Esther Piper

Biography contributed by Clare Cramond

Esther Jane Piper was born in Faversham, Kent, England in 1872. When she was three-years-old, she migrated to New Zealand on the Hudson arriving in Hawke’s Bay in February 1876. She was with her parents John and Charlotte Piper, two brothers and her four teenage sisters who travelled in the single women’s quarters. John was a cropping farmer and began hop-growing in the Wairoa area.

Esther cannot be traced again until 1893, when she signed the Women’s Suffrage petition in Hastings. Her parents were living there around this time, and her mother died in 1893. Two of her sisters, Annie Hall and Ellen Burke also signed the Petition.

In 1895, Esther married Andrew Bailey who was eighteen years her senior. At this time, he was building the McHardy homestead at 'Blackhead' estate in Hawke’s Bay. They moved to Palmerston North where Andrew was a cabinet maker and they lived there for the rest of their lives. They had two sons and seven daughters, the youngest born in 1909. Their son William was killed in Belgium during World War I.

Andrew died in 1934, aged 80 and Esther lived with several of her unmarried children for some years. She made her will in 1935 with her daughter Esther Caroline Bailey her sole executor and beneficiary. The likeness between her writing of 'Esther' in her will and on the Petition, indicate Esther Piper and Esther Jane Bailey were the same woman.

Esther died on 29 March 1947 at Palmerston North and was buried at Kelvin Grove Cemetery.

Sources

England and Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915, 1872, Q4 Oct-Nov-Dec Ref 2a 736

'New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, Passenger Lists, 1839-1973', FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FS1Q-W2D : Wed Nov 01 10:13:03 UTC 2023), Entry for Esther Piper, 11 Feb 1876.

1893 Electoral Rolls 1853-2010, Hawkes Bay, Page 53

Births Deaths and Marriages Online https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ Manawatu Times Volume LIX, Issue 7487 11 June 1934

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ Manawatu Times Volume LIV, Issue 168 16 June 1934

1938 Electoral Rolls 1853-2010, Manawatu-Wanganui, Palmerston North. Page 12

'New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, Probate Records, 1843-1998,' database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2VCC-LJT : 9 March 2021), Esther Jane Bailey, 1947; citing , Palmerston North probate files [second sequence], 1922-1994, record number 0095/47, Archives New Zealand, Auckland Regional Office; FamilySearch digital folder 007087163.