Submitted by admin on April 23, 2009 - 00:34
CRUIKSHANKS, Margaret Barnet
(1873–1918).
Medical practitioner.
A new biography of Cruickshank, Margaret Barnet appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.
Margaret Barnet Cruikshanks was born at Palmerston, Otago, on 1 January 1873, the twin daughter of George Cruikshanks, a contractor, and Elizabeth, née Taggart. She was educated at Palmerston High School, Otago Girls' High School, and Otago University, Dunedin. Dr Cruikshanks was the second woman to graduate in medicine in New Zealand; she obtained the degree of M.D. and C.M. (N.Z.), and had the honour of being the first to go into general practice. She lived at Waimate, South Canterbury, throughout her professional career, which ended during the influenza epidemic on 28 November 1918. The high regard in which she was held is marked by a monument to her memory in Waimate.