Maker: Kura Carpenter

Panel number: 1

Petition Sheet number: 1

Person honouring: Mary Jane Carpenter

Relationship to makers: Great, great grandmother

Mary Jane Carpenter (nee Griffiths), was the first signature on the main Petition. 

Mary was born on 23 May 1850 in Worcestershire, England and travelled to New Zealand in 1870 onboard the Zealandia with her parents, brothers John and Samuel, sister Sarah, sister-in-law Hannah, and nephew John, arriving in Lyttelton on 23 December 1870. Mary Jane was listed as a domestic servant.

A year later, on 13 December 1871, Mary Jane married George Frederick Carpenter, a widower. They had a family of seven daughters and two sons; Harriet Frances (1872-195?), Margaret Alice (1873-1936), Ethel Mary (1875-1888), Edith Bessie (1877-1938), Emily (1879-1953), John Frederick (1881-1923), Daisy Sarah (1882), William James (1884-1947), and Evelyn Gladys (1887-?).

Mary Jane was very involved in family and church affairs, being an ardent supporter of the Methodist Church. After her husband died she lived with her daughter Emily at 415 Papanui Rd until her death from cancer on 8 October 1920, aged seventy. She is buried with her husband in Yaldhurst Cemetery.

Her mother, Mary Griffiths of Upper Riccarton, also signed the Petition.

Panel materials/stitches: Linen fabric, purchased for project. Embroidery thread. Back stitch.