When Emma Whitworth finally set foot on New Zealand soil on a mild Monday morning in March the 18th, 1865 she would become New Zealand’s first qualified Midwife. It had been a long voyage on the ship Bombay. She had nervously boarded the ship in London, England with her husband Joseph Whitworth on a cold, winter afternoon several months earlier on November the 22nd, 1864.
The journey was a story of survival for the four hundred passengers, mostly made up of hopeful immigrants from all corners of the United Kingdom seeking new chances and prosperity in the far-flung Colony. The many months of sailing had seen freak waves, heavy seas and gales and finally nearing Tasmania a Cyclone that resulted in the ship being demasted. Luck and good fortune prevailed however and the crippled ship and worried passengers and crew was eventually towed into Auckland harbour by the Royal Navel frigate Curacao.
Emma was a strong willed and resilient character, and at a time of hardship and poverty defied all odds to better herself. Born Emma Sampson in 1838, Lancashire by eight years old she was already working in the Cotton Mills, however good fortune will prevail and somehow Emma managed to escape the life of a mill or factory worker and train to be a Midwife, no doubt influenced by the Florence Nightingale Nurses and there recent exploits in Crimea in providing humanitarian aid.
On New Year’s Day in 1862, Emma married Joseph Whitworth and together they soon made the decision to leave England, they were accepted as part of the New Zealand’s Government Waikato Immigration Scheme and promised good farmland in the south of Auckland, in a place called Williams Clearing.
If life had been tough in industrial England, the settlers would find a new world of hardship. Many already weakened from the long sea voyage died of disease soon after arriving, the land they were given… The promised England of the South, the new gardens of Kent was in fact thick bush, with no roads, infrastructure or work.
They renamed Williamson’s Clearing… Bombay, in honour of the sturdy ship and it’s brave commander, Captain Sellars, who had defied all odds and landed the settlers safely. Some of the pioneers facing desperation commited suicide, some quit the back breaking work of clearing forests and left the land, but the strongest prevailed including Emma and her husband Joseph. For the first few years they lived in a tent, then a shack, until finally a small house could be built in time for her first child Sampson, Elizabeth and Emma will quickly follow.
In 1865, pregnancy was considered very much differently then in our modern age, in fact New Zealand Hospitals would not even admit a women if she was heavily pregnant. It could be estimated that there was perhaps only about two hundred doctors in the whole country, spread over several islands, so it fell to family members and the community to assist ta expectant mother. It was therefore not surprising that Emma’s training and talent would be called on again and again, her devotion and compassion was unwavering. With few roads Emma would be seen trekking 30 miles through wintering nights and a young Sampson on her back answering the call of help.
It was not until 1904 with the passing of the Midwives Act that midwifery became a recognized profession in New Zealand, by then Emma now living in the West of Auckland had retired on several occasions, announcing her retirement on her 60th and 70th birthdays, only for the next day heeding that cry of a mother in distress.
Emma died aged 95 years on the 22nd of September, 1932, many New Zealanders today may not know her name, but her self sacrifice and dedication in delivering safely so many children of our past generations means they should.
THE SHIP BOMBAY! 
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