Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Christiana Elizabeth Kirby was born in 1864 in Kent, England, the daughter of John Kirby, a baker, and Elizabeth Ann Brett.
Christiana came to New Zealand with her parents and they settled in Waikouaiti.
She trained as a teacher, being appointed as mistress at Seacliff school in 1883, before moving to Waikouaiti school in 1886.
When she signed the suffrage petition she was living with her family in Waikouaiti.
During the First World War Christiana “remembered all her former pupils on active service, and regularly sent them parcels and letters conveying news of home”.
She continued teaching at Waikouaiti until her retirement in 1919, when a farewell social was held in the public hall.
It was “crowded with friends, who wished to show their esteem and affection to a lady who has, in public and private life, endeared herself to all.”
She was presented with a gold wrist watch, a purse and a “substantial cheque”. The returned soldiers of the district presented her with a “handsome suitcase suitably inscribed”.
After her retirement Christiana “spent several weeks motoring with friends in the United Kingdom”. Remaining in “London for the autumn, but will spend the winter on the Continent, probably in the South of France”.
She died on March 6th 1948 while she was visiting Waikouaiti to tend her parents’ graves. She is buried with them in the St John’s Anglican Cemetery.
