Words: Jo Bailey
Images: House: Dorothy McLennan, Historical Images supplied by HNZPT & Canterbury Museum
As soon as you enter the tranquil tree-lined driveway at 83 Clyde Road, Ilam it is easy to forget you are surrounded by a busy university campus and have just stepped away from a bustling thoroughfare.
Then you find yourself in an expansive garden with a tennis court, mature trees and shrubs, and inviting pops of colour, enveloping a gracious kauri homestead. You might even feel the spirit of Kate Sheppard and the other celebrated suffragists, who plotted, planned, and created the epicentre of the women’s global suffrage movement at this very place, where Kate lived during the crucial years of the campaign for women’s enfranchisement from 1888 to 1893.
Kate was standing in her garden on 19 September 1893, when she received the telegram informing her that women had won the right to vote in New Zealand. We can only imagine the joy, pride, and likely some relief she must have felt, knowing the arduous five-year nationwide campaign she had led, had finally achieved its goal, against fierce opposition.
It was around Kate’s dining table that the third, and ultimately successful, large petition, consisting of 31,872 signatures gathered from women all around New Zealand, was pasted onto a large roll by Kate and other suffragists, and sent to the House of Representatives in Wellington. Their victory was a world-first achievement and led to many other women around the world gaining the right to vote. The New Zealand suffragists also wanted women to be able to get into Parliament so they could start making social reforms for women and children.
Given the significance of the home, it seems incredible that it wasn’t until 1993, around the time of the centenary celebrations of women’s suffrage, that it was finally recognised as the place where Kate was busy writing articles and letters, organising and sending out pamphlets, preparing speeches, lobbying members of parliament and directing other suffragists and women’s organisations throughout New Zealand during those important campaign years.
After Kate and her husband Walter sold the property in 1902, the home remained in private ownership until 2019, when its long-time owner, Julia Burbury, sold it to the New Zealand Government. Today, Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House and gardens are cared for by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, which ensures its preservation as a special heritage building.
Half of the home has been transformed into a tasteful museum which celebrates the life of Kate Sheppard, her achievements, and other women leaders in New Zealand. It is hard not to be moved when standing in Kate’s dining room, where the suffragists and other leading figures for women’s rights would have gathered. Beautiful bespoke wallpaper, which features the signatures of the women who signed the final petition is a lovely touch.
For a small fee the museum and gardens are open for guided and self-guided tours. The back of the home has been charmingly renovated to host small events, talks and workshops, particularly those which keep Kate Sheppard’s legacy alive.
Kate Sheppard House is a truly wonderful place to meander away some time, enjoy the beautiful gardens, soak up some history, and honour Kate Sheppard and the other incredible women who changed the course of history.
Who was Kate Sheppard?
The well-known images of Kate Sheppard evoke a genteel, beautifully-dressed, middle class Victorian woman, which was true of her position in Christchurch society in the late 1800s. However, it was her challenging early years in the United Kingdom which really forged her character and strong sense of social justice.
Kate was born in Liverpool in 1847, to Andrew and Jemima Malcolm, who both had Scottish heritage. The family moved around a lot, eventually to London, where when Kate was just four years old, her father disappeared from their lives forever, says Helen Osborne, Property Lead at Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House, who is passionate about sharing Kate’s story. “The family always said he died 10 years later in Dublin, when in fact he had got on a ship and sailed to New York to join the US Army. He died of delirium tremens in New Mexico in 1862, but the family never breathed a word of the secret. Andrew had left the family one step away from homelessness, so Kate was sent to live with her maternal aunt and uncle, William Barclay, who was a Minister with the Independent Free Church. With them, Kate gained a good education and developed a sense of standing up for things that weren’t right.”
Kate migrated to New Zealand aged 20. Her sister Marie had married drapery merchant, George Beath, who set up Beath’s Department Store in Christchurch. Kate married George’s friend, Walter Sheppard in 1871. George Beath paid for his wife’s family to sail to New Zealand first class. Kate and Walter’s only child, a son Douglas was born in 1880.
In 1885, the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement hit New Zealand, when Mary Leavitt arrived from the United States to lecture New Zealand women about prohibition of alcohol. Kate signed up and was soon the National Superintendent of Franchise and Legislation, which included questioning laws around women. This was the beginning of her work as a suffragist.
Helen says although society was staid and conservative at the time, Kate had a way of inspiring people to think differently. “Apparently, she was a very good speaker, who gently won her arguments through humour and using her intelligence. She was able to rally people and get them on board.”
She was also a fashionista, whose weakness was beautiful clothes, says Helen. “Kate would light up any room and moved easily in all circles. The way she dressed may have contributed to her image as a woman of status and power.”
In 1902, nine years after the vote for women was won, Kate and Walter decided to sell the Clyde Road house and return to England. Walter travelled with their son while Kate took an apartment in the centre of Christchurch before leaving in 1903. Kate’s health deteriorated, and on medical advice she returned to Christchurch, amicably parting with Walter, and living with her great friends, William and Jennie Lovell-Smith. Kate had largely retired from public speaking by this time but continued to write and later supported suffragists in the United Kingdom.
Tragedy struck in 1910, when her son Douglas died of pernicious anaemia at the age of just 29, followed by her only grandchild, Margaret at the age of 21 in 1930.
Kate married William Lovell-Smith in 1925, a year after he was widowed. In 1933, a year before Kate passed away, Elizabeth McCombs of Lyttelton, became the first women elected into Parliament, says Helen. “It was Kate’s hope that women would eventually be represented in Parliament, so it was wonderful that she saw it happen in her lifetime and her legacy came full circle.
