Elizabeth Kate Hughes (nee Jary)

Class of 1923

This biography is based on written information supplied to us by her grandson, David Hughes, and granddaughter, Annie Hughes, as well as other secondary material listed in the bibliography. It was collated by Rennae Taylor.

Family History and Education

Elizabeth Kate Jary was born in Felthorpe, a small village in Norfolk, England. The Felthorpe baptismal records (reference PD 45/6) indicate her date of birth was 2 December 1900. (1) Her mother and father, Herbert and Annie (nee Colman) Jary, came from farming backgrounds. She had two younger siblings, Constance and Tom.

Family research indicates Herbert’s family came from a farming background in the Norfolk area of Attleborough. His father’s farm was 400 acres and included three female servants. Herbert and Frank had an older brother who possibly inherited the farm, and this may have been the impetus for their emigration to NZ. Annie’s family, according to the 1881 census, appeared to be doing well. Her father owned a 700-acre property, which he farmed with the help of sixteen men and ten boys. In addition, there were three female servants in the family home.

Elizabeth’s family, along with her father’s brother and his family, emigrated to New Zealand around 1907-8 when she was quite young. They initially settled in Bunnythorpe in Manawatu before settling on a farm at Te Rapa, which today has been absorbed by northwest Hamilton City. Some of the street names in this Waikato area now carry family names, such as Constance Street, Colman Street, Herbert Road, and Jary Road (named in memory of Elizabeth’s Uncle Frank Jary and his wife who farmed in the area and died in their farmhouse fire).

Elizabeth attended Hamilton High School, where she became a prefect and captain of the girl’s first hockey eleven. (2) In November 1913 and 1915, she took examinations for junior (3) and senior national scholarships (4) and was successful in gaining a free place to continue her education in high school. In December 1916, she was one of five young women to pass her matriculation examinations from Hamilton in the following sections: matriculation, solicitor’s general knowledge, and medical preliminary. (5) In December 1917, she achieved dux for the girls section of the school. (6)

She attended the University of New Zealand (possibly Auckland, but her family were unable to confirm) for her medical intermediate and, at the end of November 1919, had passed in biology, physics, inorganic chemistry and organic chemistry. She was accepted to Otago Medical School and commenced her studies in 1919 at the age of eighteen. (7)

Her family know very little about her university years and why she chose medicine as a career. They are unaware of any previous family members being involved in medicine, however, her younger brother Tom was a diabetic and it is thought this may have inspired her to go into medicine and later sparked her interest in paediatric diabetes.

She graduated with her M.B. Ch.B. at the end of 1923. (8)

Early Career and Marriage

From the Wright St Clair history, it appears that Elizabeth spent time in 1924 practising at Auckland Mental Hospital following her graduation. (10)

The family historical information surrounding her romance and the early years of marriage to her husband Arthur Robert Hughes in 1925 are somewhat sketchy. Her grandson says family hearsay indicates that she met him in an Auckland shoe shop when Elizabeth was buying shoes. He was married at the time and his first wife returned to Australia in c. 1931.

Arthur was born in Buckinghamshire, England, on 12 March 1900 but grew up in Australia. His father died prior to his birth, and he did not get along with his stepfather. He lied about his age and claimed to be eighteen so as to join the Australian army (47^th battalion, 8^th reinforcements). He embarked from Sydney on the ship Demosthenes on 22 December 1916. He fought in France in 1918 until he was wounded (shot and gassed). He returned from France in 1919 and made his way to NZ sometime during the 1920s and became involved in plantation forestry. On his son Alan’s birth certificate, his occupation is listed as a forestry officer.

In 1928 Arthur’s forestry career took him to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where Elizabeth joined him for a time. Again, from Wright St Clair’s history, it indicates she worked for one year as a medical officer at Colombo Hospital. (10) In 1935, he was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the reserve of the Ceylon Engineers Defence Force and in 1935 became a captain. In 1940 he joined the Indian Army and was promoted to Captain in February 1941 and later joined the NZ Army. He was likely transferred to Malaya in 1941 as significant reinforcements were urgently needed, and in early 1943, the NZ government was advised he was a prisoner of war. (11) While imprisoned in Changi, he was responsible for both Australian and NZ prisoners of war. (12) Arthur’s release was announced in the Press on 10 September 1945. (13) Below is one of the many portraits by another prisoner of war, Henk Brouwer, made during this time. He rarely spoke about his harrowing experiences while imprisoned. (12)

Elizabeth and Arthur had two children, Robert (Bob) born in 1926 and Alan born in 1930. Her grandson said for at least some of the 1920s and 1930s, as well as the years he served during World War II, Elizabeth and the boys were separated from Arthur. When the boys were of school age, they were sent to Kings boarding school and came home on weekends and during the school holidays.

