Life & Times

Ada Wells

Ada, suffragist

Chester Pike

Dorothy Murray

Ada's Education

After they arrived in New Zealand, Ada was sent to Avonside School, which later became part of Christchurch East School.

The family arrived in New Zealand on October 31 1873, and Ada was enrolled at Avonside in 1874. It seems that the family valued education and saw no harm in educating the girls as well as the boys of the family.

Ada stayed at Avonside for two years, before moving to Christchurch West in 1876.

She achieved good results at school and became a pupil-teacher there in the year her father died, 1877, a role she continued to hold until 1881.

At 18 she was awarded a university junior scholarship and in 1882 attended Canterbury College (which later became the University of Canterbury.)

Ada did not finish her Bachelor of Arts, and we can only speculate why, but when she left, she went to work as a teacher at Christchurch Girls' High School. It may have been for financial reasons, as her mother was supporting her large family by herself, after the death of Ada's father, William Henry Pike. Ada, as the eldest child may have been expected to contribute to the household.

Some information taken from Philippa Fogarty's entry in the "Dictionary of New Zealand Biography" and "The Suffragists" -- a compilation of entries from the dictionary.

The Ada Wells entry in the New Zealand Dictionary of Biography.

Links to my pages on Ada Wells

• Suffragist • Wells family • Ada's education • Chester Wells • Chronology