Mary Elizabeth Small (1812–1908) was a New Zealand

market gardener A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically from under to ...

and farmer.

Biography

Small (née Philpott) was born in

Hawkhurst Hawkhurst is village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The village is located close to the border with East Sussex, around south-east of Royal Tunbridge Wells and within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Nat ...

Kent, England Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces the ...

around 1812. She married Stephen Small in 1841. Stephen and Mary emigrated with their children Mary Anne (16), William (5) and John (2) to Sydney, Australia on the ''Midlothian'' arriving on 8 April 1849. Three further children were born to the couple in Australia. In 1859, Mary Small took five of the six children (William, John, Archibald, James and Emma) first to Sydney and then to New Zealand. Stephen Small posted a reward for information on their whereabouts. Mary, having changed her surname to Phipps, began market gardening in

Governors Bay Governors Bay is a small town in Canterbury, New Zealand. Geography The settlement of Governors Bay is located on Banks Peninsula near the head of Lyttelton Harbour. It is connected via Governors Bay Road to Lyttelton, via Dyers Pass Road ove ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

. She was successful in her businesses and eventually purchased land and buildings in the area. Later in life she changed her surname back to Small. She died on 25 May 1908 and is buried at St Cuthberts Church, Governors Bay. New Zealand author

Elsie Locke Elsie Violet Locke (née Farrelly; 17 August 1912 – 8 April 2001) was a New Zealand communist writer, historian, and leading activist in the feminism and peace movements. Also available to subscribers at Oxford Reference Online'. Probably bes ...

based her popular children's novel, ''The Runaway Settlers'', on Small's life.

References

1812 births 1908 deaths New Zealand women farmers English emigrants to New Zealand 19th-century New Zealand people 19th-century New Zealand farmers 19th-century New Zealand women farmers {{NewZealand-bio-stub