Elizabeth Pink

Biography contributed by Lorraine Berry

Elizabeth PEARCE was born in 1853 at Barming in Kent, England. By the age of eighteen she was working as a servant at a lodging house in Maidstone. She was a lady’s maid and companion who was treated as one of the family and ate with them unless guests were present. She had received some education and has been described as a handsome, ladylike person with English reserve. She was a fine seamstress and was able to work intricate lace patterns.

Elizabeth married James Thomas PINK in 1871. Being a poorly paid agricultural labourer, James decided to emigrate. Elizabeth consented to the idea on the condition that James give up drinking alcohol, which he did. As assisted immigrants, they and infant daughter sailed to Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship, Wennington in 1874.

The expected destination of Canterbury did not eventuate and they continued on to Southland to join extended family, who had settled at Woodlands. By 1880 the young family had left Woodlands and moved to the predominately Scottish settlement of Waianiwa, a farming district twelve miles from Invercargill.

On being granted an allotment of half an acre, the family was able to erect a modest house. This was where Elizabeth gave birth to her sixteen children, eleven of whom survived to adulthood. The nationwide economic downturn of the 1890s that brought a lack of jobs for rural workers, coupled with health concerns, caused hardship. For relief Elizabeth needed to pass on the care of some of her seven dependent children to extended family members.

Elizabeth contributed to community welfare and was a much-loved neighbour. She was widowed in 1916 and continued to live at home in Waianiwa with her two unmarried daughters until 1919 when they shifted to Invercargill where she died in 1932 at the age of 79. Elizabeth was buried in the Wallacetown Cemetery.

Sources

Brian Easton, 'Economic history - Boom and bust, 1870–1895', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/economic-history/page-5 (accessed 7 December 2020)

Lindsay Watson & Lorraine Berry, Of a very superior class: The Pink Family of Waianiwa (Ashburton: Lindsay R. Watson, 2017)

Image

Elizabeth PINK about 1930. Photo Campbell Photo, Invercargill (Lindsay WATSON)