Maker: Rivka Hobden

Panel number: 178

Petition Sheet Number: 217

Person honouring: Janet Boag

Relationship to makers: None

Janet was born in Christchurch in 1870, the eldest daughter of John Boag and Grace Stewart. She took the name of her maternal grandmother, Janet McNaughton, following the Scottish naming tradition, since both her parents were from Perthshire. 

Janet Boag was married in 1900 to Lumsden Shirriffs, son of Rev. W M Shirriffs. Lumsden died as the result of a tram accident in 1914. Janet petitioned Parliament to amend the Family Protection Act. Her petition was presented in 1931, describing the financial injustice done to a wife and children when her husband died before his mother. But the amendment was not enacted. Thus, when Lumsden’s mother later died, leaving a substantial sum of money, neither Janet nor her children were acknowledged as beneficiaries. Janet’s death at 80 years of age came in 1951.

Panel materials: Merino fibre felted with silk, cotton and other fabrics. Cotton thread for the stitches and printed text and image onto printable cotton/linen fabric. I also placed pieces of McNaughton tartan on my panel.