Maker: Vanya Tickle

Panel number: 366

Petition sheet number: 436

Person honouring: Emily Lord

Relationship to maker: Great-grandmother

Emily Chisman was born in 1860 in England. She married Joseph Johnson but was soon widowed in 1881, and left with a three-week-old daughter, Theresa.

Emily, her mother, and her young daughter left their home in Bradford, England and came to New Zealand in the early 1880s on the ship Margaret Galbraith. They settled in Auckland where Emily worked as a seamstress.

In 1888, she married Tom Lord and they moved to Taradale, Napier, where they lived for several years before moving back to Auckland. They were still in Napier when Emily signed the petition in 1893.

Emily and Tom had 10 children: Lawerence, Jack, Bertie, William, Ellen (Nell), Emily (Nan), Thelma and Arthur (twins), and Edna – three died in infancy. Emily loved music and she held regular musical evenings in her home where she played piano and sang.

She died in June 1945, aged 84 years.

Panel materials: Sourced from op-shops. Some embroidery cottons were found in op-shops and others were bought new. The buttons came from Emily’s own collection that my mother now has. The ribbon for the camellia was bought new. The photo of Emily was transferred using iron-on transfer paper.