SCMP, Aug 11, 1950 :
Glowing tribute to the work of Miss Maud Ward, MBE, who has trained nurses for the past 30 years and who is leaving for Home soon on retirement, was paid by Sir Robert Ho tung when he presented certificates at a Graduation Ceremony in the Nurses Training School of the Nethersole Hospital. "If I may draw a comparison," remarked Sir Robert, "I would say Miss Ward is a Florence Nightingale in the East."
SCMP, Aug 23, 1950 :
On September 3, almost 30 years to the day since she arrived blue-eyed, fair-haired Miss Maud Ward will wave a last farewell to Hong Kong from the deck of the ss Canton as the ship slips out of harbour.
With her departure the nursing profession in Hong Kong will lose its best friend. From the day she first arrived in the Colony in 1920 as a nursing sister for the Nethersole Hospital she has striven to train and improve the lot of local nurses. Recognition of the work she has done in the Colony came earlier this year when it was announced in the New Year's Honours lists that she had been awarded the MBE. Miss Ward's nursing career began at St. Stephen's Hospital London, were she received her general training. Later she went to the British Hospital for Mothers and Babies at Woolwich for training in midwifery.
Came Here In 1920, During World War I she was a sister at Queen Mary's Royal Naval Hospital, Southend. Then, in September, 1920, the London Missionary Society sent her out to Hong Kong as a sister for its Nethersole Hospital. When she first arrived here the hospital was a much smaller place than it is today. Then there were only 24 nurses and six men attendants. Now the hospital, housed in a new building, has 56 nurses and ten sisters. In 1928 she was appointed Matron of the hospital, a position she has held ever since. One of her first tasks when she arrived was to master Cantonese as all conversations are carried on in the vernacular in the hospital.
Soon she began teaching nursing to local girls and her training classes became the forerunners of similar schemes started by other hospitals. Now, after 30 years, she can look back with pride and see the fruits of her labours. Many of the girls she taught are now sisters in charge of some of the bigger hospitals in the Colony. In 1931, the local Nurses Board was set up by Government of which Miss Ward was appointed a member. As the training schemes developed and certificates were issued she was made an examiner of the tests set by the Board for nursing proficiency. When the Chinese nurses decided to form the Trained Nurses and Midwives' Association it was to Miss Ward that they turned for help. Although formed before the war, the Association still goes to her for advice. She also sits on the Advisory Council of the Ying Wa Girls School, When the Pacific War broke out and the Japanese over-ran the Colony, Miss Ward was interned in Stanley Camp. There with others she endeavoured with the medical supplies available to give succour to the sick. Now she is preparing to pack her bags for the voyage home and retirement in her hometown cf Southend.