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Matron E. A. Conyers' Honours

• 30th June 1916 - Royal Red Cross (1st Class)
• 21st June 1916 - Mentioned in General Sir John Maxwell's Despatches
• January 1919 - Order of the British Empire (OBE)
• 22nd March 1919 - Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
• December 1919 - Bar to Royal Red Cross
• 23rd February 1912 - awarded the Florence Nightingale medal and diploma by the International Red Cross

"Death Of Matron-In-Chief Of Last War

MELBOURNE, September 6. The death occurred today of Miss E. A. Conyers. matron-in-chief of the Australian Army Nursing Service in the last war for which service she was awarded the Royal Red Cross and CBE. She also received the rare decoration of the Florence Nightingale Medal from the Red Cross Society." - From the Adelaide Advertiser 07 Sep 1944 (nla.gov.au)

"Former Matron In Chief Dies

MELBOURNE, Wed. — Miss Evelyn Augusta Conyers C.B.E., R.R.C. and Bar, matron-in-chief of the Australian Army Nursing Service during the last war, died today in a private hospital in Melbourne after a long illness. 

Born in New Zealand, the late Miss Conyers joined the Australian Army Nursing Service C.M.F., at its inception in 1903. At the beginning
of the last war she embarked with the first expeditionary force A.I.F. as sister in October, 1914." - from the Perth Daily News 06 Sep 1944 (nla.gov.au)

CONYERS, Evelyn Augusta (CBE, RRC&Bar, MID) – Matron-in-chief, AANS

Evelyn was born on the 1st of March 1870 at Invercargill, New Zealand, the daughter of William CONYERS and Fanny MAINPRIZE, who married in 1863 in Yorkshire, England.  Following a brief illness, Fanny died on the 7/6/1889 at the family home at the Bluff, NZ. 

William, an Engineer, and late Commissioner of New Zealand Railways, left NZ with Evelyn and her sister Louisa on the Wairarapa 28/2/1890 for Australia.  He remarried later that year in London on the 1/7/1890 to Annie Isabel MacALISTER (widow, nee Hatfield, d.1906 Vic), and he died on the 6/6/1915 at Evelyn’s Private Hospital, “Lancewood” in Kew, Vic, aged 78.

Siblings (born NZ): Sidney Ward b.1865 – d.23/6/1942 NSW; Fanny Gertrude b.&d.1867 (9W); *Louisa Florence b.1868 (Nurse, UK 1911) – WW1: Staff Nurse, QAIMNSR (sailed from Tilbury to Malta on the Mongolia, served St Andrew’s Military Hospital, Malta 15/5/1915-15/5/1916) – d.11/4/1959 NSW; William Whincup b.&d.1872 (3M); Edgar Reginald b.1875 – d.15/7/1947 NSW

Evelyn trained in Nursing at the Children’s Hospital for 2 years where she started as a probationer in 1892 (to 1894), and then at the Women’s Hospital, Melbourne for 3 years (1896)

Matron in charge of Dr William Moore’s private hospital, Milton House, 25 Flinders Lane, Melbourne for 2 years (1902, 1903)

1902-3: Patent for “An improved supporting frame to be used with a slipper bed-pan”

Member of the Australian Army Nursing Service Reserve (CMF) since 1903

In June 1904 she was appointed as Matron at a salary of £80, of the Queen’s Memorial Infectious Diseases Hospital in Fairfield, which officially opened on the 1/10/1904.  A year later in June 1905 the hospital held examinations for a Special Certificate of Infectious Diseases Nursing, which Evelyn was qualified to receive.  She resigned from the Fever Hospital mid-1907

Presented with the gold badge of the Royal Victorian Trained Nurses’ Association, 1907

Together with Jessie MacBeth she opened “Lancewood” Private Hospital in Glenferrie Road, Kew (possibly 1907, not advertised until January 1909)

