Maud was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in 1859. In 1891 she enrolled at the London Hospital, Whitechapel as a probationer nurse. When the Boer War began, Maud was one of six nurses personally chosen by Princess Alexandra to go to South Africa as military nursing sisters.
In 1902 the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service was formed and in 1910 Maud became Matron-in-Chief at the War Office. When war was declared in 1914, Maud was made Matron-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1918 for her services to nursing.
After the War, Maud formed the Territorial Army Nursing Service of which she was in charge until 1925. Dame Maud McCarthy died in 1949.
