Nurse Rene Shadbolt

Rene Mary Shadbolt was known by her family as ‘Sis’. She was born in Akaroa in April 1903. Nursing training for her began at St Helens Maternity Hospital in Auckland in 1927. She graduated in 1932 and just four years later she was the head Sister of Auckland Hospital’s casualty ward. 

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Shadbolt was horrified that some doctors and nurses were reluctant to treat patients injured by police batons during street marches and riots. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), she was among the first to volunteer for a contingent of nurses put together by the Spanish Medical Aid Committee (SMAC). Shadbolt had been following the work of the International Brigades, military units which organised volunteer support. She became the leader of the trio of nurses who were deployed - the others were Isobel Dodds and Millicent Sharples.

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“My opinion in regard to medical aid for Spain is obvious as shown by my action in volunteering for service,” Shadbolt said.

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“I go there gladly, hoping that my training and experience will be of value in alleviating the suffering of Spain.”

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The group was detained prior to their departure for questioning. Shadbolt was accused of being a secretary of a communist cell. She replied: “I’ve never even been a secretary of a tennis club.” The nurses were released and arrived in Spain on 15 July. 

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Their first posting was to a makeshift (commandeered monastery) International Brigade Hospital in central Spain. Shadbolt and Dodds worked there until mid 1938 (Sharples returned to New Zealand earlier) when they were evacuated to Barcelona. There is little information about what conditions were truly like as communication was heavily censored. There were reports she was hit by shrapnel while driving an ambulance. Shadbolt had to work hard to establish their anti-fascist credentials by getting involved with propaganda work. The New Zealand nursing trio continued nursing for wounded soldiers until November 1938. 

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Upon their return to Aotearoa in January 1939 they continued working for SMAC. They embarked on a speaking tour to raise awareness and funds for the hundreds of thousands of Republican refugees in France. 

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Shadbolt had more reason than most to continue her advocacy work - she had married a German member of the International Brigades - Willi Remmell, in secret. She made numerous appeals to the Government and other agencies to allow Remmell to immigrate to New Zealand. She never mentioned they were married and her attempts were unsuccessful. They never met again. 

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After finishing up with SMAC she found it difficult to find work as she was labelled ‘dangerously political’ due to her involvement in the Civil War. She found employment at a private hospital in Martinborough. Later during the Second World War she worked with soldiers again - this time at an Auckland convalescent home for returned soldiers.

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In 1949 she began work as the matron at Hokianga Hospital, where she remained until 1967. She was made an MBE in 1969. In 1982 the Rene Mary MacLennan scholarship (after her second marriage) was established to provide an annual grant to a nurse from the Hokianga. She remained until 2018 the only New Zealander who served in the Spanish Civil War to have a memorial. The New Lynn Borough Council renamed a local reserve in her honour on 23 February 1942.