Electoral Rolls:  1909, 1913 ERs: Glenferrie Rd, Kew (Nurse).  1914 ER: 26 Glenferrie Rd, Kew (Nurse)

One of the first Directors of the newly registered Victorian Trained Nurses’ Club 1913

WW1 Service:

Evelyn enlisted in the AANS, AIF, for overseas service as a Sister with the 1st Australian General Hospital.  Selected as one of 25 Nurses to travel with the First Convoy, she embarked in Melbourne 20/10/1914 on the HMAT A9 Shropshire with Sisters E.S. Davidson and M.M. Finlay as well as Divisional Artillery HQ and the 2nd FAB.  During the voyage Evelyn and her two colleagues were kept busy assisting the medical officers with vaccinations, and inoculating the troops against typhoid.

Arrival in Egypt, in her own words:  “Upon our dis-embarkation on the 3rd of December, we were notified by the dis-embarkation Officer that we were to proceed to Cairo by the 12 o’clock mid-day train that day, to go to the Egyptian Army Hospital which had been lent to the New Zealand forces.  We also were loaned to nurse the New Zealand troops until their own nurses arrived, none having accompanied them on the journey.”  [The ‘we’ only refers to Evelyn and Sisters Davidson and Finlay]

“Upon our arrival in Cairo, we were met by an Officer of the Egyptian Army, and taken to a Hotel in Heliopolis, where arrangements had been made for billeting us.  The following morning at 9 a.m., we reported to the O.C. of the Egyptian Army Hospital for duty.  With the exception of the Matron, the Nursing staff then consisted of several French and Syrian ladies who had been trained in the French Red Cross in Paris, several of whom could not speak English.  The Australians received a warm welcome.  Three days later, four Queensland Military Nurses reported for duty with this Unit, and the work was much lighter after their arrival.”  [The Qld Nurses were: Sisters E.M. Paten, J.M. Hart, C.M. Keys and B.M. Williams]

“I was placed in charge of the Aseptic surgical ward, and subsequently was appointed theatre sister.”

“I remained in this Hospital for a period of seven months, until the arrival of the members of the New Zealand Army Nursing Service, and I then reported to my own Unit, No. 1 A.G.H., which had been quartered in the Palace Hotel at Heliopolis.”

“I held the position of sister at No. 1 A.G.H., for three and a half weeks, and then I was selected as acting matron of No. 1. A.A.H. [sic, No.3 AAH] Heliopolis.  This Hospital consisted of 1,500 beds, and was erected on the Heliopolis sports ground.”

In December 1915 following the creation of a new medical department within the Australian Administrative Headquarters, Evelyn was appointed to the new position of Matron-in-Chief, A.I.F. “with a small but sufficient staff charged with the onerous responsibility of administering, under the D.M.S. [Director of Medical Services] the A.I.F. nurses in almost every theatre of the British front.”  [According to her service record her appointment took effect from the 12/1/1916]

As Matron-in-Chief she had to “attend to the personal interests – posting, promotion, pay, discipline, leave, invaliding, reinforcement, and other concerns of this wide-spread body of Australian women.”  The position demanded exceptional administrative ability and a thorough knowledge of nursing.

In April 1916 the staff of the D.M.S. was transferred to England, and with them went Evelyn.  She arrived in England on the 26/5/1916 to take up her duties at the Admin HQ in Horseferry Rd, London.  “Her sphere of administration included England, the B.E.F. in France, and Egypt.”

In June 1916 her service in Egypt was recognized with the bestowal of the Royal Red Cross (RRC) and a Mention in Despatches (MID):

*Royal Red Cross (1st Class) – London Gazette 3/6/1916

*Mentioned in Despatches of Sir John Maxwell, K.C.B., in connection with services rendered in Egypt – London Gazette 20/6/1916

The investiture ceremony for her RRC took place at Buckingham Palace on the morning of the 27/6/1916, which she attended together with Jessie McHardie White and 3 other AANS nurses.

