Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Sheppard had no time to rest, as the 1893 election was only ten weeks away, and the
newspapers were spreading rumours that an early election might be called to reduce
the number of women enrolled. Along with the Temperance Union, she was highly
active in encouraging women to register as voters.[64] The main meeting venue in
Christchurch was the Tuam Street Hall.[65][66] One of her largest detractors was
the liquor industry, which feared for its continued business.[63] Despite the short
notice, 88 percent of women had enrolled to vote by election date (28 November),
[67] and nearly 70 percent ended up casting a vote.[68] Although women had gained
the vote they were not eligible to stand in parliamentary elections until 1919, and
it was not until 1933 that the first woman was elected to parliament.[69]
In around 1892 Sheppard had started bicycling around Christchurch�one of the first
women in the city to do so.[70] She joined the Atalanta Ladies' Cycling Club, which
existed from 1892 to 1897,[29][71] and was a founding committee member. The club
was the first women's cycling club in New Zealand or Australia and attracted
controversy as some of its members advocated "rational dress"�such as
knickerbockers rather than skirts for female cyclists.[72]
In December 1893, Sheppard was elected President of the Christchurch branch of the
WCTU.[73] She chaired the first two meetings in 1894, before travelling to England
with her husband and son. She was in great demand in England as a speaker to
women's groups about the struggle for women's suffrage in New Zealand.[74] In mid-
1895, the WCTU launched a monthly journal, The White Ribbon, with Sheppard as the
editor, contributing to it from overseas.[75][76] While in England Sheppard
experienced health problems, requiring an operation, possibly a hysterectomy.[77]
The family returned to New Zealand at the beginning of 1896.[78] Later that year,
Sheppard was reappointed editor of The White Ribbon.[79]
The National Council of Women of New Zealand was established in April 1896 by the
Canterbury Women's Institute and ten other women's groups from throughout New
Zealand,[81][82] and Sheppard was elected president at its founding convention.[83]
The Council promoted the right of women to stand for Parliament, equal pay and
equal opportunities for women, the removal of legal disabilities affecting women,
and economic independence for married women.[84]
Sheppard's election as president, instead of fellow feminist Lady Anna Stout, had
caused a rift.[81] This, along with other disagreements such as whether the Council
should support New Zealand's involvement in the Second Boer War, contributed to the
organisation going into recess in 1906.[81][82]
Later life
By 1902, Sheppard's marriage appears to have been under strain, and possibly had
been for several years.[87] Her husband sold their house and moved to England with
their son, who wished to study in London. Sheppard bought new furnishings and
appeared to be planning for a new permanent residence in Christchurch,[88] but sold
them in 1903, stepped down from her positions at the National Council of Women, and
moved to England without any fixed date to return.[89] On the way she briefly
stopped in Canada and the United States where she met the American suffragist
Carrie Chapman Catt.[5] In London, she was active in promoting women's suffrage,
but her health deteriorated further, forcing her to stop this work.[90]
In November 1904, Sheppard returned to New Zealand with her husband, but he went
back to England in March the following year.[91] She moved into the house of her
long-time friends William Sidney Lovell-Smith and his wife Jennie Lovell-Smith;[92]
their third daughter, Hilda Kate Lovell-Smith, had been given her middle name after
Sheppard.[93] She remained relatively inactive in political circles, and stopped
giving speeches, but continued to write.[5] She prepared a display on the history
of women's suffrage for the 1906 Exhibition in Christchurch,[94] and wrote the
pamphlet Woman Suffrage in New Zealand for the International Women's Suffrage
Alliance in 1907. The following year she travelled to England for her son's
wedding, visiting the headquarters of the WCTU in Chicago on the way, and meeting
with suffrage groups after arriving in Britain.[95] In 1912 and 1913, she travelled
with the Lovell-Smiths through India and Europe.[96] While she did not recover her
former energy, her health had stopped declining, and she continued to be effective
in influencing the New Zealand women's movement. She was the first to sign a
petition to the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, in 1916, asking him to urge the
British government to enfranchise women,[97] and she revitalised the National
Council of Women along with a group of other prominent suffragettes in 1918.
Sheppard was elected president of the National Council that year before stepping
down in 1919.[82][97]