Maker: Rowan Anderson

Panel number: 394

Petition sheet number: 486

Person honouring: Margaret West Grinlinton

Relationship to maker’s: Great-grandmother

A dressmaker, mother of 11, well-known and highly respected, Margaret West Sedcole was born on 29 September 1867 in Karori, Wellington.

Margaret was the child of Elizabeth Ann Nash, who was regarded as the first white girl born in Karori, after her parents immigrated to New Zealand on the Bolton in 1840, and John Sedcole, a sea captain of a schooner and who probably immigrated in 1849.

Margaret married Robert Eldon Grinlinton on 13 February 1884 in Woodville. They had 11 children, two of whom died early. The family lived in a house called Karori, in Ross St, Woodville, which became derelict and was pulled down about 1980.

Robert was a prominent local businessman who built and occupied large premises on the main street of Woodville and who supported the family as a cabinet maker. Later he was a general storekeeper and house furnisher.

Around 1893, Margaret and her sister Martha signed the women’s suffrage petition, showing they were socially aware and willing to make a stand.

Margaret died in 1918, aged only 51 years, after “three weeks severe suffering from pneumonia”. She left behind four sons and five daughters, two of whom were very young. Her youngest son was at that time on active service in France in World War 1, and her eldest son was about to go into camp.

Panel materials: Cotton fabrics I dyed myself, plus others from my stash, recycled materials from Vinnies Re-Sew.