Ada's Chronology
1863 April 29: Ada was born in Shepherds Green, near Henley-on-Thames in England.
1873 3 August: the Sailing Ship, Merope leaves Plymouth in England carrying Ada and her family to New Zealand.
1873 31 October, the Merope successfully completes her fourth voyage to New Zealand carrying 143 immigrants and anchors in Lyttleton Port.
1874 Ada begins study at Avonside School (later merged with Christchurch East School).
1876 Ada attends Christchurch West School
1877 Promotion to pupil-teacher at Christchurch West
1881 Ada attends Canterbury College, a College of the University of New Zealand (later to become the University of Canterbury), begining at aged 17, and turning 18 while at College.
1883 Taught at Christchurch Girls' High School under the headmistress, Helen Conan.
1884 January 7, Ada Pike married Harry Wells at Saint Saviours, Sydenham, Christchurch, NZ
1884 Women were granted the right to own property in New Zealand.
1885 Ada's first child: Christabel Mary Wells was born.
1886 April 25, Alma Lucy Blanche Wells was born
1887 September 19, Alice Celice Wells was born
1889 December 16, John Stanley Wells was born.
1892 September, Canterbury Women's Institute established with the assistance of Ada, Professor Bickerton and other University associates.
1893 September, women granted the vote.
1893 November, women of New Zealand voted.
1896 National Council of Women established in Christchurch and met in the Canterbury Provincial Buildings. Sometimes known as the "Women's Parliament", it was headed by Suffragist, Kate Sheppard as president and Ada, aged 33, its secretary.
1898 Assisted in forming the Charitable Aid Board
1899 Elected to the Ashburton and North Canterbury Charitable Aid Board, along with Emily Black.
1905 A Commission of Inquiry was held into the running of the Waltham Orphanage after persistent criticism by women's groups and Ada. She and others were concerned about the way th orphanage was run, including everything from a lack of baths to the fact that girls were held back from school to do domestic duties.
1906 Both Ada and Emily Black were removed from the Board.
1917 Elected the first female city councillor for Christchurch.
1919 Ada lost her seat on the Council.
1918 Harry Wells dies.
1933 Ada dies. She has a form of cancer that prevents her from speaking and so writes many of her last thoughts down.
Chronology of Women's Suffrage
1869 Women in Wyoming gained the vote.
1870 Women in Utah gained the vote.
1879 Qualification of Electors Bill introduced to Parliament introducing the right to vote for women property owners. It was voted down.
1874 The Women's Temperance Union was founded in the United States with social reform on its agenda
1885 Mary Leavitt arrived in New Zealand, a missionary from the US Women's Temperance Union, to speak throughout the country on prohibition, women's right to vote and other social issues. She and Anne Ward formed the first branches of the New Zealand Women's Temperance Union (WCTU).
1887 Kate Sheppard became the head of the franchise and legislation department of the WCTU.
1887 Women's Suffrage Bill introduced into Parliament by the Prime Minister Julius Vogel. The Bill was defeated in its committee stage.
1890 Snap debate in Parliament about women's right to vote triggered by John Hall, a stalwart advocate of the right. A vote at the time was won by 26 votes, but later legislation introduced to enshrine the sentiment was voted down again (Women's Franchise Bill and an ammendment to the Electoral Act).
1891 The first petition to Parliament to gain the vote for women.
1892 The second petition.
1893 The third petition with 32,000 signatures which was glued together in a 300 yard long roll of women's petitions and unrolled in Parliament by John Hall.
1893 May, Meri Te Tai Mangakahia presented a motion to the Maori Parlaiment that women be able to vote for and sit in it. The idea of the vote being extended to Maori women too was greeted with vociferous support by the Lower House in the New Zealand Parliament. The Upper House was now where resistance was strongest, led by Richard Seddon.
1893 September 8, After complex political manoeuverings the Electoral Bill was supported by a vote in Parliament.
1893 September 19, the Governor, Lord Glasgow, signed the Bill and it became law that all New Zealand women were able to vote in national elections.
1893 November 28, Election day when women in New Zealand first voted for a national government. 90,290 women voted (85% of those registered).
1894 South Australian women gained th vote
1899 West Australian women gained the vote
1902 Australian Federal Govenment granted women the vote.
1918 Brtiain granted the vote to women over 30
1919-1920 US women gain the right to vote in an amendment to the Constitution.
1919 Women in New Zealand were given the right to sit in Parliament
1933 The first female member of Parliament was elected in New Zealand, Elizabeth McCombes.
1949 The first Maori woman to be elected to Parliament.
1928 Britain extended the right to vote to all those of the same voting age.
Information from:
- Christchurch City Libaries sources
- Canterbury Museum sources
- Family anecdote
- Farewell Speech, by Rachel McAlpine.
- Much of the franchise information comes from the excellent introduction to the book "The Suffragists: Women who Worked for the Vote" written by Dorothy Page (pub. Bridget Williams Books, and the New Zealand Dictionary of Biography, 1993).
- Women and welfare work, 1893-1993 by Penny Ehrhardt with Ann Beaglehole. (pub 1993 by Wellington, N.Z. : Dept. of Social Welfare Corporate Office and New Zealand Community Funding Agency, Women's Suffrage Centenary Project 1993 in association with the Historical Branch, Dept. of Internal Affairs.)
Links to my pages on Ada Wells
• Suffragist • Wells family • Ada's education • Chester Wells • Chronology