McKINNON, Emily Hancock, C.B.E.
(1873– ).
Medical practitioner.
Emily Hancock McKinnon, a daughter of Franz D. Siedeberg, was born at Clyde, Central Otago, on 11 February 1873. She was educated at Otago Girls' High School and Otago University. After graduating B.Sc., she was the first woman to win a degree in medicine in New Zealand, gaining M.B., Ch.B. in 1896. After doing a maternity course (L.R.C.P.) at Rotunda, Dublin, she studied gynaecology and skin diseases at Berlin. In addition to private practice (1898–1928), she was medical superintendent of St. Helen's Hospital, Dunedin, from its foundation in 1905 till 1938, and medical officer of the Caversham Receiving Home, 1907–30. Always active in social welfare work, especially concerning women, she was for three terms president of the National Council of Women and an executive member of several other organisations. She was made a C.B.E. in 1949. She married James A. McKinnon in 1928. Her publications include Fifty Years Active Service – Women and Children (1949) and Otago Pioneer Women's Memorial (1959).
