Susan Selina Wood (1888 - 1979)

Born 4 Dec 1888 in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand

Died 25 Aug 1979 at age 90 in Wellington, New Zealand

Biography

This profile is part of the Wood Name Study.

When Susan Selina Wood was born on 4 December 1888, in New Zealand, her father, Edwin Thomas Wood, was 39 and her mother, Susan Sophia Toomey, was 34.

In 1925 Mimie lived in Mahoe Street, Eastbourne.

In 2017, Wood was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's 150 women in 150 words.
The "150 women in 150 words" project was undertaken by the Royal Society Te Apārangi and published during their 150th anniversary celebrations in 2017. The aim of the project was "celebrating women's contributions to expanding knowledge in New Zealand", and involved short online biographies of a range of women from early Polynesian settlers to present-day scientists.

BIO Susan Selina "Mimie" Wood MBE (4 December 1888 – 25 August 1979) was a New Zealand secretary, accountant, and librarian for the Royal Society of New Zealand. She was employed by the organisation from 1920 until her retirement in 1962. Coleridge Farr, president of the New Zealand Institute from 1929 to 1931, said of her that it would be more accurate to describe her as the institute's assistant president. She carried a large administrative load at the Royal Society and correctly predicted that upon her retirement, she would be replaced by five people; those five positions were established within three years of her departure.

From 1920 until shortly before her death, Wood lived in Eastbourne with her partner, Margaret Magill. There, they were part of a circle of lesbian friends at a time when it was highly unusual to be openly lesbian. They were both very active in the community and both were appointed members of the Order of the British Empire. Wood co-founded a number of community groups and usually served on committees, holding positions with those groups for decades. She was elected fellow of two societies.

Wood was born in 1888 in Dunedin. She was christened as Susan Selina Wood at the Anglican St Peter's Church in Caversham. She never used her birth name, not even on official documents, but always signed as Mimie Wood. Her parents were Edwin Thomas and Susan Sophia Wood (née Toomey). Wood received her education at schools in various Dunedin suburbs: Wakari, Kaikorai, and then at Dunedin Normal School in Dunedin North. She did not receive a secondary school education. Her father, who was an accountancy tutor, also taught writing and was a designer. He announced one day that he would teach calligraphy to Mimie and make her "the best in New Zealand". Her handwritten minutes that she would take in copperplate script were testimony to her father's teaching. She attended Knox Church in George Street, and for some time she taught bible classes there. She knew John Marwick in Dunedin, who would later become a paleontologist and geologist. It is thought that she knew George Thomson through Knox Church.

She died on 25 August 1979, in Wellington, New Zealand, at the age of 91, and was cremated in the Karori Crematorium - Karori, Wellington, New Zealand.

Sources

• 'Births, Deaths & Marriages Online', [digital index], New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs (http://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz)
  
  • NZ Births, Deaths and Marriages Birth Registration: 1889/871 (Wood, Susan Selina. Parents: Susan Sophia & Edwin Thomas)
  • NZ Births, Deaths and Marriages Death Registration: 1979/44340 (Wood, Mimie. DOB: 4 December 1888)

• Elections Record The Wilson Collection: Mimie Wood
  (https://wilsoncollection.co.nz/related?surname=WOOD&forename=Mimie)

• Wikipedia One of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's 150 women in 150 words
  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimie_Wood)

• Wikipedia 150 women in 150 words
  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/150_women_in_150_words)

• Wellington City Council Cemetery Records (https://wellington.discovereverafter.com/profile/29614976)

• Probate File: Archives New Zealand
  Wellington Probates Archives New Zealand: R22942385

• Family Search
  (https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/GMWK-9P5)