Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Mary Olive Luscombe, known as Olive, was born on 15 October 1891 at Waimate, the eldest daughter of Philip Henry Bond Luscombe and his second wife, Mary Matilda (née Wilkes) Luscombe. She was educated at Hook School, where her father had been elected chairman of the school committee in 1890. In 1902 she and her sister Gladys spent three weeks at Arthur Street School in Dunedin, before returning to South Canterbury. Philip Henry Bond Luscombe died on 1 July 1904 at Waimate Hospital and Mrs Mary Matilda Luscombe died on 14 July 1910 at her home, Burleigh Farm, Makikihi.

In 1914 Olive was at Wai-iti Road, Timaru, with her brothers, Herbert and Ernest. While residing at Lyalldale in 1916, Mary Olive Luscombe was engaged but did not marry. Olive was next-of-kin for two brothers in World War One - Arthur Wilkes Luscombe and Ernest Edward Luscombe, while another brother, Herbert John Luscombe, of St Andrews, was held for home service. In 1919 she was at Albury with her sisters, Gladys and Myrtle, before she and Myrtle moved to Hanmer Springs. Miss Mary Olive Luscombe, of St Andrews, Timaru, was supplied with a uniform on 2 August 1919 and reported for duty at the Timaru Military Hospital on 3 August 1919. It was in October 1919 that Miss Mary Olive Luscombe joined the nursing staff at Trentham Military Hospital as a Volunteer Aid Detachment. Shortly after, she was transferred to Hanmer Sanatorium. Miss Myrtle M. Luscombe was informed of these postings, presumably as next-of-kin. In July 1920, while workingas a V.A.D. at Queen Mary Hospital, Hanmer Springs, she was appointed a probationer at the Palmerston North Public Hospital. She was struck off strength on 19 August 1920, only to rejoin on 4 December 1920 until 19 August 1921. For these two periods she was paid £8.15s.9d. for uniform upkeep. As of July 1923, when a payment for uniform allowance was to be sent by postal draft, Olive was residing at St Andrews. When Nurse Olive Luscombe had written to the Defence Department in May 1923 about the allowances for time at Waipukurau Sanitorium from December 1920 –, she was at King George V Hospital, Rotorua.

Mary Olive Hodgkinson maintained her interest in nursing, gaining a St John Ambulance First aid Certificate in 1935 at Napier. Mary Olive Luscombe married Harry Victor Hodgkinson in 1924. Harry, who had served in World War One, died on 7 February 1927 and was buried at Waipukurau. Olive died on 21 January 1957 at Remuera, Auckland, aged 65 years, and was buried at Purewa Cemetery. She was survived by her son, Kenneth.

Sources

NZ Defence Department Base Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 22525 W5714 B.R. 37/99C) [26 December 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [21 December 2020]; School Admission record (Dunedin Branch NZSG) [26 December 2020]; Purewa Cemetery burial record [26 December 2002]; Waipukurau Cemetery burial record & headstone transcription [27 December 2020]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [26 December 2020]; South Canterbury Times, 3 May 1904, Timaru Herald, 11 July 1904, 15 July 1910, 17 June 1916, Dominion, 21 October 1919, New Zealand Times, 1 November 1919, Manawatu Standard, 14 July 1920, Otago Daily Times, 9 February 1927, Evening Post, 29 August 1935 (Papers Past) [26 & 27 December 2020]

External Links

• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.