Amy Hadfield Hutchinson (20 May 1874 – 20 July 1971) was a New Zealand school hostel matron, spinner and weaver, community leader. Amy Hadfield Large was born in

Napier Napier may refer to: People * Napier (surname), including a list of people with that name * Napier baronets, five baronetcies and lists of the title holders Given name * Napier Shaw (1854–1945), British meteorologist * Napier Waller (1893–19 ...

, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, on 20 May 1874. She attended

Napier Girls' High School Napier Girls' High School is a state secondary school on Clyde Road, Napier, New Zealand. It is one of the oldest schools in New Zealand for girls, and has a current school roll of about 1000. History In July 1883 plans were submitted to the b ...

until 1889 and then studied for an extra-mural university degree, but failed the final exams in 1894. From 1901 until 1904 she was the matron at

, responsible for care of boarding pupils. The school's headmistress, Bessie Spencer, played an important role throughout her life. In 1907 she married a sheepfarmer, Francis (Frank) Hutchinson, and they lived at the Omatua farm near

Rissington, Hawke's Bay Rissington is a farming settlement north west of Napier, New Zealand. It lies in Hawke's Bay Region, between Sherenden and Napier, New Zealand, Napier, in the Mangaone River (Hawke's Bay), Mangaone River valley, on the road to Patoka, New Zealand ...

with Spencer joining them in 1911, although left for Britain in 1916. Hutchinson developed practical classes for local children and then during the First World War she started a Red Cross group as well as starting a group for spinning, dying and weaving wool. The latter developed into greater knowledge of dyes from New Zealand plants and lichens, and installation of a loom from Britain when Spencer returned in 1921. They demonstrated and wrote about these wool processing skills and Hutchinson compiled this into the book ''Plant dyeing : reprints and repetitions'' that was published in 1941, followed by four further editions. Hutchinson participated in founding the Napier Society of Arts and Crafts, along with the artist

Roland Hipkins Roland Hipkins (1894–1951) was an English artist who worked extensively in New Zealand between 1922 and 1951. He is especially noted for his work done in the wake of the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. Works by Hipkins are held by the Hawkes Bay ...

., and was made a life member of Hawke's Bay Art Gallery and Museum. After her husband died in 1940 she moved back to Napier with Spencer, where she died in 1971.

References

1874 births 1971 deaths New Zealand artists New Zealand educators New Zealand women artists New Zealand women educators {{NewZealand-artist-stub