Fanny Catanach

Biographical information provided for by Stefanie Lash for the He Tohu exhibition:

Fanny Dakin was born in Barton, Staffordshire in 1843 or 1844. At the age of 18 she married Alexander Catanach, a Scotsman, in Bury, Lancashire. They had seven children, of whom five survived childhood, the last daughter, Fanny, born in New Zealand. They migrated to New Zealand in 1878 on the ship British Queen and settled in Waverley, where Alexander’s brother also lived.

Alexander worked as a painter and wallpaper-hanger. The family were members of the Band of Hope, a temperance organisation.

In 1922 Fanny and Alexander celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary, and it was noted in the newspaper that they had 18 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Mrs Catanach died in 1928, aged 84, after a period of ill-health.