The following month Evelyn made her first visit to France, arriving at Boulogne on the 8/7/1916.  No official notification had been received by the Matron in Chief of the B.E.F. in France, Miss Maud McCarthy, so she was not expected, but luckily was looked after by Miss Woodford who dealt with all arrivals and departures, and just happened to be meeting a group of VADs on their arrival.  The next day she was taken around the 13th General Hospital and the 2nd Australian General Hospital, before meeting with Miss McCarthy at Abbeville.  She carried with her a letter of introduction from the Matron-in-Chief War Office, and made a favourable impression on Miss McCarthy, especially as she was “most willing that the Australians should just be sent where they [were] most required.”  On the 10/7/1916 Evelyn left by car for Rouen, where she was to spend a few days at the 1st Australian General Hospital, before returning to Boulogne on the 14/7/1916.

During the rest of her service as Matron-in-Chief, Evelyn was in regular communication with the Matron-in-Chief, B.E.F., and paid several further visits to France, but left much of the day to day arrangements concerning the AANS nurses in France to Miss McCarthy.

She crossed to France again at the end of the year, and arrived in Boulogne on the 3/12/1916, meeting up with Miss McCarthy at the 13th General Hospital, before going on to Rouen.  From Rouen she went to Abbeville on the 8/12/1916, where she was invited to lunch at the 2nd Stationary Hospital, “so that she might see her staff working” there, and she also met the Matron of the 1st South African General Hospital.  On the 11/12/1916 she visited more hospitals with Maud McCarthy including the 3rd Australian Casualty Clearing Station (ACCS) at Gezaincourt, where the “OC spoke in the highest terms of the work both of the Australian and English Sisters during the recent rush – he said he did not think it was possible for women to do the work they had done.”

Travelling once again with Maud on the 14/12/1916, they visited the 2nd ACCS at Troi Arbres, where they found everything in first rate order.  From there they went on to the 1st ACCS, Estaires, which wasn’t quite yet up to the same standard having been established in several old buildings.  Having spent the night in the Sister’s quarters at the 10th Stationary Hospital at St Omer, they started early the next day, ending back in Boulogne at the 2nd Australian General Hospital, where they dined with the new Australian Matron, Ethel Gray.  Evelyn then returned to England on the 16/12/1916.

Only one tour of inspection was made to France in 1917.  Arriving at Boulogne on the 8/8/1917, Evelyn travelled to Abbeville the following day where she was met by the Acting Matron-in-Chief, BEF, Miss Beadsmore-Smith (Miss McCarthy being on sick leave), and Grace Wilson, Matron of the 3rd Australian General Hospital.  They spent the time together discussing the arrangements and transfers of the AANS nurses that had taken place since her previous visit, before dining together that evening.

A car was arranged for Evelyn and she proceeded to Rouen on the 11/8/1917, returning again to Abbeville on the 13/8/1917.  From Abbeville she travelled back to Boulogne on the 15 /8/ 1917 and then on to Calais on the 17/8/1917.  In Calais she met up with Miss McCarthy, who had returned to duty and they visited the 38th Stationary Hospital which was in the process of being established and staffed with AANS nurses, where they stayed the night.  From there they travelled to Brandhoek where amongst others, they visited the 3rd Australian Casualty Clearing Station which was situated beside the railway line.  All the Units operating here had been bombed the previous evening, and the staff were all busy building up their defenses with sandbags.  They eventually arrived at St Omer for dinner, and spent the night in the Sister’s quarters at the 10th Stationary Hospital.

The following day of the 19/8/1917 they began their tour at the 2nd ACCS at Trois Arbres, where Louisa Stobo was the Sister-in-Charge. This Unit had also been experiencing considerable night bombing attacks, and it was arranged that several of the nurses beginning to feel the strain would be moved.  Continuing on to the 1st ACCS at Outhersteene which although recently opened and still being put in order, they found the staff extremely busy with a large number of badly wounded men having been admitted overnight.  A disturbed night was spent at the 17th CCS at Remy Siding, with Taubes flying overhead and the nearby Abeele Station being heavily bombed.

