Fannie Eleanor Williams
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Molal ...
,
ARRC (4 July 1884 – 16 June 1963), known as Eleanor Williams, was an Australian scientist. She served as a
bacteriologist during
World War I, and was the third scientist and the first woman appointed to work at the
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research after its establishment in 1915. She directed a laboratory studying infectious diseases, and had particular expertise in
dysentery,
hydatid disease and
snake venom
Snake venom is a highly toxic saliva containing zootoxins that facilitates in the immobilization and digestion of prey. This also provides defense against threats. Snake venom is injected by unique fangs during a bite, whereas some species are a ...
. She co-founded Australia's first
blood bank.
Early life and education
Fannie Eleanor Williams was born in
Adelaide,
South Australia on 4 July 1884. She was the second child and eldest daughter of James Williams and his wife Helen DuBois. Williams grew up in
The Reedbeds
The Reedbeds was in the 19th and early 20th centuries the generally recognised name for an area of seasonal freshwater wetlands to the west of Adelaide, South Australia comprising the floodplains of the River Torrens, and drained to Gulf St Vinc ...
, near
Henley Beach, where her father was a farmer.
Williams trained as a nurse at the
Adelaide Children's Hospital
The Women's and Children's Hospital is located on King William Road in North Adelaide, Australia.
It is one of the major hospitals in Adelaide and is a teaching hospital of the University of Adelaide, the University of South Australia and Flin ...
between 1904 and 1907. She was appointed sister in charge of the Thomas Elder Laboratory in 1907, and worked there for two years as an assistant to pathologist Dr Thomas Borthwick. In December 1909, Williams took up a position as nurse inspector with the
Unley
Unley is an inner-southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, within the City of Unley. The suburb is the home of the Sturt Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Unley neighbours Adelaide Park Lands, Fullar ...
Local Board of Health for which she undertook home visits and tested patients for
diphtheria,
measles
Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...
, and other
notifiable diseases.
In 1911, Williams returned to work with Dr Borthwick as an attendant in a new pathology research laboratory at the Adelaide Hospital. She was the first woman in South Australia to hold such an appointment. She remained in this role until late 1914.
Wartime service

After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Eleanor Williams was invited by Dr Trent Champion de Crespigny to join him on active service with the
First Australian Imperial Force. Infectious disease was emerging as a significant issue for the campaign in Turkey and the Middle East, and the army wanted to recruit people with bacteriological and laboratory training to work on the problem. Accordingly, Williams enlisted with the
Australian Army Nursing Service
The Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) was an Australian Army Reserve unit which provided a pool of trained civilian nurses who had volunteered for military service during wartime. The AANS was formed in 1902 by amalgamating the nursing servic ...
on 20 July 1915 and embarked for Egypt a fortnight later on the ''
RMS Orontes
RMS ''Orontes'' was a steam ocean liner of the Orient Steam Navigation Company that was launched in 1902 and scrapped in 1925.
''Orontes'' was a troop ship in the First World War. In 1922 she was sold for conversion into an exhibition ship, but ...
''. On arrival, Williams was posted to the 3rd Australian General Hospital on the island of
Lemnos in Greece. This was one of the hospitals that received patients from the
Gallipoli Campaign.
Williams' record at the
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving pe ...
states that she enlisted with the rank of Staff Nurse on 20 July 1915, and rose to the rank of Temporary Sister. She served in Egypt, Lemnos, England and France, was
mentioned twice in despatches, and was awarded the
Royal Red Cross (2nd Class).
Although Williams enlisted as a nurse, she worked exclusively in the laboratory as a bacteriologist, the only Australian woman to serve in such a capacity.
Working alongside Dr
Charles James Martin, Director of the
Lister Institute, she performed ground-breaking work on
dysentery, and quickly became known as an expert in this field. She continued to work with Martin throughout the war, on a variety of infectious diseases, including
meningitis
Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...
,
streptococci
''Streptococcus'' is a genus of gram-positive ' (plural ) or spherical bacteria that belongs to the family Streptococcaceae, within the order Lactobacillales (lactic acid bacteria), in the phylum Bacillota. Cell division in streptococci occurs ...
,
staphylococci,
gas gangrene, and epidemic
influenza
Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...
.
