NZ Spanish Civil War nurses

Photograph showing Isobel Dodds, René Shadbolt and Millicent Sharples, New Zealand nurses sent to Spain during the Spanish Civil War.

The nurses were the only organised New Zealand contingent to serve in the war. René Shadbolt, aged 33, who was head sister of Auckland Hospital’s casualty ward, was appointed to lead the group. She was joined by Isobel Dodds, aged 22, a staff nurse from Wellington Hospital, and Millicent Sharples, aged 46, who worked at a private hospital in Levin. They left for Spain on 18 May 1937.