Maker: Anne Whitehead

Panel number: 213

Petition sheet number: 437

Person honouring: Mrs Bickerstaff

Relationship to maker: Great-great-grandmother

Mrs Bickerstaff (known as Lizzie) was born Mary Elizabeth Freeman on 16 January 1856 in Bootle, Liverpool, England. She married Robert Bickerstaff on Christmas Day, 1875 at St Mary’s Church, Edge Hill, Liverpool, England.

Lizzie and Robert had five children before they came to New Zealand on the SS Westland, which departed from Plymouth 11 Aug 1883 and arrived in Wellington 31 Oct 1883. They then travelled to Napier where they joined Robert’s father George Herbert. George had paid the family’s passage.

Lizzie had a further six children. Sadly, she died on 20 January 1907 at the age of 51 – in a diabetic coma.

Panel materials: Fabric paint, hand-made silk paper, buttons, rick rack – most materials I had at home