Kate Sheppard
Kate Sheppard is undoubtedly
New Zealand's most influential
woman. Her efforts not only
changed the shape of history
in this country but indeed,
throughout the world.
Kate Sheppard was born on the 10 March 1847 in
Liverpool, England. Her full name is Katherine Wilson
Sheppard but she preferred Kate for short. Her
parents, Jemima Crawford Souter and, Andrew Wilson
Malcolm, were Scottish. Kate's father was known as a
banker, but sadly he died when Kate was only 15, in
1862. After that Kate's mother, Jemima, took her and
her two other brothers over to New Zealand in 1868
and settled in Christchurch.
In 1871, Kate was married to a merchant named
Walter Allen Sheppard in Christchurch. They had
one son together, Douglas, in 1880. In her era, if a
woman was to leave her husband she would have no
financial support at all, and would even lose the right
to raise her own children.
Kate
Sheppard
10 | W H O ' S W H O 2013
