Eliza Ann Brown ( Eliza Annie Palmer; 28 March 1847 – 23 April 1923) of

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

organised and became the first president of the first

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 ...

(WCTU) branch in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Early life

Eliza Annie Palmer was born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

on 28 March 1847 to Marianne and James Hugh Palmer. Her mother traveled back to England alone with her six children – they are listed in the 1851 and 1861 census eventually living in

Bideford Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is the main town of the Torridge local government district. Toponymy In ancient records Bideford is recorded as ''Bedeford'', ''By ...

. In 1877 Eliza Annie married Charles William Brown of

in New Zealand. Brown, a land broker and freeholder in his own right, was a leader in the

Independent Order of Rechabites The Independent Order of Rechabites (IOR), also known as the Sons and Daughters of Rechab,Alan Axelrod ''International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders'' New York; Facts on File, inc 1997 p.206 is a fraternal organisation a ...

and a provisional director for the Invercargill Temperance Hotel Company. They had several children. Their eldest son Ernest Harrington Brown died 6 January 1909 aged 29 years old.

Temperance leader

A faithful reader of the WCTU's American newspaper, ''Union Signal'', Eliza Ann Brown organized a local chapter on 6 August 1884 at the Don Street Primitive Methodist Church. The founding treasurer was Mrs. R.P. Magoun, the collector was Mrs. D. Strang, and Margaret Lennie, secretary. The organising meeting established a committee of fourteen women who were to carry out the eight objects of the Union, including gathering signatures for a petition for women's

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...

. After the

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

WCTU formed in February 1885 under the direction of

Mary Clement Leavitt Mary Greenleaf Clement Leavitt (September 22, 1830 – February 5, 1912) was an educator and successful orator who became the first round-the-world missionary for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). Setting out on virtually non-stop wor ...

, the first World WCTU missionary, Brown also organised a petition drive in Invercargill to support the abolishment of barmaids. By the time Leavitt visited Invercargill in April 1885 bringing with her the American WCTU constitution and news of the New Zealand national WCTU forming under the leadership of Anne Ward, Brown helped reconstitute the Invercargill WCTU on 22 June 1885 to affiliate with the new national umbrella organisation: the Women's Christian Temperance Union of New Zealand (WCTU NZ). By then, the club had grown to 76 members. Brown then stepped down as president in deference to the new Baptist minister's wife Roberta Annie Swayne Hinton (1836–1905) being elected the new president, but Brown remained in the newly formed chapter as secretary.

Women's rights activist

Signing at the top of the WCTU NZ petition sheet for Avenal (the area in

where she lived), Brown took a leadership role in the historic process of winning the right to vote for women at the national level – the world's first. In the fall of 1893, when women were registering to vote in the national elections, WCTU NZ member Mary S. Powell remembered that "Mrs. Brown was at our door with a cab at 9 a.m."

Death

Eliza Ann Brown died on 23 April 1923, and she was buried in

at the Eastern Cemetery next to her husband and eldest son.

Early life

Temperance leader

Women's rights activist

Death

See also

References

Further reading