Evelyn and Maud returned to Boulogne on the 20/8/1917, via various British CCSs, and Evelyn crossed back to England the following day.

Three weeks later on the 10/9/1917 she embarked on the A38 Ulysses for return to Australia on furlough.  Matron Grace Wilson was appointed temporary Matron-in-Chief to relieve Evelyn while she was away.

Evelyn disembarked in Melbourne on the 13/11/1917, and the following Friday evening of the 16/11/1917 she was welcomed back during a dinner at the Army Nurse’s Club.  Her time at home was spent at her hospital Lancewood, and she also enjoyed a well-earned rest at “Kerami” Guest House in the picturesque township of Marysville.  Following a chat with “Graphic of Australia” she was described as having “a delightful speaking voice, a charming manner, and last, but not least – assuredly not least – a keen sense of humour.”

Returning to duty, Evelyn re-embarked on the 5/1/1918 in Adelaide as Matron in Charge on the A30 Borda.  Arriving at Plymouth on 4/3/1918, she was taken on strength of AIF Admin HQ on the 5/3/1918.

Four days later on the 9/3/1918 she crossed to France on an inspection tour and travelled from Bolougne to Abbeville the same day.  The following day, together with Miss Wilton Smith of the QAIMNS she travelled to Rouen where she visited the 1st Australian General Hospital, carrying out a thorough inspection on the morning of the 11/3/1918, before returning to Abbeville via Abancourt later that day.

On the 13/3/1918 Evelyn and Miss McCarthy drove to St Omer where they had lunch at the 10th Stationary Hospital mess, before continuing on to the 3rd Australian Casualty Clearing Station at Nine Elms.  Their next stop was the 1st ACCS which had been used as a Rest Camp during the winter and was in the process of being re-established as a CCS.  Having stayed the night, they set off early the next morning stopping for lunch at the 4th Army HQ before returning to St Omer where they visited various hospitals before staying the night at the 10th Stationary Hospital.  The staff of the 2nd ACCS were also resting here while waiting for their Unit to be re-opened, and during the evening Evelyn took the opportunity to interview them.

Returning to Abbeville on the 15/3/1918, Evelyn spent some time at the 3rd AGH before returning to Bolougne on the 17/3/1918 with Miss McCarthy.  They stayed at the Hotel du Louvre overnight, and the following day visited the 25th General Hospital at Hardelot which was treating mostly patients with skin diseases, and was staffed by 92 AANS nurses under Matron Maud Kellett.  After lunch they returned to the 2nd AGH at Bolougne where the staff were taking the opportunity to do some spring cleaning while the hospital was far from full.

On the 19/3/1918 they inspected the new Nurses’ Home being opened in the Hotel du Nord by the Canadian Red Cross, which was to accommodate all branches of the services.  This was followed by the Sick Sister’s Hospital in the Chateau Mauricien, and while there they visited AANS Nurse Eva Sherwin, who had contracted an ulcer on her lip in the previous December while serving at the 25th GH, and free from infection was about to return to duty.  Evelyn discussed the subject with the O.C. and it was decided she would bring the matter to the attention of the Director of Medical Services, AIF, for him to decide what action to take. [Following further treatment in the UK Eva was returned to Australia for discharge]

Together with the Matrons-in-Chief of the other nursing services, Evelyn received a private audience with Queen Mary at Marlborough House on the 27/4/1918.

Evelyn’s next visit to France was arranged for the period of the 10th to the 20th of June.  Miss McCarthy joined her at Boulogne on the 11/6/1918 and they lunched together at the Principal Matron’s Mess, before spending the night at the Canadian Nurses’ Hostel at the  Hotel du Nord, where they were made extremely comfortable and treated as guests.  On the 12/6/1918 they visited the 25th General Hospital, which was still overflowing with every class of skin case.  That evening they dined at the Mess of the Deputy Director of Medical Services.

