Annie Kempt

Sister to Mary Jessie Kempt who signed the same sheet.

Biography contributed by Dr Nicola Francis

Annie Kempt was 26 when signed the Women’s Suffrage petition in 1893, along with her younger sister Mary Jessie Kempt and friends and relations.

Ann Catherine ‘Annie’ KEMPT was born at Waipū on 25 February 1867 to Janet McDONALD (1834-1920) who arrived in Auckland on the barque Breadalbane in May 1858 with her family, and Alexander D. KEMPT (1834-1927) who arrived in Auckland on the barque Ellen Lewis in May 1860. Both parents were part of the migration of Highland Scots to Nova Scotia then on to New Zealand. Annie was the second of 7 children, the first living child. She grew up in Waipū.

Annie had a sense of style that was noted in her winning second place in the Best Dressed Highland Lass at the Waipū New Year Games in January 1889. The following month, a correspondent writing about a dance held in the Library Hall on 8 February, named Annie as one of two belles of the ball.

On 2 June 1898, Annie married the local Presbyterian minister Rev William Thompson MA, BD (c.1852-1912), a Scot who had moved to New Zealand in 1896. A report in the New Zealand Herald dated 8 June 1898, notes that the wedding took place at Annie’s parents’ residence with many friends present. Rev Roby, assisted by the Revs McLean and Milne performed the ceremony. 'The bride was dressed in a navy-blue travelling costume. Miss Mary Kempt was the bridesmaid and Mr J.D. McLean was groomsman. After refreshments, the couple left for their honeymoon, accompanied to the steamer by their friends and a piper.'

The couple, who had no children, resided in Waipū from June 1898, leaving three years later for Fiji. By 1907 they were back in Waipū where William died in 1912.

Annie remained in Waipū until 1919, when she moved to Devonport, Auckland. She died on 6 July 1948.

Sources

Papers Past, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa | National Library of New Zealand, Wellington.

Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand Archives. http://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/Page173.htm

Waipū Museum, The Centre, Waipū, Tai Tokerau Northland, Aotearoa New Zealand.