Elsie Quinlan (3 December 1914 – 9 November 1952),

religious name A religious name is a type of given name bestowed for religious purposes, and which is generally used in such contexts. Christianity Catholic Church Baptismal name In baptism, Catholic Church, Catholics are given a Christian name, which should n ...

''Mary Aidan'', was a Dominican sister who was killed in

Duncan Village Duncan Village is a township (South Africa), township in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The township is located about five kilometres away from the East London, Eastern Cape, East Londo ...

in 1952, by a mob of ANC rioters.

Early life and education

Quinlan was born in Kingwilliamstown, now known as

Ballydesmond Ballydesmond (), formerly Kingwilliamstown, is a rural village in County Cork, Ireland. It lies on the Blackwater River (near its source in Menganine) on the Cork– Kerry border. The Ballydesmond quarry is an area of geological interest, cont ...

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, Ireland on 3 December 1914. She studied Social Science and qualified for a degree at the

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

. She subsequently decided to become a

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated: Sr.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to prayer and ...

and in 1938 she travelled to

King William’s Town Qonce, formerly King William's Town, is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa along the banks of the Buffalo River. The town is about northwest of the Indian Ocean port of East London. It has a population of around 35,000 inhab ...

in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

, South Africa to join the community known as the King Dominicans. On her investiture she took the name ''Mary Aidan''. In 1940 her congregation sent her to study medicine at

Wits University The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The university has its roots in ...

Medical career

On completing her medical degree and qualifying as a doctor she was posted to the Glen Grey Provincial Hospital in

Lady Frere Lady Frere (officially Cacadu) is a small town in Chris Hani District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The town was renamed to Cacadu in 2017 after changes to the country's colonial names. Cacadu, meaning "bulrush water ...

and to the Far East Rand Hospital in Springs in the then

Transvaal province The Province of Transvaal (), commonly referred to as the Transvaal (; ), was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994, when a new constitution subdivided it following the end of apartheid. The name "Transvaal" refers to the province's ...

. After these assignments, in 1949 she was she was sent to

to found a clinic at the St Peter Claver Mission in that

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

. Public health facilities for black people in South Africa at the time were very poor. There were high rates of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

and infant mortality and only one municipal clinic to serve the

. Sr Aidan and her single nursing assistant, Sr Gratia Khumalo OP, offered much needed health care to the black residents of

in a one-room clinic. In some years they attended to more than 20,000 patients. On the Friday before she died, she attended 170 patients in the clinic. Quinlan had a special interest in

gynaecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the female reproductive system. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, which focuses on pre ...

and

obstetrics Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a su ...

, and treated many women for infertility.

Death

The early 1950s saw the start of the

Defiance Campaign The Defiance Campaign against Unjust Laws was presented by the African National Congress (ANC) at a conference held in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in December 1951 in South Africa, 1951. The Campaign had roots in events leading up the conferenc ...

led by the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

(ANC). On 9 November 1952 the local ANC branch organised a protest meeting as part of

, the police used batons, bayonets and gunfire to disperse the crowd. At least eight people were killed and 27 injured by the police. A mob then rampaged through the township, venting their anger on symbols of white control. A white insurance salesman, Barend Vorster, who had come to the township to collect his dues was set upon and beaten to death with sticks. It is thought that Sr Aidan, having heard of the casualties due to the police action, drove into Bantu Street, near the site of the meeting to help treat those injured. She was attacked, stabbed and set alight. Her body was then dismembered, leaving only her torso, part of her head and the stump of one arm. According to subsequent court and oral evidence, her flesh was eaten, either immediately or taken away to be used as

muthi is a traditional medicine practice in Southern Africa as far north as Lake Tanganyika. Name In South African English, the word is derived from the Zulu/Xhosa/ Northern Ndebele , meaning 'tree', whose root is . In Southern Africa, and othe ...

(traditional African medicine).

Aftermath

The police response to the killing of Vorster and Quinlan was extreme; police in armoured troop carriers drove through the township and shot and killed many people, newspapers reported that nine were killed but

security police Security police usually describes a law enforcement agency which focuses primarily on providing security and law enforcement services to particular areas or specific properties. They may be employed by governmental, public, or private institutio ...

officer Donald Card noted that about 200 people were killed; exact numbers are not known. Four men were convicted of the killings of Vorster and Quinlan and were executed by hanging.

Early life and education

Medical career

Death

Aftermath

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

Further reading