Amongst others they visited the 83rd General Hospital on the 13/6/1918 before heading to Abbeville, where Evelyn went to the 3rd AGH to stay.  Together with Brigadier General Burgess of the AIF and Matron Grace Wilson, Evelyn visited Miss McCarthy on the 16/6/1918, before visiting GHQ with her on the following day.  That afternoon they inspected the 1st and 2nd ACCSs which they found to be in first rate order.

Miss McCarthy collected Evelyn again on the 18/6/1918 and one of the visits they made was to the 9th British Red Cross Hospital, established in the grounds of a Chateau and run by the Duchess of Sutherland with whom they had lunch.  Their next stop was the 3rd ACCS before returning to Boulogne.  The 19/6/1918 was spent at the 2nd AGH in Boulogne and the following day Evelyn returned to England “after completing a tour of inspection of all Australian Units in France lasting for 10 days.”

On the 22/10/1918 she was admitted to the Australian Nurse’s Hospital, 12 Southwell Gardens with Influenza and discharged 9/11/1918, before rejoining Admin HQ for duty on the 17/11/1918.  Due to her illness she was unable to attend a luncheon given by “representative English women in honour of the matrons-in-chief of the military hospitals, on October 30, in the Balmoral Hall of the Trocadero Restaurant, London.”

Evelyn’s next visit to France was in December, arriving on the 5/12/1918.  Miss McCarthy arranged for Matron G. Wilton Smith (QAIMNS) to accompany her on her tour of Australian Units around Abbeville and Rouen, and they departed Boulogne early on the 7/12/1918.  Following lunch at the Nurse’s Home at Abbeville they went to the Headquarters of the Third Army at Flexicourt, before spending the night at the 41st Stationary Hospital.

They left the next morning for Rouen, where Evelyn paid a visit to an Australian Nurse working in the Laboratory at the 25th Stationary Hospital, before continuing on to the 1st AGH.  Returning to Abbeville on the 9/12/1918 she visited the 3rd AGH and returned to Boulogne on the 10/12/1918.  The following day they went on an inspection of the Australian Casualty Clearing Stations situated with the 5th Army, having lunch at the 12th Stationary Hospital, and then dinner at the 39th SH in Lille.

First visit on the morning of the 12/12/1918 was to the Lille Southern Cemetery to pay her respects to Sister Edith Moorhouse, who had died at the 39th SH on the 24th of November from Pneumonia following Influenza.  She then went on to see General Birdwood, before visiting the 13th and 63rd CCSs, and then the 1st ACCS at Tournai.

Travelling with Miss McCarthy, Evelyn went to Paris on the 15/12/1918, and from there she was to go on to Italy to visit the 38th Stationary Hospital.  She returned to Boulogne on the 19/12/1918 and crossed to England the following day.

1919 saw Evelyn receive the appointment to be a Commander of the Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for valuable services rendered in connection with the war (CBE), dated from 1/1/1919. [Commonwealth Gazette, 17/6/1919]

While in London on the 14/2/1919 Miss McCarthy paid a visit to Evelyn at the Australian Admin HQ to discuss the demobilization of the AANS nurses in France.  Evelyn willingly agreed to leave it up to Miss McCarthy to demobilize them in groups as and when it was convenient.

Evelyn then crossed to France for the final time on the 15/4/1919.  Her purpose this time was to visit Germany and Brussels.  She travelled to Abbeville with Miss McCarthy the following day, where they met up with some of the other Matrons, including the Principal Matron of the AANS, Grace Wilson.  They all had tea together at the Sister’s Quarters, and then Evelyn went with Grace to the 3rd AGH for the night, while she waited for her transport to be arranged.  She returned to Boulogne on the 29/4/1919 and Miss McCarthy saw her off by the morning boat the next day.

