54 Facts About Kate Sheppard

Katherine Wilson Sheppard was the most prominent member of the women's suffrage movement in New Zealand and the country's most famous suffragist.

Kate Sheppard promoted women's suffrage by organising petitions and public meetings, by writing letters to the press, and by developing contacts with politicians.

Kate Sheppard was the editor of The White Ribbon, the first woman-operated newspaper in New Zealand.

Kate Sheppard was the first president of the National Council of Women of New Zealand, founded in 1896, and helped reform the organisation in 1918.

Kate Sheppard is considered an important figure in New Zealand's history.

Kate Sheppard's portrait replaced that of Queen ElizabethII on the front of the New Zealand ten-dollar note in 1991.

Kate Sheppard was born Catherine Wilson Malcolm on 10 March 1848 in Liverpool, England, to Scottish parents Jemima Crawford Souter and Andrew Wilson Malcolm.

Kate Sheppard's father, born in Scotland in 1819, was described in various documents as either a lawyer, banker, brewer's clerk, or legal clerk; he married Souter in the Inner Hebrides on 14 July 1842.

Kate Sheppard was known for her broad knowledge and intellectual ability.

Kate Sheppard's father loved music and ensured that the family had good musical training.

Kate Sheppard's father died in 1862, while in his early forties, but left his widow with sufficient means to provide for the family.

In Christchurch, most of the family, including Kate Sheppard, joined the Trinity Congregational Church.

Kate Sheppard became part of Christchurch's intellectual and social scenes, and spent time with Marie and George's growing family.

The Trinity Congregational Church raised funds for a new building from 1872 to 1874, and Kate Sheppard was most likely involved in this.

Kate Sheppard taught Sunday school, and in 1884 was elected secretary of the newly formed Trinity Ladies' Association, a body established to visit parishioners who did not regularly attend church services.

Kate Sheppard wrote reports on the work of the association, tried to recruit new members, and worked to retain existing ones.

Kate Sheppard served on the management committee of the YWCA.

Kate Sheppard became involved in establishing a Christchurch branch of the WCTU NZ prior to the formation of a national organisation.

Kate Sheppard decided that politicians would continue to ignore petitions from women as long as women could not vote.

Kate Sheppard did not attend that conference, but at the second national convention in Christchurch a year later, she arrived ready to present a paper on women's suffrage, although there was no opportunity for her to do so.

Kate Sheppard was first appointed Superintendent for Relative Statistics, owing to her interest in economics.

Kate Sheppard soon became prominent in the area of women's suffrage, but her interest in the cause went beyond practical considerations regarding temperance.

Kate Sheppard did so in 1887, with the Female Suffrage Bill, and Sheppard campaigned for its support.

In 1888 Kate Sheppard was President of the Christchurch branch of the WCTU NZ, and presented a report to the national convention in Dunedin, where the convention decided that prohibition and women's suffrage would be the organisation's central aims.

Kate Sheppard made public speeches on suffrage in Dunedin, Oamaru, and Christchurch, developing a confident speaking style.

Kate Sheppard then published her own single-sheet pamphlet titled Ten Reasons Why the Women of New Zealand Should Vote, which displayed her "dry wit and logical approach".

The government introduced an Electoral Bill in 1888 that would continue to exclude women from suffrage, and Kate Sheppard organised a petition requesting that the exclusion be removed.

Kate Sheppard wrote to, and later met with, Sir John Hall, a well-respected Canterbury member of the House of Representatives, inviting him to present the petition and support her cause.

Kate Sheppard drew up the wording for the petition, arranged for the forms to be printed, and campaigned hard for its support.

In 1890, Kate Sheppard was one of the founders of the Christian Ethical Society, a discussion group for both men and women, not limited to the members of a single church.

Kate Sheppard promised that a second petition would be twice as large and worked through the summer to organise it; it received 20,274 women's signatures.

Kate Sheppard was widely acknowledged as the leader of the women's suffrage movement.

Kate Sheppard had no time to rest, as the 1893 election was only ten weeks away, and the newspapers were spreading rumours that an early election might be called to reduce the number of women enrolled.

Kate Sheppard joined the Atalanta Ladies' Cycling Club, which existed from 1892 to 1897, and was a founding committee member.

In December 1893, Kate Sheppard was elected President of the Christchurch branch of the WCTU NZ.

Kate Sheppard chaired the first two meetings in 1894, before travelling to England with her husband and son.

Kate Sheppard was in great demand in England as a speaker to women's groups about the struggle for women's suffrage in New Zealand.

Later that year, Kate Sheppard was reappointed editor of The White Ribbon.

The Canterbury Women's Institute was formed in September 1892, with Kate Sheppard playing a leading role and taking charge of the economics department.

The National Council of Women of New Zealand was established in April 1896 by the Canterbury Women's Institute and ten other women's groups from throughout New Zealand, and Kate Sheppard was elected president at its founding convention.

Kate Sheppard was not only occupied with advancing women's rights, but promoted political reforms such as proportional representation, binding referendums, and a Cabinet elected directly by Parliament.

Kate Sheppard's husband sold their house and moved to England with their son, who wished to study in London.

Kate Sheppard bought new furnishings and appeared to be planning for a new permanent residence in Christchurch, but sold them in 1903, stepped down from her positions at the National Council of Women, and moved to England without any fixed date to return.

In November 1904, Kate Sheppard returned to New Zealand with her husband, but he went back to England in March the following year.

Kate Sheppard moved into the house of her long-time friends William Sidney Lovell-Smith and his wife Jennie Lovell-Smith; their third daughter, Hilda Kate Lovell-Smith, had been given her middle name after Sheppard.

Kate Sheppard remained relatively inactive in political circles, and stopped giving speeches, but continued to write.

Kate Sheppard prepared a display on the history of women's suffrage for the 1906 Exhibition in Christchurch, and wrote the pamphlet Woman Suffrage in New Zealand for the International Women's Suffrage Alliance in 1907.

Kate Sheppard was the first to sign a petition to the prime minister, Sir Joseph Ward, in 1916, asking him to urge the British government to enfranchise women, and she revitalised the National Council of Women along with a group of other prominent suffragists in 1918.

Kate Sheppard was elected president of the National Council that year before stepping down in 1919.

Lovell-Smith died only four years later, and Kate Sheppard herself died in Christchurch on 13 July 1934 at the age of 86.

Kate Sheppard was buried at Addington Cemetery, Christchurch, in a grave with her mother and her brother Robert.

Kate Sheppard is considered an important figure in New Zealand's history.

The Fendalton house at 83 Clyde Road, where the Sheppards lived from 1888 to 1902 and now known as the Kate Sheppard House, is registered by Heritage New Zealand as a Category I heritage building, in view of the many events relevant to women's suffrage that happened there.

Kate Sheppard Place, located within Wellington's parliament precinct, is named in her honour; it is a short one-way street running from Molesworth Street opposite Parliament House to the intersection of Mulgrave Street and Thorndon Quay.