This biography was compiled by Rennae Taylor from secondary sources.
Contents
Class of 1923
Early life and education
Phyllis Haddow was born in Wanganui on 17 November 1892 to Joseph ‘George’ and Sophie Grace (nee Armytage) Haddow. Over the next thirteen years she was joined by five sisters and two brothers. (2)
Her parents had immigrated from the United Kingdom sometime prior to 1892 and settled in Wanganui where her father became a journalist with the ”Wanganui Chronicle”. (3) He had no background in farming and his wife was from a city background so they and the virgin land they purchased around this time were both unsuitable for farming in the remote Upper Waitotara valley northwest of Wanganui.
In 1893 little Phyllis and her mother travelled for two days up streams to the property which Joseph had been preparing for their new home. The first months were spent in a tent. They made only a subsistence living and added seven more children to the family before walking off the land and moving to Auckland in 1906.
In 1898 her father became the first teacher at Taumatatahi and Marohema schools and taught the early settlers’ children three days a week at each school. He also spent time studying law by correspondence and later became a solicitor and barrister in Auckland. (3, 4)
Phyllis’s education in both the Waitotara Valley and later in Auckland was often interrupted for long periods as she was required to assist with childcare for her younger siblings but she persisted. (3) She attended Stanley Bay College, Devonport and received an upper school end of year prize in 1909.
In 1913, at the age of 20 years, she was successful in obtaining her matriculation, solicitor’s general knowledge and medical preliminary (5) and in 1917 a University National Scholarship with a score of 3494. (6)
It is not known what motivated her to become a medical doctor. She received entrance to Otago Medical School at the age of 25 and graduated in 1923 with her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from the University of New Zealand. (7)
Early missionary work in China
Sylvia Yang Yuan, in her 2013 thesis “Kiwis in the Middle Kingdom- A Sociological Interpretation of the History of New Zealand Missionaries in China from 1877 to 1953 and Beyond,” writes: “in her letter to the NZCMS secretary in 1922, Dr Phyllis Haddow expressed her concern over job discrimination against women doctors in the New Zealand public health system: only one of the six “girls” obtained a Hospital position as new medical graduate.” (8)
It is not known what motivated her towards a missionary calling but almost directly from medical school Phyllis joined the Zhejiang (the Chinese province south of Shanghai) Mission of the NZ Church Missionary Society (NZCMS) in November 1923. (3)
Prior to going to Hangzhou (the capital of Zhejiang) in the interior of China, she received the laying-on of hands from Bishop Averill at St Mary’s Cathedral, Auckland in October 1923 and her training for missionary service at St Hilda’s Training Home in Melbourne. (7, 8)
Her first year was spent in intensive language study but in her spare time she also spent time working in the pathology laboratory which led to her specialising in in clinical pathology. Later she also became a physician at Kuangqi (or Kwang Chi) Hospital, the Leper Hospital and the Tuberculosis Hospital in Hangzhou. (3)
A year after her arrival a state of warfare broke out among the warlords and Chiang Kai Shek’s Nationalist group. In 1926 the Hangzhou missionaries were evacuated to Shanghai as the Nationalists took control of the mission hospital. Phyllis returned to her family’s home in Epsom, Auckland for several months, where she described the immediacy of the warfare on their backdoor. (9)
On the way back to China in early 1928, she spent time in Townsville, Queensland where she received her Diploma in Tropical Medicine. (8) Yuan, in her thesis, records that Phyllis and other missionaries collected many gifts for the Kuangqi Hospital including surgical instruments, bandages and supplies of the recently discovered new medicine of penicillin during this first furlough. (8)
Phyllis returned to China sometime in 1928, as the Nationalists had returned the Hangzhou hospitals to the CMS mission and the superintendent asked her to return. Phyllis had a good command of the Mandarin language by now and was very helpful in the reconstruction of both the medical and spiritual side of the work. She was the organist at the hospital chapel and taught bible classes in the language in addition to her medical duties. (3)
Working in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)
The Japanese created an incident in Manchuria in the north-east of China in late 1931 and in early 1932 attacked Chinese forces in the Shanghai area and Hangzhou was bombed several times. Phyllis had her second furlough for several months in 1935 before returning to Hangzhou.
