Vera Deakin OBE

Description

Vera Deakin, founder of the Australian Wounded and Missing Inquiry Bureau in the First World War, was born on 25 December 1891 at South Yarra, Melbourne. Her father, Alfred, later became Prime Minister. Deakin attended Melbourne University where she studied English literature, but her studies were overshadowed by her interest in music and she also studied violin, cello and singing. Her first public performance was in 1907 and she travelled to Berlin and Budapest to continue her studies. Though highly regarded by her teacher, Deakin's parents were against her pursuing a career in music.

She was in London when the First World War began and quickly turned her energies to war work. Returning to Australia, she joined the local branch of the British Red Cross Society and studied nursing. Again, against the wishes of her parents, Deakin sought a role for herself in war work overseas and was encouraged by the Red Cross in Cairo to travel to Egypt as soon as possible. She arrived in Port Said on 20 October 1915 and, the following day, opened the Wounded and Missing Inquiry Bureau - an organisation devoted to finding information on behalf of the relatives of Australian soldiers then fighting at Gallipoli.

In 1916 the Bureau shifted its operations to London. The army did not view Deakin's work as favourably as might have been expected, because grieving relatives, who were unsatisfied with military explanations, came to regard the Bureau as more helpful. Peopled mainly by volunteers, the Bureau grew in size until it was dealing with up to 25,000 requests for information a year. Deakin was awarded the OBE in 1918. That same year she met Thomas White, an army officer who had recently escaped from Turkish captivity, and the couple married two years later.

White pursued a political career with considerable assistance from Deakin. She raised four children and, in the 1930s, again took up a more active role in philanthropic activities. She served on the management committee of the Children's Hospital and became a life governor in 1949. During the Second World War she reactivated the Wounded and Missing Inquiry Bureau. She was made a life member of the Red Cross in 1945. After the war she presided over the Victorian Society for Crippled Children and Adults, between 1961 and 1965.

Deakin was considered to have been more influential than any other individual in the development of the Australian Red Cross. An accomplished public speaker she continued her busy philanthropic schedule after her husband's death in 1957. Vera Deakin died on 9 August 1978 at South Yarra.

Details

First name/s

Vera

Last name

Deakin

Date of Birth

25/12/1891

Place of Birth

South Yarra

Date of Death

09/08/1978

Place of Death

South Yarra

Conflicts

People

Places

Gazettes

Other references

Biographical information The Oxford companion to Australian military history in 1995

P02119.001

Timeline

25/12/1891: South Yarra, VIC.
1913: Travelled with her aunt as chaperone to Berlin and Budapest where she was a student at the Singing School and Conservatorium of Music.
20/10/1915: Arrived at Port Said, Cairo with Winifred Johnson and set up, organised and administered the Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau of the Australian Red Cross Society.
1916: When Australian troops were sent to the Western Front, Deakin and Johnson transferred the Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau to London.
15/03/1918: Appointed Officer of the British Empire for her work with the Red Cross during the First World War.
1930: Member of the Limbless Soldiers Melba Welfare Trust.
1931 - 1939: Member of the Board of Management of the Children's Hospital and President of the Auxiliaries.
1935: Became Trustee of the Sir Samuel McCaughey Bequest for the education of the children of deceased or incapacitated soldiers.
1935 - 1950: Founder and President of the of The Anzac Fellowship of the Women of Victoria.
1939 - 1946: Was a Divisional Commandant and Honorary Director of the Inquiry Bureau, as well as the Prisoner of War Department and Message Service to Occupied Europe.
1945: Became a life member of the Red Cross.
1949: Became a life governor of the Childern's Hospital.
1961 - 1965: Presided over the Victorian Society for Crippled Children and Adults.
09/08/1978: South Yarra, VIC.