Evelyn eventually returned to Australia on the Orvieto, embarking 1/11/1919 and arriving 12/12/1919.  Also on board was Sister Constance Keys and they were the last two of the original 25 nurses who had travelled with the First Convoy to return to Australia.

During the few hours that the Orvieto was in port at Adelaide, Evelyn and the other nurses on board were entertained to a luncheon at the Army Nurses’ Club, Austral Gardens.  Amongst the welcoming nurses was Ethel Davidson, then Matron of the 7th Australian General Hospital, Keswick, who had originally travelled to Egypt with Evelyn on the Shropshire in 1914.  In speaking of her fellow nurses Evelyn had the following to say: “There are no words to express the unselfishness and wonderful work of the Australian nurses.  Looking back now, the miracle is how they got through the vast amount of duty, so often performed under disadvantages.  They were beyond praise.”

She was awarded a Bar to the Royal Red Cross in 1919 [London Gazette 12/12/1919]

Discharged from the AANS, AIF 7/3/1920, and awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal with Diploma in 1921.

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Back in Australia Evelyn retuned to nursing at her Private Hospital, Lancewood.  However, towards the end of January 1920 she found herself a patient when she went into hospital for an operation.

Early in 1922 she returned for a visit to her birthplace, New Zealand, for the first time since leaving.  In 1928 she travelled to the UK on the Orama, arriving London on the 9/6/1928, and departing again for Australia on the 5/10/1928 aboard the Mongolia.

Addresses:1920 “Lancewood”, Kew;  1922, 1928 ERs: 26 Glenferrie Rd, Kew (Nurse);  1931, 1934 ERs: 57A Swinburne Ave, Glenferrie (HD, with Louisa Florence, HD);  1937 ER: 5 Mangan St, Canterbury (Nurse);  1943 ER: 130 Wattle Valley Rd, Camberwell (Home duties)

*President of the Private Hospitals’ Association (1923)

*Vice President of the Victorian Trained Nurses’ Club Ltd. (1924, 1934, 1936)

*Member of the Nurses’ Board for State Registration, Vic., for 10 years

*A Trustee of the Edith Cavell Trust Fund

*On the council of the Royal Victorian College of Nursing for 33 years until her resignation in 1936

*On the council of the Victorian branch of the Australian Nursing Federation

Evelyn died on the 6th of September 1944 in Epworth Private Hospital, Richmond.  She was buried with full military honours in the Boroondara Cemetery, Kew, which included a guard of honour of returned Army nurses of both wars.  [Grave: C/E C 1435A – she is buried with her father William, d.7/6/1915]

“With the passing of Miss Conyers there goes one of the most outstanding personalities of the nursing world of Australia,” Miss J. Bell, president of the Royal Victorian College of Nursing, said.  “A woman of the utmost integrity and high principles, she leaves a fragrant memory, and an example of those high qualities of the best type of nurse and nurse administrator.”

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Sources include:

Interview with Matron Kellett [AWM41 1072]

War Diary of Maud McCarthy, Matron-in-Chief, B.E.F., France [National Archives WO95/3988-91 – courtesy of Sue Light, Scarletfinders]

Newspapers & Gazettes [Trove]

Genealogy records [Ancestry]

Australian Dictionary of Biography

Note: Evelyn never received an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) – her CBE was announced on the 22nd March 1919, to date from 1st Jan 1919:

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, Tue 17 Jun 1919, Issue 75, p.1009:

CENTRAL CHANCERY OF THE ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD, St James’ Palace, S.W., 22nd March, 1919.

The KING has been graciously pleased to give orders for the following appointments to and promotions in the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for valuable services rendered in connexion with the war.  The appointments and promotions to date from the 1st January, 1919: –

To be a Commander of the Military Division of the said Most Excellent Order:

3rd Military District

Miss Evelyn Augusta Conyers, R.R.C., Matron-in-Chief, Australian Army Nursing Service.