Abbott, Gertrude (1846-1934)

Also known as
Abbott, 'Mother'Gertrude, MrsIgnatius of Jesus, SisterO'Brien, Mary Jane (1846-1934)
Field of activity
Matron and Social worker; Catholic religious sister; hospital administrator; Medical administrator and Nun
NLA Persistent Identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-762055

Biographies

ABBOTT, GERTRUDE (1846-1934), founder of a hospital for women, was born Mary Jane O'Brien on 11 July 1846 in Sydney, daughter of Thomas O'Brien, schoolmaster, and his wife Rebecca, née Matthews. The family moved in December 1848 to Dry Creek, South Australia, where her father ran a licensed school, then took up farming. In February 1868, taking the name Sister Ignatius of Jesus, she entered the Order of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, founded at Penola two years earlier by Mary MacKillop and Julian Tenison-Woods. Influenced by Tenison-Woods, she and another nun claimed to witness visions. There was a scandal when the other nun was found to have faked manifestations. Although blameless, Sister Ignatius left the order in July 1872, only four months after she had taken final vows, and returned to Sydney. No longer able to use her religious name, she became known as Mrs Gertrude or 'Mother' Abbott. For the next twenty years she waited in vain for approval to found an order of contemplative nuns. At her establishments in Surry Hills, first in Bourke Street, later in Elizabeth Street, she gathered round her a small community of women who survived chiefly by dressmaking. After Tenison-Woods's death in her care in 1889, she inherited his estate of £609.

View the full record at Australian Dictionary of Biography Online

Born in Sydney in 1846, Mary Jane O'Brien moved with her family to South Australia when she was two years old. In February 1868, taking the name Sister Ignatius of Jesus, she entered the Order of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, the Catholic order founded at Penola two years earlier by Mary MacKillop and Julian Tenison-Woods. Caught up in a scandal which enveloped the order, but in which she was subsequnently proven to be blameless, Sister Ignatius left the order in July 1872, only four months after she had taken final vows, and returned to Sydney. There she became known as Mrs Gertrude or 'Mother' Abbott. She leased a house in the Sydney suburb of Surrey Hills and gathered about her a group of pious women. They lived by dressmaking and adopted the rule of contemplative congregation, hoping that the Roman Catholic Church would give the group the status of a religious order. After Tenison-Woods's death in her care in 1889, she inherited his estate of £609. It is reputed that in 1893 Mrs Abbott took in and cared for a pregnant girl brought to her by a policeman, an event that led to her establishing the St Margaret's Maternity Home at 561 Elizabeth Street, in the area known as Strawberry Hills. She ran what would become St Margaret's Hospital for Women, the third largest obstetric hospital in Sydney, for the next forty years. Upon her death in 1934, she passed the Hospital into the hands of the Sisters of St Joseph.

View the full record at Australian Women's Register

Gertrude Abbott founded the St Margaret's Maternity Home (1894), which became the third largest obstetric hospital in Sydney. After Abbott's death the hospital passed to the Sisters of St Joseph. Gertrude Abbott was born Mary Jane O'Brien. In February 1868 she entered the religious Order of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart and adopted the name Sister Ignatius of Jesus. She, along with another nun, claimed to witness visions, but it was later discovered that these manifestations had been faked by the other nun. Although Sister Ignatius of Jesus was not involved in the deception, she left the order in 1872 and adopted the name Mrs Gertrude Abbott.

For twenty years after leaving the convent, Gertrude Abbott unsuccessfully strove to get approval for an order of contemplative nuns. During this time, the women she had gathered supported themselves through dressmaking. However in 1889 Abbott's fortunes changed when she inherited the £609 estate of Julian Tenison-Woods. He was co-founder (with Mary McKillop) of the Order of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart and a major influence in Abbott's life. Abbott cared for Tenison-Woods until his death in 1889 and used the inheritance to set up St Margaret's Maternity Home at 561 Elizabeth St Sydney. The home "provide(d) shelter and care for unmarried girls of the comparatively respectable class" and was "unsectarian". Within two years the home had over 30 female patients (including at least 9 married), 3 midwifes and 8 trainee midwifes. Abbott ran the home then hospital for the next forty years. She got approval for Mass to be celebrated in the hospital chapel up to three times per week and introduced an outpatients department and a home-visiting service in 1904. The hospital moved to bigger premises in Bourke St, Sydney in 1910. Because it was not officially a Catholic institution, Abbott had to raise most of the funding herself, mostly through lotteries. After the death of long term colleague Sister Magdalen Foley in 1934, Abbott withdrew from the hospital administration. The hospital was handed over to the Sisters of St Joseph, in accordance with her wishes, after Gertrude Abbott died.

  • 1868 - 1872 Career position - Nun in the Order of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart
  • 1872 - 1893 Career position - Dressmaking
  • 1889 Life event - Estate of Julian Tenison-Woods inherited
  • 1893 - c. 1926 Career position - Founder and President of the managing committee and later Matron at St Margaret's Maternity Home
  • 1904 Career position - Outpatients department opened and shift to include treating 'diseases of women'
  • 1910 Career position - St Margaret's Maternity Hospital relocates to Bourke St in Sydney
  • 1921 Career position - First government subsidy (£250) received
  • 1926 Career position - Relinquished role of running the hospital
  • c. 1934 Career position - Hospital handed over to the Sisters of St Joseph

View the full record at Encyclopedia of Australian Science

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Resources for Gertrude Abbott

Selected resources (7)

Australian Dictionary of Biography Online

  1. 'Abbott, Gertrude (1846 - 1934)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7, p. 1.
    Chris Cunneen
    [1979]
    Published: Melbourne University Press

Australian Women's Register

  1. Abbott, Gertrude (1846-1934)Australian Dictionary of Biography Online : Abbott, Gertrude (1846-1934)
    Cunneen, Chris
    [2006]
    Published: Australian National University
    Series: http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070001b.htm
  2. 200 Australian Women: A Redress Anthology
    Radi, Heather
    [1988]
    Published: Women's Redress Press
  3. Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales: St. Margaret's Hospital (Darlinghurst, N.S.W.) records, 1894-1998 (1894 - 1998)
    Textual Records Textual Records - (computer printouts) Textual Records - (typescript) Textual Records - (typescript with manuscript annotations) Clippings A detailed list of records and a guide to patient identifying records are available in the Mitchell Library Reading Room. Access is restricted and written authority from the Sisters of St. Joseph is required prior to access. Please contact The Archivist, Sisters of St. Joseph, 9 Mount Street, North Sydney, 2060. This material is held offsite and can take up to four days to retrieve - Most of this material is held offsite, except for MLMSS 6711/1 - 5 & 6X - 17X which is held onsite Architectural and Technical Drawings Textual Records - (printed)
    MLMSS 6711

Encyclopedia of Australian Science

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