Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley:
Isabella Lillie Gillies was born in 1867 in New Zealand – the daughter of William Gillies, a Minister of Religion, and Jane Reid Russell.
Isabella married Robert William Urquhart, an engineer, at her home - the Manse, Timaru on 26 January 1892.
They had three children and lived in Dunedin until the early 1900s when they moved to Wellington. Robert was a chief engineer who worked for the Union Steam Ship Company.
In 1909 he was working on the Penguin which travelled between Nelson and Wellington when it hit a rock at night. Robert was swept off the boat just before it sank and he drowned.
Isabella had to identify his body, “keeping up until then a desperate hope that he might have been saved. She is prostrated with grief.” Robert’s funeral was organised by the Marine Engineers Institute.
The following year Isabella began work as Matron, supervising a boarding house for students of Wellington Girls College, later called College House. Isabella continued as Matron until 1923. Among her activities were organising garden fetes to benefit the Wellington Red Cross Shop and to raise money for the Junior Girl’s Hostel.
Isabella died on 27 July 1924. She is buried with her husband in the Karori Cemetery, Wellington.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Wellington City Council https://wellington.govt.nz/services
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
Community contributions