Ruth Wilkinson (née Webb, 8 February 1901 – 14 December 1985) was a community leader and local historian in New Zealand.

Early life

Wilkinson was born on 8 February 1901 in

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

, the youngest of five children of Mary Wilson and her husband, Seth Webb, a blacksmith. The family moved to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

in 1908 and Wilkinson attended the local primary school, followed by Hamilton High School.

Adult life

At the age of 16, Wilkinson began studying pharmacy by correspondence; her studies were interrupted by work assisting during the

1918 influenza epidemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

and she passed her final examinations in 1921. Wilkinson married in 1923 and, as was expected at the time, gave up her career to be a housewife. In 1947 Wilkinson's husband Kenneth was elected mayor of Cambridge, holding the position until 1953 and again from 1956 to 1962. Wilkinson supported him in his election campaigning and mayoral duties. In 1960 she became a justice of the peace and in 1963 she was appointed as an organiser of the Halls of Residence Campaign for the new

University of Waikato The University of Waikato ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato), is a Public university, public research university in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand established in 1964. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university perfo ...

. Wilkinson was also a writer and local historian. In the 1920s and 1930s she wrote short stories on family life for the '' New Zealand Herald'' and the ''Auckland Weekly News.'' She later wrote a number of works on the history of Cambridge. In the

1985 New Year Honours The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, Wilkinson was awarded the Queen's Service Medal for community service. She died in Cambridge on 14 December of the same year.

Publications

* ''First families of Cambridge'' (Cambridge Historical Society, 1972) * ''Life was like that'' (1974) * ''Just roaming'' (1978) * ''Streets of Cambridge and Senior Citizens Tales'', 1980, Cambridge Independent * ''Our Cambridge, 1886–1986'' (Cambridge Independent, 1986)

References

1901 births 1985 deaths People from Rotorua Recipients of the Queen's Service Medal New Zealand women historians 20th-century New Zealand historians {{NewZealand-bio-stub