equipment. Sister Susan McArthur’s Bidwill Street property was purchased for the new hospital site. Elizabeth’s property was not bought. Instead, the company agreed to pay her £250 for the goodwill of her Elizabeth Street hospital when she closed it.
Shortly before the new hospital opened in 1936, the company also purchased £15 worth of equipment and two sterilisers from her.
At the opening, Dr Leonard Talbot made it clear that the new hospital had not been created because the earlier nursing was inadequate. He praised the work of Sisters Shanks and McArthur and said that better nursing would have been difficult to find. What had changed was the cost of modern medical equipment, which individual nurse-proprietors could no longer readily finance themselves.
Elizabeth was more than a bedside nurse. She was a hospital matron, manager, employer and business owner. Her own hospital did not continue under her name, but its service, equipment and professional goodwill became part of the private healthcare tradition carried forward by Bidwill.
Read more in WuHoo Blog: Two sterilisers and £250: Sister Elizabeth Shanks and the hospitals women owned
Sister Susan McArthur: A History Hunt into One of Timaru’s Early Private Hospitals
Sources
New Zealand Register of Nurses, 1927: training, registration and career appointments.
Kai Tiaki, 1909 and 1910: appointment as Waimate Hospital matron and move into private hospital management.
Contemporary newspaper advertisements: medical and surgical nursing staff and domestic workers employed at her Timaru hospital.
The Bidwill Story, chapters 1 and 2: Elizabeth Street hospital, £250 goodwill payment, equipment purchase and Dr Talbot’s tribute to the two nurse-led services.
Consolidated Elizabeth Shanks research: address, identity and life-date leads requiring further verification.