Nellie Gould was born to Henry and Sarah (nee Baker) in Wales, her mother died when Nellie was 18 months old. When she was four the family moved to Portugal where she received her early education. Later the family returned to England and Nellie attended Mildmay Park College. She was a teacher and governess before moving to Sydney in 1884.

On 19 January 1885, Nellie commenced a two-year nurses training course at the Royal Alfred Hospital, Sydney. She stayed on at the hospital for two years after finishing the course. Nellie was then appointed matron of St Kilda Private Hospital at Woolloomooloo and in 1891 she became matron and superintendent of the training school of Sydney Hospital. She resigned in October 1898 to join the New South Wales Public Health Department and was matron of the Hospital for the Insane at Rydalmere in 1898-1900.

In February 1899 Matron Nellie Gould was asked to help form an Army Nursing Service Reserve attached to the New South Wales Army Medical Corps. On 26 May the nurses were sworn in and Nellie Gould was appointed lady superintendent. In charge of 13 nursing sisters, Nellie Gould left in the Moravian for the South African War (Boer War) on 17 January 1900. She returned to Australia in August 1902.

Upon their return, Nellie Gould and her friend Sister Julia Bligh Johnston opened Ermelo Private Hospital at Newtown, Sydney. She also organized the Army Nursing Service Reserve in New South Wales and was appointed principal matron of the 2nd Military District. After Ermelo was sold in 1912, both Nellie Gould and Julia Johnston joined the Public Health Department.

On 27 September 1914 Nellie Gould enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force and served in Egypt, caring for Gallipoli casualties, followed by service in France and then England. She returned to Australia in January 1919 and was discharged on 3 March. She was unfit to take up nursing duties again and from 1920 she received a war service pension.

Nellie Gould was involved in founding the Australasian Trained Nurses' Association (ATNA) and was a council member from 1899 until her retirement in 1921. She also initiated the publishing of the ATNA journal in 1903 and served on the editorial committee.

Nellie Gould died at Neutral Bay on 19 July 1941.

Sources used to compile this entry: Arnold, John and Morris, Deirdre (eds), Monash Biographical Dictionary of 20th Century Australia, Reed Reference Publishing, Port Melbourne (Vic.), 1994, 568 pp; Bassett, Jan, Guns and brooches : Australian Army Nursing from the Boer War to the Gulf War, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992, 261 pp; McCarthy, Perditta M., 'Gould, Ellen Julia (Nellie) (1860 - 1941)', in Australian Dictionary of Biography Online, Australian National University, 2006, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090061b.htm.