Elizabeth Webb (Bakewell) Nicholls (1850 - 1943)

Born 21 Feb 1850 in Adelaide, Province of South Australia

Ancestors

Wife of Alfred Richard Nicholls — married 2 Aug 1870 (to 11 Nov 1920) in North Adelaide, Province of South Australia

Descendants

Died 3 Aug 1943 at age 93 in North Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Biography

Genealogically Defined

Elizabeth (Bakewell) Nicholls was born in the Colony of South Australia (1836-1900)

Elizabeth (Bakewell) Nicholls is Notable.

Elizabeth (Bakewell) Nicholls was a part of the Suffragette Movement.

Elizabeth Webb Nicholls, née Bakewell, is remembered as a social reformer, women's activist, women's suffragist and editor of Our Federation, the journal of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She played a large part in women getting the vote in South Australia in 1896.^[1]

Born in Rundle Street, Adelaide, on 21 February 1850 to Samuel Bakewell and his first wife, Mary Pye,^[2] Elizabeth was just three years old when her mother died.^[3] Elizabeth then spent several years in England with relatives. Her father remarried his late wife's sister, Eliza Pye,^[4] and the family settled at North Adelaide.^[5]

In 1870 Elizabeth married fellow Methodist, Alfred Nicholls, a warehouseman,^[6] and they had five children:

• Arthur Guy Nicholls
• Percy Howard Nicholls
• Leslie Herbert Nicholls
• Hedley Tresawna Nicholls
• Winifred Nicholls

They also raised two orphaned relatives.^[5]

A Sunday school teacher, Elizabeth was one of the founding members of the Adelaide Women's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) in 1886. The initial focus of the W.C.T.U. was alcohol, as it contributed significantly to violence, particularly against women and children, and to family poverty. Elizabeth was the South Australian President between 1889-1897 and 1906-1927, and the Australian President from 1894-1903. The organisation was also active in other areas of social reform, particularly women's suffrage. The South Australian branch collected some 8,000 of the 11,000 signatures on the pro-suffrage petition presented to parliament in 1894 and played a crucial part in the winning of women’s suffrage in that year. Elizabeth founded the W.C.T.U.'s journal, Our Federation, and edited it from 1898 to 1904 when it ceased. In it she reported her interstate journeys. She attended conferences in Paris, London and Edinburgh in 1900, and in 1920 the tenth world convention of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance at Geneva.^[5][7]

Elizabeth was a councillor of the Women's Suffrage League. Before the first election in which women voted, in 1896, she prepared a Platform of Principles. An inspirational speaker, Elizabeth declared that South Australian women "were not like women who lived in a Turkish harem, but they were going to decide for themselves and not follow any one party blindfoldedly."^[5]

From 1909 Elizabeth was a member of the Women's Non-Party Political Association, later known as the League of Women Voters of South Australia, and its president in 1911 when she led a deputation to Premier John Verran stressing the need for women jurors, justices of the peace and 'police matrons', and for sex instruction for young people. Later Elizabeth was a life vice-president of the League of Women Voters.^[5]

In 1922 Elizabeth assisted Bessie Rischbieth of Western Australia to establish the Australian Federation of Women's Societies, which later changed its name to the Australian Federation of Women Voters.^[8] Elizabeth was the first woman appointed to the Board of the Adelaide Hospital from 1895 to 1922,^[9] and from 1915 was a Justice of the Peace, one of the four first women in this role.^[8]

Grave of Elizabeth & Alfred Nicholls, Payneham Cemetery

Pre-deceased by her husband in 1920,^[10] Elizabeth died in North Adelaide, South Australia, in 1943,^[11] and was interred in the Payneham Cemetery, Payneham South.^[12]

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Elizabeth Webb Nicholls," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elizabeth_Webb_Nicholls&oldid=948678375 (accessed March 14, 2021).
2. ↑ South Australia Births 1842-1928 (FindMyPast, https://www.findmypast.com : accessed 7 December 2020) database entry for Bakewell, Elizabeth Webb (Birthdate: 21 February 1850, Father: Samuel Bakewell, Mother: Mary Ann Pye, Birthplace: Adelaide) Reference: District: Adelaide, Book/Page: 3/31.
3. ↑ South Australia Deaths 1842-1972 (FindMyPast, https://www.findmypast.com : accessed 14 March 2021) database entry for Bakewell, Mary Ann (Death Date: 25 May 1853, Marital Status: Married, Age: 28y, Relative: Samuel Bakewell (Husband), Residence: Adelaide, Death Place: ) Reference: District: Adelaide, Book/Page: 2/214.
4. ↑ South Australia Marriages 1842-1937 (FindMyPast, https://www.findmypast.com ; accessed 14 March 2021) database entry for Bakewell, Samuel (Age: Full, Status: Widower, Father: not stated) and Pye, Eliza Hannah (Age: Full, Status: Single, Father: not stated) on 25 July 1854 at Res of Mr Bakewell North Adelaide, Reference: District: Adelaide, Book/Page: 19/57.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4} Marie Mune, 'Nicholls, Elizabeth Webb (1850–1943)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/nicholls-elizabeth-webb-7839/text13613, published first in hardcopy 1988, accessed online 14 March 2021.
6. ↑ South Australia Marriages 1842-1937 (FindMyPast, https://www.findmypast.com ; accessed 14 March 2021) database entry for Bakewell, Elizabeth Webb (Age: 20, Status: Single, Father: Samuel Bakewell) and Nicholls, Alfred Richard (Age: 28, Status: Single, Father: James Nicholls) on 2 August 1870 at Res of S Bakewell North Adelaide, Reference: District: Adelaide, Book/Page: 84/265.
7. ↑ Allen, Margaret. Women's Christian Temperance Union. (Adelaidia, archived at Wayback Machine 26 Nov 2020, retrieved 14 Mar 2021)
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Grimshaw, Patricia. Nicholls, Elizabeth (1850-1943) (The Encyclopedia of Women & Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia, archived at Wayback Machine 18 Mar 2021)
9. ↑ Observer, Adelaide, SA, 3 June 1922, page 37, column 3, A Woman Pioneer. (Trove, National Library of Australia, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/?type=newspapers : accessed 18 March 2021)
10. ↑ South Australia Deaths 1842-1972 (FindMyPast, https://www.findmypast.com : accessed 14 March 2021) database entry for Nicholls, Alfred Richard (Death Date: 11 November 1920, Marital Status: Married, Age: 78y, Residence: Prospect, Death Place: Royston Park) Reference: District: Norwood, Book/Page: 441/528.
11. ↑ South Australia Deaths 1842-1972 (FindMyPast, https://www.findmypast.com : accessed 14 March 2021) database entry for Nicholls, Elizabeth Webb (Death Date: 3 August 1943, Marital Status: Widowed, Age: 93y, Relative: Alfred Richard Nicholls (Deceased husband), Residence: Adelaide, Death Place: North Adelaide) Reference: District: Adelaide, Book/Page: 667/4020.
12. ↑ Burial Record (Dudley Park & Payneham Cemetery Trust, https://search.dudleyparkcemetery.com.au/ : accessed 18 Mar 2021) burial record for Nicholls, Elizabeth Webb (Cemetery: Payneham, Age: 93, Burial Date: 5 Aug 1943, Section: SE, Path: 27, Site: 0679)

See also

• Australian Suffragettes