Ada Wells (née Pike, 29 April 1863 – 22 March 1933) was a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

and

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

in New Zealand.

Biography

Ada Pike was born near

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...

South Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire is a local government district in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a planned move to Didcot, the district's largest town. The a ...

, England. Her parents emigrated to New Zealand with their four girls and one boy in 1873, arriving on the ''Merope'' in Lyttelton on 31 October of that year. She attended Avonside School from 1874, and

Christchurch West High School Christchurch West High School (originally Christchurch Academy then High School of Christchurch and then West Christchurch Borough School) existed prior to 1966 on the site of Hagley College in Hagley Avenue, in Christchurch, New Zealand. In that ...

in 1876, where she then worked as a pupil-teacher from 1877 to 1881. Wells attended

Canterbury College Canterbury College may refer to: * Canterbury College (Indiana), U.S. * Canterbury College (Waterford), Queensland, Australia * Canterbury College (Windsor, Ontario), Canada * Canterbury College, Kent, England * Canterbury College, Oxford, England ...

. In 1884, aged 20, she married Harry Wells, the cathedral organist and choirmaster. Twelve years Ada's senior, with a violent temper and fondness for alcohol, he was a poor financial manager. Ada's marital experience – where she was, at times, the family breadwinner – strengthened her belief that women should have economic independence. Wells was a teacher at St. Albans School which was situated in a poor working class part of Christchurch. With her husband's help, Ada put on concerts in aid of the school prize fund. In 1892, Ada, pregnant, sought two months' leave of absence. The North Canterbury Education Board was inclined to grant this. However, Ada was opposed by the headmaster, James Speight, who wrote a long letter on 'the delinquencies of Mrs. Wells'. Rather than being granted leave of absence, Ada was dismissed. In the 1880s, working within the

Women's Christian Temperance Union New Zealand Women's Christian Temperance Union of New Zealand (WCTU NZ) is a non-partisan, non-denominational, and non-profit organization that is the oldest continuously active national organisation of women in New Zealand. The national organization began ...

(WCTU NZ), Ada was active in the

women's suffrage movement Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to gran ...

. While

Kate Sheppard Katherine Wilson Sheppard ( Catherine Wilson Malcolm; 10 March 1848 – 13 July 1934) was the most prominent member of the women's suffrage movement in New Zealand and the country's most famous suffragist. Born in Liverpool, England, she emig ...

was the public face of the WCTU NZ campaign for the enfranchisement of women, Ada was an organiser. In 1893 New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world in which all women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.'New Zealand women and the vote', URL: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/politics/womens-suffrage , (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 17 July 2014. In 1892, Ada established the Canterbury Women's Institute, an organization similar to the

Women's Franchise League The Women's Franchise League was a British organisation created by the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst together with her husband Richard and others in 1889, fourteen years before the creation of the Women's Social and Political Union in 1903. The Pr ...

s in other parts of the country; for many years, she was president. In 1896 when the

National Council of Women of New Zealand , logo = National Council of Women of New Zealand logo.png , logo_size = 100px , logo_alt = , logo_caption = , image = , image_size = , alt = , capt ...

was formed, she became its first secretary. From 1899 to 1906, Ada was an elected member of the Ashburton and North Canterbury United Charitable Aid Board. She was associated with the Prison Gate Mission for the rehabilitation of ex-prisoners. A founding member of the National Council of Women in 1896, she was the first secretary. She had three daughters and a son. Harry Wells died in 1918. Ada died in Christchurch on 22 March 1933 and was buried at the Waimairi Cemetery."Ada Wells"
NZ History Online The

Ministry for Culture and Heritage The Ministry for Culture and Heritage (MCH; ) is the department of the New Zealand Government responsible for supporting the arts, culture, built heritage, sport and recreation, and broadcasting sectors in New Zealand and advising government on ...

now offers an Ada Wells Memorial Prize for Undergraduate Students.

Activism

As a member of the National Peace Council, Ada spoke out strongly against conscription and war, and helped World War I

conscientious objectors A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...

. Wells advocated a meatless diet and was a

vegetarianism Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism may ...

activist.Amey, Catherine. (2014). ''The Compassionate Contrarians: A History of Vegetarians in Aotearoa New Zealand''. Rebel Press. p. 62. At the 1897 conference of the National Council of Women, Wells promoted an

ovo-lacto vegetarian Lacto-ovo vegetarianism or ovo-lacto vegetarianism is a type of vegetarianism which forbids animal flesh but allows the consumption of animal products such as dairy and eggs. Unlike pescetarianism, it does not include fish or other seafood. A ...

diet. She authored magazine articles supportive of

naturopathy Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. A wide array of pseudoscientific practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing" are employed by its practitioners, who are known as naturop ...

and vegetarianism. Wells was an anti-vaccinationist and opposed

vivisection Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for experiment ...

. She also campaigned for the corollary to women's suffrage, women's right to stand for Parliament. This was granted in 1919, though no woman was elected until 1933. A member of the Labour Party, Ada was, between 1917 and 1919, the first woman member of the Christchurch City Council.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Ada 1863 births 1933 deaths Anti-vivisectionists New Zealand anti-vaccination activists New Zealand suffragists University of Canterbury alumni People from Christchurch Christchurch City Councillors Burials at Waimairi Cemetery People educated at Christchurch West High School New Zealand Labour Party politicians Vegetarianism activists English emigrants to New Zealand

Biography

Activism

See also

References