mary hawkins

Health and Social Care, Community & Voluntary Action

1911 - 2002    

Suggested by Katie Kirk   

Katie writes, “Mary Hawkins was a Save the Children Fund fieldworker, and it is my understanding that at one time she was the most highly decorated nurse in England.  

Mary worked for the Red Cross and the Save the Children Fund (SCF). She was awarded the Croix de Guerre for conspicuous bravery in nursing under fire with the French Forces in WW2.  Material relating to her can be found in the SCF collection (SCF/PP/SP/1/HAW) and she had an obituary in The Guardian on 5 Feb 2002. 

I was eight years old during the Ethiopian famine of 1984. The images in the news of starving Ethiopians horrified me. I resolved to do my bit and went carol singing. Mary, newly moved to our village, taught me I had agency, and Save The Children Fund became my charity of choice.  Mary was persuasive. She ran a pop-up charity shop every Autumn from our dining room.  Everything was done in the light of the suffering she had witnessed. She showed me what really does, and what really does not matter in this world.  

Mary had beady eyes like a jackdaw and a focus to her expression which remained youthful and inspiring, reliably over-priced everything with a picture of a cat on it, could be quite soppy and youthful and was quick to giggle, especially if she was being a bit naughty, and loved nothing more than persuading wealthy people to part with their money for a charitable cause. She wouldn’t blink at making them uncomfortable. Her very modest house had artifacts from around the globe. She was very practical, wore sensible shoes, a shirt, trousers, and a cardigan and was best friends with Margaret Batty from church. “