Helen Lyster Nicol (29 May 1854 – 22 November 1932) was a New Zealand suffragist and temperance campaigner. She is one of six suffragists honoured in the ''

Kate Sheppard National Memorial The ''Kate Sheppard National Memorial'', located in the city of Christchurch, is New Zealand's first memorial to the women's suffrage campaign, and particularly honours the life of one of the country's leading campaigners for women's suffrage, K ...

''.

Biography

Nicol was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, Midlothian, Scotland in 1854, but immigrated to

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 ...

with her family at age two. She was one of ten children of Margaret (born Cairns Smith) and David Nicol. Her father was a gardener who prospered in New Zealand. She was a teetotaller and committed

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

. She taught in a Sunday School and her work with the poor exposed her to the ills of alcohol and she became a committed prohibitionist and member of the temperance movement. It was through her association with the New Zealand branch of the

Women'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 ...

that Nicol became involved in the struggle for women's suffrage in New Zealand. She became one of the pioneering leaders of the suffrage movement in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, which was New Zealand's largest city at the time. Along with

Marion Hatton Marion Hatton ( Hanover; 8 September 1835 – 6 June 1905) was a New Zealand suffragist. Early life Hatton was born in Preston, Somerset, England on 8 September 1835 to Elizabeth Stenner and Robert Hanover. As a young woman, she was involved w ...

and

Harriet Morison Harriet Russell Morison (1862 – 19 August 1925) was a New Zealand tailor, trade unionist, suffragist and public servant. Early life Morison was born in Magherafelt, County Londonderry, Ireland in 1862. She came to New Zealand with her parent ...

, Nicol established the Women's Franchise League; the alcohol lobby in Dunedin was particularly strong, and the three decided that a pro-suffrage organisation outside the temperance movement would be more effective. Through their efforts, Dunedin contributed more signatures to the three pro-suffrage parliamentary petitions than any other part of the country. She is one of six suffragists memorialised in the ''

'', a sculpture located on the banks of the Avon River in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

. Nicol died on 22 November 1932 in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Biography

See also

References

Further reading