Cybele Ethel Kirk

Cybele Ethel Kirk
Born 1 October, 1870
Auckland
Died 19 May, 1957
Wellington
Nationality New Zealand

Cybele Ethel Kirk (1 October 1870 – 19 May 1957) was a New Zealand temperance and welfare worker, teacher.

Life

Kirk was born in Auckland in New Zealand on 1 October 1870.[1] Her parents were Sarah Jane and Thomas Kirk. Her father was an enthusiastic botanist who was a museum curator who later lectured on the natural sciences at Wellington College. She was one of nine children and five, including Lily and Harry, who survived to adulthood. She used the name, Cybele, as a child but used, Ethel, in later life. When she was three her family moved to Wellington as her father continued his career in Botany. She, her sisters and her mother assisted her father by gathering plants.[2]

Her mother protected her as she was thought to be delicate. However in 1898 her father died and Cybele had to direct her Sunday school teacher skills to obtaining paid work teaching in a primary school. She was interested in the work and in 1905 she founded the Richmond Free Kindergarten Union.[1]

In 1917 she was working at Otaki Maori College. The following year she worked through the flu epidemic staying at the college until 1921. Her sister, Lily, died that year and she went on to be the secretary of the New Zealand Society for the Protection of Women and Children in 1924. She help this post until 1937 looking after abandoned and unwed mothers and those affected by alcoholism. Meanwhile she became Juuctice of the Peace in 1926 as well as taking increasingly responsible roles in the National Council of Women of New Zealand.[1]

Kirk was given the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935 for her service to her community.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Williams, Dale Ashenden. "Cybele Ethel Kirk". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  2. ↑ The Women's Suffrage Petition, 1893. Bridget Williams Books. 17 May 2017. pp. 75–. ISBN 978-1-988533-09-4.


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