Alice Hannah Holford (12 November 1867 – 22 December 1966) was a New Zealand nurse, midwife and hospital matron.
[1][2] As a result, she had to wait until 1897 to be admitted, during which time she helped her family with raising siblings and cousins, and went out with the local doctors on their rounds.
Holford was appointed the founding matron of the Dunedin hospital, and held this position until her retirement in December 1927 at the age of 60.
[1][2] Her duties as matron were considerable - she oversaw all deliveries, and managed midwifery training for nurses, trainee midwives, and medical students.
Some doctors feared that trained midwives would compete with them for patients, and some older nurses, as well as the public, thought it was unseemly for young unmarried women to deliver babies.
[2] In her later years, she was instrumental in Dunedin opening a Citizens' Day Nursery for children, and a women's rest room in the city centre.