Biography and image submitted by Jenni Gibson (Mrs Mercer is her father-in-law's grandmother)
Miss Matilda Lewin was born 8 Sept 1862 in Clipstone, Northamptonshire, England. She came to NZ aged 12 on the Adamant ship which departed Plymouth, England 7 May 1874 and arrived in Nelson 8 August 1874.
She met her future husband Frederick Mercer on the ship. She had nine children. There is more about her in the book They Came in the Floodtide, the Story of the Mercer Family by Paul and Sherryle Lane, 1991.
Her son George was in the NZ Army and discharged in 1919 after 341 days in service, and son Frederick 3/3782 was in WW1, a hairdresser on the hospital ship Maheno. Her husband Fred was injured in the 1931 Napier earthquake. Matilda died 11 July 1949 and is buried in Hastings.
Matilda Mercer (left) with her youngest daughter, Ivy.
