Biographical information provided by Briar Barry for the He Tohu exhibition:
Mary “Louisa” Fernandez (née Barwell) was married to Demetrius Fernandez. They lived in a boarding house on St Asaph St, Christchurch. The couple had two sons, George Henry and Anthony. Demtrius, an alcoholic, was unable to hold down a job and provide for his wife and family and so in 1895 the boys were taken to an orphanage near Nelson called St Mary and Michael Industrial School. Anthony later reconnected with the Barwell family through his uncle Edward James Barwell. George died of bronchial pneumonia in France five days after the end of World War One.
Louisa moved in with John Spencer who also lived in St Asaph Street. A daughter was born, Emma Spencer Fernandez, then later a son, John William Spencer. Louisa had a third partner, T. Hodgson, from Loburn where the Barwell family lived, with whom she had another daughter, Gertrude Barwell.