In 1937 the Japanese launched a full-scale attack on China and Hangzhou was heavily bombed on “Bloody Saturday” on August 14 with raids continuing until they occupied the city on Christmas Day. One day in November saw over 600 wounded brought to the CMS hospital. On Christmas Day the Japanese troops sacked the city and constant patrols were commenced to prevent the hospital from being attacked. Phyllis and a colleague Mary Garnett held the main gate day after day. Phyllis described it as “a most unpleasant time, but we learned to dodge back quickly behind the concrete front walls of the gate house if the Japanese soldiers thrust their rifles through the bars of the gate.” (3)
The fighting settled down and the Japanese allowed the hospital to continue until September 1942. During this time in addition to her hospital work, Phyllis and other colleagues also worked in refugee camps. (3) She became acting superintendent during 1939/1940 and again in 1941. In 1942 she served as superintendent, manager, and deputy superintendent at various times.
The Japanese occupied the hospital in September 1942 and the missionaries went to the Mary Vaughan School compound which was also run by the CMS and some medical work continued through a clinic they set up. (3, 8) In April 1943, the missionaries were taken to Shanghai and interned in Lunghua Camp. This 80 acre camp was run by the Japanese military to house non-Chinese foreign nationals and a semblance of normal life was able to be maintained despite it being a prison. (10) In her 1947 furlough Phyllis described the camp as having 1800 occupants. They were allowed to grow their own vegetables, she was allowed to carry on her medical work and they were treated quite well. (11)
The Japanese surrendered on 15 August 1945 and a few days later a few of the missionaries including Phyllis went back to Hangzhou and eventually gained possession of a filthy CMS hospital which had been badly looted and some buildings destroyed. Phyllis acted as a superintendent for two months, again from 1946/1947 and in the spring of 1947, she went on furlough to NZ, her first break for almost twelve years.(3) In her furlough speaking engagements she spoke about also caring for 60 leper patients in a colony two miles from the hospital and hoped to open a tuberculosis hospital when funds permitted. (11)
Prior to returning to China in early 1948, Phyllis was invested as an officer of the Grand Priory of the Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem as a serving sister by the Governor-General Sir Bernard Freyburg. (12)
Post-war years
Phyllis returned to Hangzhou in May 1948 and on 3 May 1949 the city was taken over by the Communists. She continued in her role at the hospital for a further two years before leaving China voluntarily in April 1951. (3) She was on furlough in NZ in 1952 and was one of the missionary speakers at the CMS biennial spring school. (13)
She relieved as the supervisor of the Princess Christian Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone later in 1952 and then transferred to the CMS clinics in the New Villages in Malaya (now Malaysia) in 1953 and supervised three clinics in Jin Jang and another group near Ipoh. From 1955 she worked in a privately owned Happy Valley Sanatorium in Hong Kong.
Courtesy Hocken Collections (1)
Phyllis officially retired in 1963 but then returned during the years of 1964 to 1968 to work in the Hong Kong Cancer Society Hospital and to supervise the Lutheran Hospital at Hong Kong Fen Ling. (8)
She died in Auckland on 24 July 1978 and her funeral was held at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Parnell. (14)
References
- MS-1537/331/010 Hocken Collections | Uare Taoka o Hākena, University of Otago | Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka Dunedin 1975 [23.05.2025]. Available from: https://hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/64676
- Births, Deaths & Marriages. Available from: https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Search/
- Newnham T. New Zealand Women in China. Auckland: Learn by Doing 1995.
- JG H. “We Two Early settlers at Taumatatahi.” Available from: https://waitotara.co.nz>JG Haddow for web.doc
- “University Examinations.” New Zealand Herald. 1913 17.01.1913. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19130117.2.10
- “Extra Edition.” Evening Post. 1917 15.01.1917. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19170115.2.76
- “Advertisements.” New Zealand Herald. 1923 19.02.1923 (col. 7). Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19230219.2.134.7
- Yuan SY. Kiwis in the Middle Kingdom – A Sociological Interpretation of the History of New Zealand Missionaries in China from 1877 to 1953 and Beyond. Hamilton: Massey; 2013.
- “Communists are Blamed for War Among Chinese.” Star 07.06.1927. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19270607.2.181
- “The Longhua Civilian Assembly Center: 1943 to 1945 East Lansing,” USA: Michigan State University; 2021 [22.05.2025]. Available from: https://digitalhumanities.msu.edu/seed-funding/longhua-civilian-assembly-center/
- “Work in China: Medical Missionary.” Wanganui Chronicle. 1947 18.07.1947. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WC19470718.2.113
- “Priory of St. John.” Otago Daily Times. 1948 01.03.1948. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19480301.2.81
- “Missionary Society’s Spring School.” Press. 11.07.1952. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19520711.2.32
- “Announcement Deaths.” Press. 26.07.1978. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19780726.2.206.3
