Lucy Masey Lovell-Smith (née Smith; 1 June 18613 March 1936) was a notable New Zealand editor, feminist, temperance and welfare worker. She wrote under the pen-name "Vesta" when contributing to newspapers about women's rights. In 1926, she changed her surname to Lovell-Smith.
Early life
Lucy Masey Smith was born 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 River / ...
, New Zealand, in 1861, the fifth of six children of James Thomas Smith and
Eleanor Phoebe McLeod Smith.
joined the Christchurch chapter of 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) when it was formed in 1885 during the organizing efforts of
Mary Greenleaf 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 ...
.
Temperance and women's rights activist
Smith signed the WCTU NZ's petition for woman suffrage in 1893. Her brother William Sidney Smith (1852–1929) was also an advocate for woman suffrage, and his printing business produced the ''White Ribbon'' journal for the WCTU NZ from 1895 when it started. Her sister-in-law Mary Jane "Jennie" Cumberworth Smith (1848–1924) served as the founding business manager of the ''White Ribbon.''
Lucy Smith edited the ''White Ribbon'' from 1903 to 1908, and like the WCTU NZ, her brief went much wider than temperance. Under the banner ‘For God, Home, and Humanity,’ she published articles advocating equal pay for equal work, wages for housewives, professional education for girls, vegetarian diets and dress reform.
Smith attended the first meeting of the
(NCWNZ) in 1896, and by 1927 had become the secretary of the Christchurch branch.
She was editor of the ''NCW Bulletin'' in 1928–29.
She was very active in her church, serving as Sunday school teacher and Bible Class leader as well as congregational steward of the St. Albans Wesleyan Church.
Much of her work for women's rights however was behind the scenes,
working closely with her sisters-in-law Jennie Smith and
Kate Sheppard, and her mother Eleanor McLeod Smith.
Death
Lucy Masey Smith followed her brother's lead in changing her surname to Lovell-Smith in 1926. She died in her home on 3 March 1936, and she is buried in the Linwood Cemetery, Christchurch.
See also
*
Kate Sheppard
*
*
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 ...
*
Women's suffrage in New Zealand
References
External links
''The White Ribbon: for God, Home, and Humanity''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovell-Smith, Lucy
1861 births
1936 deaths
People from Christchurch
New Zealand feminists
New Zealand suffragists
New Zealand temperance activists
20th-century New Zealand people
20th-century New Zealand women