Maata Mahupuku, also known as Martha Grace and Martha Asher (10 April 1890 – 15 January 1952), was the muse and lover of short-story writer Katherine Mansfield. Of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

ancestry, descended from a New Zealand tribal leader, she identified with the

Ngati Kahungunu ''Ngati'' is a 1987 New Zealand feature film directed by Barry Barclay, written by Tama Poata and produced by John O'Shea. Production ''Ngati'' is of historical and cultural significance in New Zealand as it is the first feature film written an ...

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

Life

Mahupuku was the granddaughter of a Maori chief, Wiremu Mahupuku. She was born in Greytown, Wairarapa,

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on 10 April 1890. Her father, Richard William Mahupuku, farmed sheep. He died when she was young and her mother, Emily Sexton, married another sheep farmer, Nathaniel Grace. She became known as Martha Grace. left, Martha Grace aka Maata Mahupuku in a school photo in 1901 She is best remembered for her relationship with the writer Katherine Mansfield, who was two years older than her, initially while they were both at school in

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and then later in London and by correspondence. Mahupuku inherited substantial land and despite her lawyer embezzling some of her funds she was a rich woman. Her first husband was George McGregor, the son of well-known Wanganui residents George McGregor and Pura Te Mānihera. She later married a second time, and was known at her death as Martha Asher. Mansfield started a novel about her which Mahupuku claimed to have a full text of, but after Mansfield's death only a chapter and a plan were found.

Life

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