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Ivy Driffill

BiographyIvy Driffill, christened Florence Ivy, was born at Waiotemarama at Hokianga in Northland in 1892. Her parents were William and Margaret Driffill who had emigrated to New Zealand on board the ship Hurunui, arriving in 1875 with their eldest child Mary aged one. The family settled first in Taranaki, then went to Auckland for three years before moving north to Hokianga. William and Margaret had seven more daughters, the youngest being Ivy, then a son William, born in 1895. William senior was a farmer and road contractor in the north and the family lived on their farm at Waiotemarama, inland from Opononi.
Margaret Driffill was born in Monmouthshire Wales and trained as a midwife in England. She delivered many babies in the north. Ivy was to follow in her footsteps.
The only son of the family, William Charles Howell Driffill, worked as a baker at Wilkinson's bakery in Kamo, Whangarei. He was killed at Armentieres, France while fighting for his country in WWI. He was 21 years old.
Ivy took up teaching initially but decided to become a nurse in her early twenties. She trained at Rawene Hospital under Dr G M Smith, working tirelessly through the 1918 flu epidemic. She qualified in 1919. Ivy worked as a district nurse and at Rawene, Paparoa and Gisborne hospitals. While at Gisborne she trained to be a midwife and went to Napier with a medical team to assist in nursing and helping survivors of the 1931 Napier Earthquake.
She then returned to the Hokianga and worked as a district nurse before moving to Whangarei where her parents joined her after retiring from farming in about 1940. Both of Ivy's parents lived to the age of 97.
Ivy's oldest sister Mary died when Ivy was a toddler after sustaining burns from an open fire while doing laundry. She was 19 years of age. Her remaining sisters; Alice King, Elizabeth Nelder, Annie Hewlett, Margaret Field, Agnes Johns, and Janet Young mostly lived in the Whangarei area.
Ivy delivered many babies around Whangarei and nursed people in her own home. She was a highly skilled and valued nurse and midwife in the Whangarei area for many years until her retirement.
Sister Ivy passed away on the 2nd of November 1982. She was 90 years of age. She was laid to rest near her parents and sisters at Kamo Cemetery, Ketenikau Road, Kamo in Whangarei.GenderFemale Last edited by: Jennifer Gow