Midwife Elizabeth 'Lily' Hiney

Midwife Elizabeth Hiney

Elizabeth Hiney nee Tuite was born on 15th July 1895 Rathmolyon Ballivor Co. Meath to parents Christopher William Tuite and Jane Murray. In the 1911 census she is the eldest of eleven children. She married an Army Commanding Officer James Hiney on 4th October 1922.

 

Elizabeth trained in Holles St and served the Ballivor area as a midwife from 1919 – 1962 where it is said she delivered hundreds of babies! Elizabeth is fondly remembered in her local area. They wrote a small piece on Elizabeth in a local book title “Good night Ballivor, I’ll sleep in Trim” by John Quinn and you can see the written piece below.

Elizabeth like many midwives during this period witnessed poverty and hardship with her patients. Her daughter Gertie gives a great interview about her mother and her life’s work as a midwife. A plaque was placed in health centre in Ballivor and a room named after her the “Elizabeth Hiney” room. Elizabeth stopped working in her mid seventies and to this day some of “her babies” still meet annually to remember her, even though its over sixty years after her death.