Noeline Baker

Isabel Noeline Baker MBE (25 December 1878 – 25 August 1958), known as Noeline Baker, was a New Zealand suffragist, wartime women's labour administrator, gardener and peace educator.

Noeline Baker
Noeline Baker in c. 1953
Born
Isabel Noeline Baker

(1878-12-25)25 December 1878
Christchurch, New Zealand
Died25 August 1958(1958-08-25) (aged 79)
Stewart Island, New Zealand
NationalityNew Zealander
Alma materFitzherbert Terrace School
OccupationSocial Activist, Suffragist, Botanist

Biography

She was born in the Christchurch suburb of Opawa, New Zealand on 25 December 1878 to Isabel Baker (née Strachey) and John Holland Baker, chief surveyor of Canterbury.[1] Isabel (1845–1920) was a daughter of Richard Strachey of Ashwick Grove, Somerset, the third son of Sir Henry Strachey, 1st Baronet. Isabel's mother, Anne Marie (or Anna Maria), was a daughter of Alexander Powell MP,[2] a Tory member of parliament for Downton, Wiltshire.[3]

She attended Samuel Marsden Collegiate School in Wellington, then known as Fitzherbert Terrace School.[4] Her parents returned to England living in Guildford, Surrey, where Baker was active in the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and a founding member of the local branch. She was also a member of the London Society for Women's Suffrage.[1] For her organising of women's labour during World War I, she was appointed Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1920.[5]

She returned to New Zealand and built a house at Halfmoon Bay on Stewart Island called Moturau Moana, and used a checklist by botanist Leonard Cockayne to populate it with all the local indigenous plants. Today Moturau Moana is New Zealand's southernmost public garden after she donated it to the government.[1] For her botanical work at Moturau Moana, Baker was awarded the Loder Cup in 1949.[6] Other items of hers are held by Te Papa, the national museum in Wellington.[7]

She edited her father's account of his time in New Zealand[8] and performed music throughout her life.[9][10]

Baker died on 25 August 1958 on Stewart Island.[1]

For her work in England during World War I, she was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame of Samuel Marsden Collegiate School in 2015.[11]

References
  1. Taylor, Leah. "Isabel Noeline Baker". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  2. Mosley, Charles, ed. (1999). "Strachey". Burke's Peerage and Baronetage. 2. Switzerland: Burke's Peerage. pp. 2719–20. ISBN 2-940085-02-1.
  3. Farrell, Steven. "Powell, Alexander (1782–1847)". The History of Parliament online. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  4. "Hall of Fame Marsden Karori". Samuel Marsden Collegiate School. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  5. "No. 31840". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 March 1920. p. 3814.
  6. "All Loder Cup winners from 1929". Department of Conservation. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  7. "Portrait of a young man – Collections Online – Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa". collections.tepapa.govt.nz. 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
  8. Baker, Noeline, ed. (1932). A surveyor in New Zealand, 1857–1896 : the recollections of John Baker. Auckland: Whitcombe & Tombs.
  9. "Trinity College Instrumental and Vocal Examinations". The Evening Post. LI (31). 6 February 1896. p. 2. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
  10. "W.D.F.U. Social and Dance". Ellesmere Guardian. LIX (36). 6 May 1938. p. 5. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
  11. "(Isabel) Noeline Baker". Samuel Marsden Collegiate School. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
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