My Grandparents

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My Paternal Grandparents

The child on the left
of this photo
is a boy
and he is sporting
a rather strange haircut -
what we would call in Australia
a mullet


The boy was born in 1899
and is my father's father
my Grandfather

These are the four children
in his family
He is the oldest son
His father was an immigrant
from Scotland
an architect from Glasgow
His mother died in childbirth


His older sister on the right
I knew very well
my Great Aunt Winnie,
who came with her husband
for afternoon tea many Sundays
of my childhood


I won't tell you
who her husband was
just yet
I am getting ahead of myself

My Grandfather
on the very right
left his hometown
a number of times
during the Depression
to find work
to support his family

This is my father's mother
my Grandmother
who I am told
enjoyed acting
and perhaps that is what
has just occurred here

Nana was born in 1902
near Timaru
in South Canterbury



She was very active in the community
and perhaps her fledgling acting skills
prepared her to make a mark
on the New Zealand political scene
She became the mayor of Timaru
and the President
of the New Zealand Labour Party- Women's Section
and a
member of the New Zealand
Labour Party Executive

In 1948
she applied for a passport
and interestingly
that document
is called a British Passport
for the Dominion of New Zealand

and she is noted
to be a British Subject

The purpose
in obtaining a passport
was to travel to Paris
with the New Zealand Prime Minister
and other advisors
to attend the Third General Assembly
of the United Nations

the New Zealand Prime Minister
at the time,
on the left,
was Peter Fraser

The Chairperson of the UNGA
was Eleanor Roosevelt
and the Vice Chairman
Dr P.C. Chang from China

The four delegates in this photo
From left to right
Mr Louis Hyde USA
Mrs Ann Newlands NZ
Dr P.C. Chang China
and
Dr W B Sutch NZ

according to the scrawled note
in my Grandmother's hand
on the reverse of the photo

they are standing

"on the very spot
where Joan of Arc was burned,
plaque set in the ground"

The task of the delegates was to agree
on the final round of the Geneva Draft
which paved the way
for the Bill of Human Rights
which was passed
by the United Nations in 1948

To read a little more
of New Zealand's stance
on this draft
you might like to link
to a previous post
entitled
My Grandmother

When my Grandmother
returned to New Zealand
after three months abroad
she was quite a celebrity
in her home town
and was much in demand
for interviews and meetings



She wrote a series of articles
for the newspaper
which were recorded onto
huge black 98s
and my sisters and I
often liked to pull them out
and put them on the gramophone
to listen to our Nana
pontificating
in a style and manner
quite unfamiliar to us...



One of the occasions
that she liked to share with us
was the time she spent at tea
with the other women delegates
of the United Nations,
and especially Mrs Franklin. D. Roosevelt




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Oh
and I nearly forgot
to tell you who Great Aunt Winnie
was married to



Poor Winnifred was a spinster
destined to remain
'on the shelf'
My grandmother had a brother
who had divorced
which was a very rare phenomena
in those times


So my Grandmother
played match maker and
stitched up Great Aunt Winnie
to her brother Frederick
creating a very tight connection
where
brother and sister
were married
to brother and sister...





Great Aunt Winnie
was stoic...





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