Mary A. Hickey

Mary A. Hickey

Library of Congress

Many nurses had a personal and professional interest in the suffrage movement. One such woman was Mrs. Mary A. Hickey. Born in Ireland in 1880, she emigrated to America the same year with her family. Though her early life is unclear, her successful career as a nurse is much documented. Shortly after the start of World War I, Mary enlisted as a Red Cross nurse and was stationed at an American hospital in France. By April 1918 she was enlisted as an Army nurse in Paris and was sent to the frontlines in the Champaign sector. She was one of only two Americans stationed there (the other American being her aide); Mary was notably the only American nurse in that part of France. Her list of accomplishments in the nursing field is extensive, to name a few, she served as the superintendent of nurses in the U.S. Veterans Bureau, assistant superintendent of nurses in the U.S. public health service, chief nurse in the fourth district office, president of the District of Columbia League of Nursing Education, director of nursing services for the U.S. Veterans Administration, and also as the chairman in the federal government section of the American Nurses Association.

She was also a member of the League of women voters, an organization created in 1920 to support women’s suffrage by educating women about their newly acquired voting rights. As a supporter of the league, it was likely that she was a suffragist herself and aligned herself with the views of other suffragist nurses at the time. Many nurses were active in the women’s suffrage movement because many nurses saw the benefit of having the ability to vote for laws regarding the education and the nursing profession since the career was predominantly available to women.

Though Mary traveled and lived in many areas during her career, she has a specific connection to Baltimore and Fort McHenry. Mary held the position of chief nurse at Fort McHenry for an unknown amount of time, likely around the year 1920 when she lived in Baltimore, Maryland according to the U.S. Federal census records. As chief nurse at Fort McHenry, Mary would have been in charge of setting the nurses schedules, the nurses’ quarters and mess, and also would have been the one to prepare reports and communicate with the Surgeon Generals Office regarding the nurses at her station.