Auckland Career

In 1931, Elizabeth may have been living with her family in Hamilton, as her medical registration for that year is listed as Claudelands, Hamilton. (14) By 1933, she had made her base in Auckland, practising as a general practitioner, first from St Heliers Bay (15) and by 1950 at 29 Princes St, Auckland. (16)

For some years, Elizabeth was a visiting physician at Carrington Hospital, a psychiatric hospital, (2) and by 1934 had convened a patient after-care sub-committee there. (18) She was also medical officer at the Children’s Psychological Clinic. (19) In 1935, she and Elaine Gurr were appointed as assistant physicians at Auckland Hospital. (20) She became the junior to the well-known specialist in child health, Dr Sammy Ludbrook, and later became a senior honorary physician with full charge of the infectious diseases service, a position she held until her retirement in 1961. (2) This position included being the medical officer in charge of child poliomyelitis cases at Auckland Hospital, which had a significant outbreak between 1947 and 1948. (21)

In 1947, Elizabeth, along with Alice Bush, Drs Sammy Ludbrook (inaugural president) and Basil Quin, set up the Paediatric Society in New Zealand. (22)

During World War II, she took over Professor J. E. Caughey’s consultant practice and was also closely associated with the United States 39^th General Hospital (later Cornwall Hospital). (2) Her grandson recalls his father telling him his mother worked at Chateau Tongariro, which for a time became a hospital during the war, and recalled visiting her there during school holidays. Huka Lodge was owned by the Pye family at that time, and her two sons would stay with them during these holidays.

In addition to infectious diseases, her other main medical interest was diabetes. She was a physician to many diabetics in Auckland. Because of her promotion of the use of Dextrostix for semi-quantitative assessment of blood glucose, a procedure introduced in NZ by Mr John Nesfield, she was instrumental in promoting the first public diabetes detection survey in 1965. She also helped establish a diabetic children’s camp (2) and was a foundation member, vice president, and life member of the Auckland Diabetic Society. (2)

During her era, retirement was compulsory at age sixty, so when she had to step down from her hospital role, she continued in active practice, including looking after the female staff at Green Lane Hospital. (2)

Community Service

Elizabeth was very generous with her time to various groups in the community, such as the League of Mothers and St John Ambulance Association, giving talks on such topics as “Anti-constipation Foods”, (23) “The Nervous Disorders of Children”, (24) and “Home Nursing”. (25) It was noted in the Otago Daily Times that the Auckland University College Students’ Association’s extra-curricular committee was keenly attended when she and Mr Douglas Robb spoke on “Sex and Health”. (26) She was also appointed to the Auckland Community Welfare Centre Board (27) and was on a committee organising provision to a residential nursery for children of sick mothers. (28) She contributed to the Auckland medical postgraduate committee’s course in psychiatry, lecturing on behavioural problems in children. (29)

Other Interests

Following the war, Elizabeth and Arthur purchased a farm in the Waitakere Ranges near Swanson in the late 1940s. Arthur had studied books on agriculture and farming supplied in the Red Cross parcels sent to the prisoners of war, but it was Elizabeth, from her farming background, who was the farmer. Initially, it was a dairy farm, but then it switched to beef farming. She was well-known at the Kumeu sales yard as a buyer and seller of the red Hereford stock. She was a lover of animals, especially her black curly retriever dogs and always had a large number of stray cats. At some point, Arthur became mayor on the Waitemata County Council, and Elizabeth became the mayoress, assisting him with his various social mayoral responsibilities. (2) She was also a keen gardener.

Retirement

Elizabeth was a foundation and active member of the Auckland branch of the NZ Medical Women’s Association (NZMWA) throughout her career and into retirement. At their meetings, she contributed talks on topics such as the diagnosis between functional and organic heart disease, the indications for and methods of contraception, immunisation, recent advances in the control of infection, and virus diseases, including two recent cases of smallpox. In 1945 and 1963-1965, she was the president of the Auckland branch, and in 1969, she was made an honorary member of the NZMWA. She believed women doctors had a unique position in promoting education for family living and giving well-informed opinions on problems affecting women and children. (30)

In the 1974 Queen’s Birthday honours, Elizabeth was awarded an OBE for her services to medicine. (31)

At the age of seventy-two, she had a severe stroke, which resulted in hemiplegia. Her determination with her rehabilitation resulted in her almost overcoming the effects of it. Elizabeth died in Green Lane Hospital on 19 May 1983, aged eighty-two. (2)

She was survived by her husband Arthur, who died in 1992 at the age of ninety-two; her son Robert (Bob), who became a general practitioner and practised in Howick; and her son Alan, who became a Massey University lecturer in agricultural extension, which included the training of farm advisors. Of her six grandchildren, Lisa is a general practitioner in Rotorua, and Annie is a district nurse in Hokitika. Annie remembers her as a very loving, gentle, kind “Gran” who would let her come into her bed in the morning and always had time to read her stories.

Tribute from Dr Ruthven Lang

Dr Ruthven Lang wrote Elizabeth’s obituary for the New Zealand Medical Journal. He had been her part-time junior doctor until she retired. He gave this tribute to her: (2)

Elizabeth Hughes was a shy retiring person, whose true worth was hardly recognised by more than a handful of people until towards the end of her life. She was a first class physician, right up to the minute with her knowledge, and often ahead of her time in exploiting the advances of science. Thus she used penicillin for the treatment of meningococcal infection almost twenty years before other people gave up sulphonamides. The results of treatment of her patients bore comparison with those anywhere in the world. It remained an anomaly that she was never granted a postgraduate diploma, but this was entirely due to her self-admitted inability to master examination techniques. Those who were her students have an abiding sense of indebtedness to a fine teacher and a fine person.

Bibliography

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