Women's Suffrage Campaigner 

This image of Kate Sheppard has been used by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Te Pūtea Matua on our $10 note. It replaced Queen Elizabeth II as the prominent feature of the note in 1990. Also featured on the note is a camellia flower; a symbol of the women’s suffrage movement in New Zealand. In 1893 white camellias were given to members of parliament who had supported the bill to give New Zealand universal suffrage.

The negative for this image is housed in Canterbury Museum’s permanent collection. It is a glass plate negative, half-plate in size, that is part of our H H Clifford Collection. The portrait was produced by the photographic studio of Henry Herbert Clifford, which was located in central Christchurch beneath Beath and Co on Cashel Street.

This closely-woven silk dress was worn by Kate Sheppard for her portrait at the H H Clifford photographic studio in Christchurch in 1905. The Museum now cares for the images from this portrait session, in the form of glass plate negatives, which consist of six different poses by Kate during the visit. In three of the images she wears a feather boa around her shoulders, over the dress. A high collared blouse is also worn in all images.

The dress has been slightly altered since the photographs were taken. The sleeves have been ruched and the hem at the front looks slightly different.

Rosettes in the shape of camellias adorn a silk crepe trimming, which is detachable from the main part of the dress. Camellias became a symbol of the women’s suffrage movement in New Zealand, nicely linking this dress to its famous wearer’s historic past.

This later portrait of Kate Sheppard was also taken at the H H Clifford studio about 1932. Sheppard would have been around 85 years old and known as Kate Lovell-Smith, after her marriage to William Sidney Lovell-Smith in 1925.

Kate was born Catherine Wilson Malcolm in Liverpool, England in March 1847. She had emigrated to New Zealand in 1868 with her mother and siblings. The family based themselves in Christchurch, where Kate’s sister, Marie Beath, was already settled. Kate married Walter Allen Sheppard in 1871 at the age of 24. They had one son, Douglas, who died aged only 29 in 1910, just 2 years after marrying and one year after the birth of his daughter, Kate’s only grandchild. Kate’s first husband, Walter Sheppard, died in 1915.

Kate Sheppard was better known for her involvement in the women’s suffrage movement, but she was also an accomplished singer with the choirs of her neighbourhood in the 1880s and 1890s. Canterbury Museum also cares for her personal collection of music, donated to the Museum in the late 1990s by Margaret Lovell-Smith.

The Women's Christian Temperance Union referred to Kate Sheppard’s 1894 trip to England as a “well-earned rest” in this commemorative thank you letter. However the trip was far from a lazy holiday. While in England, Kate received numerous invitations to speak to women’s groups and at suffrage events. Her presence helped breathe new enthusiasm into the English suffrage movement. Unfortunately, women in the United Kingdom would have to wait until 1918 before they were granted the right to vote.

This flyer titled Ten Reasons why the Women of New Zealand should Vote was published by the National Women’s Christian Temperance Union of New Zealand’s franchise department in May 1888. Kate Sheppard was a founding member of the WCTU in New Zealand and superintendent of the franchise here. The flyer outlined 10 arguments which talked to the laws and thinking that was present at the time. In 1888 the women of Aotearoa New Zealand had no voting rights. A copy of the flyer was sent to every member of the House of Representatives. It was also published in the newspapers of the day.

The movement had its detractors in the form of anti-suffragists, especially those that supported the liquor industry, fearful that women would support the prohibition of alcohol. After the huge petition of signatures was presented to Parliament, the Bill passed easily in the House of Representatives. It still had to pass through the Legislative Council though, and anti-suffragists gave their parliamentary supporters red camellias to wear in their buttonhole (suffrage supporters’ camellias were white).

Finally, on 19 September 1893, Lord Glasgow signed the bill into law. All women who were over the age of 21 could vote.

This well-worn and well-used brown suitcase was owned by New Zealand suffragist Kate Sheppard. She used it in her travels and the ends of the suitcase are stencilled with the letters “K. W. S”. Catherine Wilson Malcolm, later Sheppard, was named after her grandmother, but liked to use Kate or Katherine as her preferred spelling. The top of the suitcase lid is stencilled with “Sheppard”, Kate’s surname after her marriage in 1871.

After the successful granting of the vote to women in Aotearoa New Zealand in 1893, Kate travelled to England with her husband and son. There she engaged in the local debate around their own suffrage movement, which had been invigorated after New Zealand’s achievements. Kate participated in a round of public speaking appointments and accepted invitations to speak at suffrage events and to women’s groups. It was reported in the New Zealand Mail in 1895 that Kate had addressed three meetings in England during the month of January alone, to help the suffragists there.