Nellie Euphemia Coad (15 October 1883 – 6 September 1974) was a New Zealand teacher, community leader, women's advocate and writer. She was an early advocate for educational and career opportunities for women, and for many years led and participated in the New Zealand Women Teachers' Association (NZWTA), where she fought for better salaries for female teachers and equal accommodation for female student athletes.

Early life and education

Coad was born in

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

, New Zealand, in 1883. She was the daughter of Annie McLauchlan, an Australian teacher, and James Coad, a brewer. The family moved back to Australia for a short time and she attended primary school in

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...

. By 1893 the family had returned to New Zealand, living in the

Aro Valley The Aro Valley forms a small inner-city suburb of Wellington in New Zealand. It takes its name from the stream which originally flowed where modern Epuni Street is. The stream's Māori name was originally Wai-Mapihi, but it was commonly called Te ...

suburb of Wellington (then called Mitchelltown), and Coad's mother was one of the signatories of the

1893 Women's Suffrage Petition The 1893 women's suffrage petition was the third of three petitions to the New Zealand Government in support of women's suffrage and resulted in the Electoral Act 1893, which gave women the right to vote in the 1893 general election. The 1893 ...

. Coad attended

Wellington Girls' College Wellington Girls' College was founded in 1883 in Wellington, New Zealand. At that time it was called Wellington Girls' High School. Wellington Girls' College is a year 9 to 13 state secondary school, located in Thorndon in central Wellington. H ...

(then Wellington Girls' High School). She received an MA with honours in mental philosophy from Victoria College in 1914.

Career

Coad became a pupil-teacher at Thorndon School in 1903 and for the next 13 years taught at several different primary schools in Wellington. As a young teacher she gave evidence before the 1912 Education Commission, chaired by Mark Cohen, and argued in favour of better salaries for female schoolteachers. From 1917 to 1938, she taught at Wellington Girls' College, where she became the head of the department of history, civics and geography, and authored several textbooks on the same subjects. She was known as a disciplinarian and one of her pupils later said she "gave good strong signposts through the confused paths of history". Her general history of New Zealand, ''New Zealand: From Tasman to Massey'' (1934) was widely used in schools throughout the country. Coad sat on the executive committee of the

New Zealand Educational Institute The New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI, in Maori: Te Riu Roa) is the largest education trade union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1883 and has a membership of 50,000. History The NZEI was founded by a merger of district institutes of t ...

, was a member of the University Entrance Board and was vice-president of the New Zealand Secondary Schools' Association. She served as vice-president of the

National Council of Women of New Zealand , logo = National Council of Women of New Zealand logo.png , logo_size = 100px , logo_alt = , logo_caption = , image = , image_size = , alt = , capt ...

in 1921–22 and as president of the Council's Wellington branch in 1922–23. She was the founding president of the New Zealand Women Writers' and Artists' Society from 1932 to 1934. Coad had a particular interest in advocating for educational and career opportunities for women, and for many years took a leading role in the New Zealand Women Teachers' Association (NZWTA), where she fought for better salaries for female teachers and equal accommodation for female student athletes. She was founding secretary of the Wellington branch from 1914 to 1916 and national president from 1920 to 1924. She was one of three women elected to the New Zealand government's advisory Council of Education in 1915, and at the third conference of the NZWTA in 1916, opposed the Council's recommendation that all secondary school girls be taught home science. She argued that girls should receive a good general education, rather than being required to specialise early which would limit their choices of career. On her retirement from the presidency of the NZWTA, it was said that she was "one of the foremost workers in the interests of the girls and women in our schools", and that the NZWTA's success was largely owed to her.

Later life

In 1934, Coad's mother, who had been living with her, died. After retiring from teaching at the end of 1938, Coad toured Europe, eventually living in England, and served as an

air raid warden Air Raid Precautions (ARP) refers to a number of organisations and guidelines in the United Kingdom dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air raids. Government consideration for air raid precautions increased in the 1920s an ...

in London during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. She was hospitalised for several weeks as a result of injuries sustained in this role. She also attended several

PEN International PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internationa ...

conferences on behalf of PEN New Zealand, including a 1939 conference in New York where she met

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...

and had lunch with

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

and

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

. On a return visit to New Zealand in 1947 she said she hoped women would become a stronger force in political life post-war. Coad died at

Runwell Runwell is a village near Wickford and a civil parish on the A132 road, in the Chelmsford District, in the English county of Essex. The village is surrounded by neighbouring parishes such as Battlesbridge and Rettendon. Amenities Runwell ...

, Essex, in September 1974.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coad, Nellie 1883 births 1974 deaths New Zealand educators New Zealand women educators 20th-century New Zealand writers New Zealand women writers New Zealand activists New Zealand women activists People educated at Wellington Girls' College Victoria University of Wellington alumni