Maker: Sarah Maxwell

Panel number: 94

Petition Sheet Number: 98

Person honouring: Selina Julia Hancock

Relationship to makers: None

Selina Hancock’s contribution to Women’s Suffrage is significant in that she was responsible for collecting four sheets of signatures of women living in Roslyn and Dunedin. 

Selina was born in the United Kingdom. Her mother died when Selina was a toddler and it is thought she was cared for in an orphanage until she was in her late teens, at which time Selina lived with her grandparents. She travelled as an assisted passenger to Dunedin in her early twenties and must have arrived with a reasonable amount of money, as she purchased a number of plots of land in Roslyn. 

Selina ran an orphanage for girls and seems to have been heavily involved in the Presbyterian Church. Selina was an activist and a key figure in gaining over 400 signatures for the Suffrage petition. It seems she may have upset some local ladies in her quest as she was described by some as being shabbily dressed. 

Selina returned to the United Kingdom later in life. She had no descendants so split her wealth between the church and orphanage.

Panel materials: Black velvet used as the background - a piece from a ball dress I made over 20 years ago. Different coloured satin ribbons were used to represent my grandparents who owned the first drapery in Porirua. I chose a news article that was written by Selina Hancock and this was sewn by machine by Maggie Allen. 46 hand-stitched cotton lines along the side represent the other people who signed the petition.