Ann Diamond (midwife)

Ann Diamond
Born	Ann Gleeson 1827–1831 Adare, County Limerick, Ireland
Died	22 April 1881 Red Jacks, New Zealand
Occupations	Hotelkeeper storekeeper midwife

Ann Diamond (née Gleeson; c. 1831 – 22 April 1881) was a New Zealand hotelkeeper, storekeeper and midwife.

Biography

Ann Gleeson was born in Adare, County Limerick, Ireland in about 1831.[1] She emigrated to Melbourne, Australia in 1858.[1]

She married Patrick Diamond on 7 December 1859, and they had two daughters, Rosanna and Mary Jane.[1][2]

They migrated to Dunedin, New Zealand in 1862, where she ran a boarding house with her cousin, Johanna Shanahan, and friend, Mary Maloney.[1] She learned her midwifery skills from a doctor who boarded at the house.[1]

In 1865, Diamond, Shanahan and Maloney left for Greymouth and set up a general store and hotel in Red Jacks on the West Coast.[1] The hotel was generally known as Diamond's Hotel.[2][3]

She died at Red Jacks from a strangulated hernia on 22 April 1881.[1][4]

References

1. McCallum, Janet. "Ann Diamond". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
2. "Diamond, Mary Jane, active 1860s-1880s". The National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
3. "Matthews, Edward J :Photographs of Ann Diamond and the Diamonds Hotel, Red Jacks". The National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
4. "Death". Grey River Argus. Vol. XXIII, no. 3948. 25 April 1881. p. 2.