Ethel Birch
Ethel Birch (née Lydia Etheldreda Larden, 1853 – 23 February 1927) was a British born New Zealand settler and the first European woman to climb Mount Ruapehu. She donated watercolours by her mother Lydia Larden to the Sarjeant Gallery in Whanganui.
Biography
[edit]Birch was the youngest daughter of Lydia Larden (née Bucknill) and Rev George Edge Larden of Arkel Rectory, Shropshire.[1] She married her cousin William John Birch in Oxford, England, on 16 December 1875.[1][2] Birch had emigrated to New Zealand in 1860[3] and with his brother Azim established a large sheep station on the Oruamatua-Kaimanawa Block near Moawhango, in the Inland Patea area between Napier and Taihape.[4] The block was later called Erewhon.[4] After their marriage, the couple travelled to New Zealand and settled at Erewhon. In 1877 or 1878 they built a house Stoneycroft in Hastings where they spent summers and ran a stud.[4] From 1887 they lived at and managed Erewhon.[4] In 1899 they moved to Thorseby Farm, Marton, where they lived for the rest of their lives.[4]
The Birchs did not have any children[1] but adopted William and Azim's nephew William Caccia in the early 1890s; Caccia changed his name by deed poll to William Charles Caccia Birch.[4] Birch died at Thorseby on 23 February 1927 and her funeral took place at Old St Paul's in Wellington.[5]
On 9 March 1881 Birch climbed Mount Ruapehu with her husband and George Beetham, becoming the first European woman to do so.[4][6][7] She penned a letter to the Hawkes Bay Herald in 1886 regarding her observations of steam and clouds around Ruapehu.[8]
In 1922 Birch donated watercolours by her mother Lydia Larden to the Sarjeant Gallery.[1]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Lydia Larden". Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery. Retrieved 2024-09-01.
- ^ "Loughborough: Hathern". Leicester Journal. 24 December 1875. p. 7.
- ^ "Birch, William John, 1842–1920". tiaki.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g Fowler, Michael (2021). Over the Gentle Annie: high country life in the inland Patea. Michael Fowler Publishing Ltd. pp. 20, 33–35, 52–55, 60, 70. ISBN 978 0 473 58860 1.
- ^ "Women in Print". Evening Post. 24 February 1927. p. 13. Retrieved 13 September 2024 – via Papers Past.
- ^ "The battle to climb Mount Ruapehu". NZ Herald. 2024-09-01. Retrieved 2024-09-01.
- ^ Beetham, George (1926). "The first ascent of Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand, and a holiday jaunt to Mounts Ruapehu, Tongariro, and Ngauruhoe". ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz. p. preface. ISBN 9780908327447. Retrieved 2024-09-15.
- ^ "Ruapehu". Hawke's Bay Herald. 6 July 1886. p. 3. Retrieved 15 September 2024 – via Papers Past.
External links
[edit]- Birch Homestead Heritage New Zealand. House built by William and Azim Birch, Taihape-Napier Rd, Moawhango.
- Inland Pātea in Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
- Map of Inland Pātea in Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand.