E. MacCurdy

Biography contributed by Rodney King, great grandson of Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Martha McCURDY randomly used the surname MacCurdy. She was born on 20 August 1837 in Leeds, Yorkshire to Thomas DRIFFIELD and Elizabeth nee BATES. She married John Francis McCURDY in London on 23 July 1859.

Elizabeth and John lived in London, Birmingham and Whitehaven as their family of 11 children grew. The youngest, Malcolm, died at age six months. In 1880 their eldest son and daughter (Angus and Amie) travelled separately to New Zealand. John followed in October 1881, but he died “in sight of land” before disembarking at Port Chalmers.

Elizabeth with eight other children (Bruce, Archibald, Christina Agnes, Rosa Mary and Mary Elizabeth (twins), Margaret Ann, Adela Winifred, and Francis) arrived in Wellington in May 1882, where she set up a fruit and lolly stall. About 1885 she moved to Woodville and again set up a fruit shop, but also acted extensively as a midwife/nurse. In 1886 she married James Lankey, but this failed quickly and she continued to be known as McCurdy.

Elizabeth signed the Suffrage Petition, and is also registered in the 1893 Electoral Roll for Waipawa.

Elizabeth moved to live in New Plymouth in 1896, and subsequently appears to have moved to live with various family members until settling with her daughter Christina in Rangiora. Ill health and considerable need for care meant she moved into the Jubilee Home for the Aged in Woolston, where she died aged 88 years on 23 December 1925.

Elizabeth Martha Lankey, alias McCurdy, is buried in the Anglican Cemetery, Rangiora.

Image

Elizabeth Martha McCurdy (Family collection)

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