Jean Begg
{{Short description|New Zealand welfare worker, administrator, and feminist}}{{Infobox person
| name = Jean Begg
| honorific_suffix = CBE
| image = Jean Begg (New Zealand).jpg
| alt = A smiling white woman with short wavy dark hair, wearing a white blouse with a sprad collar, over a dark jacket or cardigan
| caption = Jean Begg in 1931
| birth_date = 7 October 1886
| birth_place = Port Chalmers, Otago, New Zealand
| death_date = 15 February 1971
| death_place = Dunedin, New Zealand
| occupation = Social worker, educator, YWCA executive
}}
Jean Begg CBE (7 October 1886 – 15 February 1971) was a New Zealand welfare worker, educator, and YWCA administrator.
Early life and education
Begg was born in Port Chalmers, Otago, New Zealand, one of the ten children of Scottish immigrants Eliza Johnstone and John Begg. Her father was a tanner and rug maker.{{DNZB|title=Jean Begg|first= Sandra|last= Coney|id=5b19|accessdate=23 April 2017}} She trained as a teacher at Dunedin Training College{{Cite news|date=20 January 1931|title=Indian YWCA; Miss Jean Begg to Go|page=3|work=New Zealand Herald |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19310120.2.5.6?items_per_page=10&page=4&query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}} attended the University of Otago,{{Cite news|date=17 September 1927|title=Woman's Work in Many Spheres: No. 3, Miss Jean Beg|page=8|work=Sun|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SUNAK19270917.2.51?query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}} and held a diploma in social work from Columbia University.
Career
Begg was a teacher at a missionary school and ran a health clinic in American Samoa as a young woman,{{Cite news|date=6 September 1915|title=Miss Jean Begg Honored|page=2|work=Evening Star|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19150906.2.18?items_per_page=10&page=2&query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}} and helped to establish the Samoan Nursing Service.{{Cite news|date=8 October 1953|title=Samoa Revisited after 30 Years; Impressions of Miss Jean Begg|page=2|work=Press|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19531008.2.4.7?query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}} In 1922, she represented New Zealand at the world convention of the YWCA in Philadelphia.{{Cite news|date=18 August 1922|title=Our Representative to World's Convention|page=3|work=White Ribbon|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/WHIRIB19220818.2.5?items_per_page=10&query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}}
She was general secretary of the Auckland YWCA from 1926 until 1931, when she became general secretary for the National YWCA for India, Burma, and Ceylon.{{Cite book|last=Kabadi Waman P.|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.523178|title=Indian Whos Who 1937-38|date=1937|pages=78|via=Internet Archive}}{{Cite news|date=20 January 1931|title=Miss Jean Begg Given Position in India|page=10|work=Star|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19310120.2.129?query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}} Also in 1931, she headed New Zealand's delegation to the Pan-Pacific Women's Conference in Honolulu.
During and immediately after World War II, Begg was director of the YWCA in the Middle East and North Africa,{{Cite news|date=9 August 1943|title=YWCA War Services; Miss Jean Begg in London|page=3|work=Evening Star|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19430809.2.42?items_per_page=10&page=3&query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}} setting up YWCA programs, including lodgings, weekly concerts in Egypt and a mobile library.{{Cite news|date=9 February 1943|title=Miss Jean Begg; Valuable Work in Desert|page=4|work=Otago Daily Times |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19430209.2.85.2?items_per_page=10&page=3&query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}}{{Cite news|date=26 November 1945|title=Servicemen Abroad; Miss Jean Begg Describes Welfare Work|page=10|work=Evening Post|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19451128.2.106.5?items_per_page=10&page=4&query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}} She worked in Lord Louis Mountbatten's South-East Asia Command, at hospitals for former prisoners of war in Singapore,{{Cite news|date=8 September 1945|title=With Singapore Prisoners; Miss Jean Begg's Quick Transfer; Broadcast from Hospital Wards|page=6|work=Evening Star|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19450908.2.25?items_per_page=10&page=4&query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}} and served on the Middle East Welfare Council.{{Cite news|date=25 October 1945|title=Miss Jean Begg; Arrival from Singapore|page=8|work=Evening Post|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19451025.2.96?items_per_page=10&page=2&query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}} "The problems that beset the world will never be solved unless they are approached in a spirit of helpfulness and sacrifice," she declared in a 1945 speech.{{Cite news|date=7 November 1945|title=Post-War Problems; Difficulties Ahead; Address by Miss Jean Begg|page=6|work=Otago Daily Times |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19451107.2.64?items_per_page=10&page=4&query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}}
In 1946, Begg went to Tokyo for an ANZAC Day ceremony.{{Cite news|date=1 May 1946|title=ANZAC Day in Japan|page=8|work=Evening Star|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19460501.2.107?query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}} In 1947, she was director of YWCA Welfare in Japan,{{Cite news|date=3 July 1948|title=Miss Jean Begg Honored|page=2|work=Press|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19480703.2.4.3?query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}} and represented New Zealand at the YWCA World Council, held in Hangzhou, China.{{Cite news|date=22 August 1947|title=Miss Jean Begg to Attend Y.W.C.A. World's Council Meeting|page=2|work=Otago Daily Times |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19470822.2.9.11?query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}} In 1948 and 1949, she worked in London, setting up Helen Graham House, a YWCA hostel.{{Cite news|date=4 November 1948|title=Miss Jean Begg to Manage London Hostel|page=7|work=Otago Daily Times |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19481104.2.97?query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}}{{Cite news|date=18 November 1949|title=Miss Jean Begg|page=2|work=The Press |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19491118.2.4.3?query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}}
Jean Begg had an audience with the Queen in 1943.{{Cite news|date=9 August 1943|title=Miss Jean Begg Received by the Queen|page=5|work=Auckland Star |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19430809.2.85?items_per_page=10&page=4&query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}} She was appointed an MBE in 1943, an OBE in 1946,{{Cite news|date=26 June 1946|title=Birthday Honours; Miss Jean Begg Included|page=4|work=Otago Daily Times |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19460626.2.26?items_per_page=10&page=2&query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}} and a CBE in 1948.
Personal life
Begg retired to New Zealand in 1952.{{Cite news|date=24 June 1952|title=Miss Jean Begg Return to New Zealand|page=2|work=Press|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19520624.2.4.7?items_per_page=10&page=3&query=Jean+Begg&snippet=true|access-date=November 24, 2021|via=Papers Past}} She had a war pension, inherited a house, and died in 1971, aged 84 years, in Dunedin. She was given a military funeral at the soldiers' cemetery in Dunedin.
References
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Category:New Zealand feminists
Category:New Zealand social workers
Category:Health professionals from Dunedin