Scientific career
Following her repatriation in 1919, Eleanor Williams moved to
Melbourne, and was appointed to the position of 'second assistant' at the newly-established
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research by director
Sydney Patterson
Sydney Wentworth Patterson MB BS, MD, DSc, FRCP (born 1882 in Melbourne, Australia, died 1960 in London, England) was a physician, medical researcher and first director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, A ...
. Williams had worked with Patterson on influenza during the war. She was the third staff member appointed to the Institute, and the first woman. She was also the only researcher with no medical or university qualification.
In the early 1920s, the Institute's focus was on respiratory and intestinal infections, and Williams worked on
pneumonia,
syphilis
Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...
and
dysentery, as well as the serological diagnosis of
hydatid tapeworms. From 1923, she worked with
Charles Kellaway on snake venom
serology, and later worked on
tuberculosis.
Williams occupied a position somewhere between that of research scientist, senior technician and general manager. While her lack of academic qualifications prevented her from lecturing at the
University of Melbourne, she established and led the Institute's Diagnostic Microbiology Laboratory, and attended international and national conferences where she presented papers in her own right.
As the Institute grew in the late 1930s, Williams took on the responsibility for training and managing the Institute's research technicians. The training she provided was extremely thorough, and covered elements as diverse as animal care, the preparation of media and broths for bacterial culture, and glassblowing. She also trained junior scientists in practical bacteriology techniques. Among her trainees was
Frank Macfarlane Burnet, who later described her as "the centre of commonsense and helpfulness around which all the activities of the Institute rotated".
During
World War II, Williams coordinated the Institute's war efforts, providing administrative and practical support to the Emergency Blood Transfusion Service, as well as working in the laboratory.
She retired in 1957, and received an MBE for her work in the same year.
Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service
Eleanor Williams was closely involved with The Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service (now the
Australian Red Cross Blood Service) from its inception in 1929 by the Victorian Division of the
Australian Red Cross Society
The Australian Red Cross, formally the Australian Red Cross Society, is a humanitarian aid and community services charity in Australia. Tracing its history back to 1923 and being incorporated by royal charter in 1941, the Australian Red Cro ...
. In the first decade of the service, laboratory tests were carried out at the
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, under the supervision of Williams and her colleague Dr Ian Wood.
The ability to deliver blood transfusions was limited by the lack of a
blood bank, which would allow donated blood to be stored for future needs. In 1938, with World War II approaching, the decision was made to establish a blood bank at the
Royal Melbourne Hospital
The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), located in Parkville, Victoria, an inner suburb of Melbourne, is one of Australia's leading public hospitals. It is a major teaching hospital for tertiary health care with a reputation in clinical research. Th ...
, and Williams and Wood turned their attention to developing new techniques for storing blood and plasma, as well as to the logistical aspects of obtaining and administering the blood.
The new Emergency Blood Transfusion Service was founded in May 1939 by Williams and Wood, with Williams managing the technical and administrative aspects of the service and Wood ensuring the supply of blood and serum in the field.
Once war was declared, Williams' team immediately began testing and recording the blood groups of all soldiers prior to embarkation, so that
blood transfusions could more efficiently be performed in the field. In the first year of the war alone, her team, working as volunteers and in addition to their daily laboratory work, performed
blood typing for 13,000 soldiers of the
Second Australian Imperial Force. By the end of the war, Williams' team had performed blood typing for nearly 250,000 soldiers and numerous blood donors, all on a volunteer basis.
Death and legacy
Eleanor Williams died on 16 June 1963, aged 78. She was cremated, and her ashes were scattered at the
Springvale Botanical Cemetery
The Springvale Botanical Cemetery is the largest crematorium and memorial park in Victoria, Australia. It is located in Springvale, in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
History
Originally known as The Necropolis Springvale, the cemetery co ...
.
She was recognised with an obituary in ''
The Medical Journal of Australia'', written by
Frank Macfarlane Burnet and Dr Ian Wood, which spoke of her 'remarkable knowledge, keen sense of humour, and tenacity of purpose'.
In 1964, as part of their Golden Jubilee celebrations, the Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service named their new laboratories the F. Eleanor Williams Serological Research Laboratories in her honour.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Fannie Eleanor
1884 births
1963 deaths
Australian medical researchers
Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire
Australian women of World War I
Australian women scientists
WEHI staff
Associate Members of the Royal Red Cross