Bessie Lee Cowie ( Vickery; after first marriage, Lee; after second marriage, Lee Cowie; 10 June 1860–18 April 1950) was a New Zealand temperance campaigner, social reformer, lecturer and writer.

Biography

Bessie Vickery was born in Daylesford,

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia on 10 June 1860. The community in which she was reared — an isolated gold-mining settlement, on the summit of the mountain range which divides the State of

— offered little in the way of school advantage, and the girl was, for the most part, self-educated. She was, however, a student and developed her intellectual life rapidly, becoming known in her girlhood as a writer of stories and verses that found their way into periodicals. At the age of 19, she married Harrison Lee, of Fitzroy, Victoria, and with him made her home in

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. In 1883, Mrs. Lee became a pledged total abstainer and an enthusiastic worker in the

Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program th ...

(W.C.T.U.). In this service, she developed a talent for lecturing, and was appointed lecturer and organizer for the Victorian Alliance. In 1890, she paid the first of several visits to England, and she was often introduced to public audiences as "Australia’s Temperance Queen". In the agitation which accompanied the local-option polls throughout New Zealand in 1899 and 1902, Lee took a prominent part. As an advocate of woman suffrage, she also been an inspiring and successful leader, having lived to see the principle adopted in all the Australian States. Some years after the death of Mr. Lee, she removed to New Zealand, where, in 1908, she married Andrew Cowie, a native of Scotland residing at Winton, and thereafter, she came to be known as Mrs. Lee Cowie. Making her residence at

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, she was appointed World Missionary of the W.C.T.U. at the session held in

Geneva, Switzerland Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

, in 1900. Her lecture-tours covered Palestine, Egypt, and Ceylon, besides parts of other countries and the whole of Australia and New Zealand. Lee Cowie attended the World's W.C.T.U. convention held in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1920. In 1924, she visited the U.S., on her seventh trip around the world. She was a voluminous author of works of fiction, besides articles and songs.

References

External links

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Betsy (Bessie) Lee
Australian Dictionary of Biography {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee Cowie, Bessie 1860 births 1950 deaths Australian emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand educators New Zealand activists New Zealand women activists New Zealand academics New Zealand temperance activists New Zealand writers People from Daylesford, Victoria 19th-century New Zealand educators 19th-century New Zealand women educators 20th-century New Zealand educators 20th-century New Zealand women educators