Maker: Jill Wilson

Panel number: 478

Petition sheet number: Did not sign 1893 petition

Person honouring: Gertrude Harrison

Relationship to maker: Great-aunt, sister of my maternal grandfather

Gertrude May Harrison was born in 1884 into a sporting family. She was Rose and John Harrison’s second child. Rose Matilda Mott had come to New Zealand in 1880 from London and John in 1878 from Lancashire.

Gertrude never married, but led a busy life caring for her mother and niece. A family story suggests she lost her ‘one true love’ in WW1, not an uncommon story.

She supported women’s causes as a volunteer, played golf and tennis, and was an accomplished pianist. Gertrude lived in the family home at 18 (later changed to 20) Bowling Avenue in Epsom.

As children, we made huts in her bamboo patch, ate apples from her tree, and took every opportunity hit the large gong in her hallway.

She died in 1966, aged 81.

Panel materials: I used an old cotton sheet, printed photos directly on to the cotton and embroidered the outline and the violets using threads from my ‘stash’.