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Rebecca Swinn
Description
TitleRebecca Swinn
SummaryA woman who signed the 1893 Suffrage Petition
Description1893 Suffrage Petition - page 188
First NameRebecca
Last NameSwinn
Date of Birth26 June 1872
Place of BirthAnderby, Lincolnshire, England
Date of Death19 April 1953
Place of DeathBourne, Lincolnshire, England
Age at Death80
Parents or Next of KinSamuel Swinn
Mary Rhoades
George Swinn
Other Biographical InformationRebecca was born June 26th 1872 in Anderby, Lincolnshire, eldest child of Samuel Swinn and Mary nee Rhoades. Samuel was a cottage farmer, a small landowner with cottage, garden and an amount of land for animals. Her younger brother born in 1875 was George Thomas Swinn. Their uncle, also George Swinn, born in 1842, came to Canterbury about 1870 when he contributed to the fund after the Lyttelton Fire. He then took up 212 acres of land at Greendale about 1876. According to the later sale advertisement, it was one of the first farms ocupied in the district. He was associated with the Primitive Methodist church there and in 1879 was appointed a local preacher. In 1891 he sold his farm in Greendale and returned to England on board the Ionic in June 1892 perhaps to retire although he still owned a property in Darfield. He returned in March 1893 on board the Tainui accompanied by Miss Rebecca Swinn. In late May the Annat Band of Hope met and elected the office bearers for the following year, Miss Swinn was elelcted Treasurer. On Christmas Day the report notes that "Mesdames Bloor, Montgomery, Hamm, and Miss Swinn presided at the tables." In April 1894, at a "social" to welcome Rev Porter to the Malvern Wesleyan circuit both George and Rebecca were noted amongst those who contributed to the programme. Rebecca signed the 1893 Suffrage petition giving her address as Annat, on page 188. However as the required age to vote was 21, she would have been a year too young to enroll. Also in 1894 was the marriage of George Thomas Swinn, brother of Rebecca, and Alice Galyar of Dunsandel. Alice was also from Anderby in Lincolnshire, arriving in New Zealand aged two with her parents who had eventually settled in Dunsandel. Perhaps George and her uncle Rebecca had come to New Zealand to attend the wedding and Rebecca only two years older, also knew the bride. It is unclear when George Thomas came to Canterbury but it would have been sometime after 1881. There are still descendants of the family with this rare surname in New Zealand.
Rebecca and her uncle George returned to England in 1894 on board the "Coptic" leaving on May 3 from Lyttelton for London via Rio de Janeiro. Rebecca took positions as a Housekeeper over the next twenty years. Her uncle George returned to Canterbury a couple more times but by 1911 was living with his widowed sister-in-law, Rebecca's mother who was caretaker for a Methodist Chapel. He died in 1919 and his will appointed Charles Henry Cammack and Rebecca Swinn of Eye in the County of Suffolk executors. He left the procedes of the sale of his Darfield property to "Rebecca Swinn, George Swinn and Annie Swin children of my late brother Samuel Swinn and Mary Anne Ellis daughter of my late brother Henry Swinn in equal shares". His land in Anderby went to the Anderby Wesleyan Methodist Chapel and Lincoln County Hospital. This enabled Rebecca to live well for the rest of her life and in the 1939 Register she is living on her own means with her sister Annie and Annie's husband Almars Albert Hunt. Rebecca died April 19 1953 at Bourne, Lincolnshire. Probate was granted to her sister Annie Hunt. Her final resting place has not yet been identified.
Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXV, Issue 9396, 24 April 1891, Page 8
Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXIX, Issue 10051, 31 May 1893, Page 4
Star (Christchurch), Issue 4836, 28 December 1893, Page 3
Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXXI, Issue 10332, 26 April 1894, Page 4
Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXXI, Issue 10339, 4 May 1894, Page 4
Probate records George Swinn, Anderby, County Lincoln, England, Probate 1920, Christchurch, Canterbury, 1920, CH10970/1920-243-R20179859 Christchurch Probate Files, 1855-2003,2989 (will made in 1916)
https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/61596/images/TNA_R39_6394_6394J_009?pId=45643908
Registration Date:Apr. 1953, Registration Quarter, Apr-May-Jun, Registration district: Bourne, Inferred County: Lincolnshire, Volume: 3b Page 58











Mary Rhoades
George Swinn

Rebecca and her uncle George returned to England in 1894 on board the "Coptic" leaving on May 3 from Lyttelton for London via Rio de Janeiro. Rebecca took positions as a Housekeeper over the next twenty years. Her uncle George returned to Canterbury a couple more times but by 1911 was living with his widowed sister-in-law, Rebecca's mother who was caretaker for a Methodist Chapel. He died in 1919 and his will appointed Charles Henry Cammack and Rebecca Swinn of Eye in the County of Suffolk executors. He left the procedes of the sale of his Darfield property to "Rebecca Swinn, George Swinn and Annie Swin children of my late brother Samuel Swinn and Mary Anne Ellis daughter of my late brother Henry Swinn in equal shares". His land in Anderby went to the Anderby Wesleyan Methodist Chapel and Lincoln County Hospital. This enabled Rebecca to live well for the rest of her life and in the 1939 Register she is living on her own means with her sister Annie and Annie's husband Almars Albert Hunt. Rebecca died April 19 1953 at Bourne, Lincolnshire. Probate was granted to her sister Annie Hunt. Her final resting place has not yet been identified.
Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXV, Issue 9396, 24 April 1891, Page 8
Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXIX, Issue 10051, 31 May 1893, Page 4
Star (Christchurch), Issue 4836, 28 December 1893, Page 3
Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXXI, Issue 10332, 26 April 1894, Page 4
Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXXI, Issue 10339, 4 May 1894, Page 4
Probate records George Swinn, Anderby, County Lincoln, England, Probate 1920, Christchurch, Canterbury, 1920, CH10970/1920-243-R20179859 Christchurch Probate Files, 1855-2003,2989 (will made in 1916)
https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/61596/images/TNA_R39_6394_6394J_009?pId=45643908
Registration Date:Apr. 1953, Registration Quarter, Apr-May-Jun, Registration district: Bourne, Inferred County: Lincolnshire, Volume: 3b Page 58

Connections
Subject (Keywords)Suffrage, Annat
PlaceAnnat


Military Service
Memorial or CemeterySomewhere in England

Attribution
Rebecca Swinn. Selwyn Stories, accessed 17/02/2025, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/5676