Lydia Larden
Lydia Etheldreda Larden (later Ethel Birch; 1853 – 23 February 1927) was a British born New Zealand artist. Some of her watercolours are in the collection of the Sarjeant Gallery in Whanganui.[1]
Biography
[edit]Larden was the youngest daughter of Lydia Larden (née Bucknill) and Rev George Edge Larden of Arkel Rectory, Shropshire.[2] She married her cousin William John Birch in Oxford, England, on 16 December 1875.[3][4] Birch had emigrated to New Zealand in 1860[5] 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.[6] The block was later called Erewhon.[6] After their marriage, the couple travelled to New Zealand and settled at Erewhon also in 1877 or 1878 building a house Stoneycroft in Hastings where they spent summers and ran a stud.[6] From 1887 they lived at and managed Erewhon.[6] In 1899 they moved to Thorseby Farm, Marton, where they lived for the rest of their lives.[6] They did not have any children[3] 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.[6] Larden died at Thorseby on 23 February 1927 and her funeral took place at Old St Paul's in Wellington.[7]
On 9 March 1881 Larden climbed Mount Ruapehu with her husband and George Beetham, becoming the first European woman to do so.[6][8][9] She penned a letter to the Hawkes Bay Herald in 1886 regarding her observations of steam and clouds around Ruapehu.[10]
Before her marriage Larden had travelled around England painting landscapes.[6] In 1885 the couple returned to England for a visit and she completed a number of watercolour paintings.[11]
Gallery of artworks
[edit]
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_-_Sarjeant_Gallery.jpg)
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Goathland". Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery. Retrieved 2024-09-01.
- ^ "Ethel Birch". Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery. Retrieved 2024-09-01.
- ^ a b "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 h 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.
- ^ "Donations" (PDF). The Calico Line. Nga Tawa School: 18. July 2021.
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.
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