Later Life
Elizabeth Neill did not confine herself to New Zealand. In 1889 she was the principal speaker in the nursing section during the Congress of the International Council of Women in London. Due to her impact at this congress, she was made an honorary member of the Matron’s Council of Great Britain. After that she served on a committee that drafted the constitution and bylaws for the International Council of Nurses. In 1901 she once again used her knowledge of social conditions to investigate the administration of charitable aid in Sydney for the government of New South Wales. Finally tiring of what her duties entitled, Neill retired from her position with the New Zealand Government and joined her son who had moved to the United States. However, her health continued to decline, so both she and her son moved back to New Zealand in 1909. There she resided until World War I, where she served as sister in charge of the children’s ward at Wellington Hospital. After a long period of illness, she died on 18 August 1926, crippled and blind. The Grace Neill Memorial Library was established at the nursing postgraduate school in Wellington in memory of all that Neill had contributed to New Zealand and nursing itself. The women's hospital at Wellington Hospital is called the Grace Neill Block.
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