Eliza "Leilah" Gordon (née Urquhart; 29 January 1877 – 15 June 1938) was a New Zealand nurse, midwife and welfare worker. Gordon was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark (; ), is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no l ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

on 29 January 1877, emigrating with her family to

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

in 1880. In 1902 she married William Gordon who she met while they were both working at the

Seacliff Lunatic Asylum Seacliff Lunatic Asylum (often Seacliff Asylum, later Seacliff Mental Hospital) was a psychiatric hospital in Seacliff, New Zealand, Seacliff, New Zealand. When built in the late 19th century, it was the largest building in the country, noted fo ...

, he as a painter and she as an attendant. Gordon's first daughter Ngarita Inez Gordon was born in 1902 or 1903. Her second daughter, Esther Loreena Gordon was born in January 1904. By this time William was unwell; he was forced to give up work and returned to Dunedin leaving Gordon in difficult circumstances. She was pressured by

Truby King Sir Frederic Truby King (1 April 1858 – 10 February 1938), generally known as Truby King, was a New Zealand health reformer and Director of Child Welfare. He is best known as the founder of the Plunket Society. Early life King was born in N ...

, the medical superintendent of Seacliff, and his wife Bella, who were childless, to give up Esther for adoption. The baby was adopted by the Kings around July 1904, though Lloyd Chapman in his biography of Truby King notes there were conflicting accounts of the adoption. Esther became known as Mary King and was not permitted as she grew up to have any contact with Gordon. Gordon trained in midwifery at St Helens Hospital in Dunedin passing exams in 1906. She later became a visiting nurse working for the Child Welfare Branch of the Department of Education with disadvantaged children, particularly with those who were illegitimate. She retired from that position in 1932 after which she probably worked as a maternity nurse. She died in Dunedin on 15 June 1938.

Publications

'After events'
''Kai Tiaki: the journal of the nurses of New Zealand'', Volume IV, Issue 1, 1 January 1911, p. 32 * Gordon, Leilah. (1935). ''Poems.'' Dunedin: S.N. Brown & Co.

References

External links

Eliza Gordon in 1936 – photo in ''Te Ara''

Ngarita Gordon – Hocken Digital Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Leilah 1877 births 1938 deaths New Zealand nurses New Zealand social workers New Zealand midwives Scottish emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand women nurses Adoption in New Zealand