Mana wāhine: Jessie, Lady Rhodes

Jessie Cooper Clark (Lady Rhodes) was a leading social philanthropist in Selwyn during the late 19th–early 20th centuries. Behind her generous public face, however, lay a private struggle.
Jessie was born at Bulla, near Melbourne, in 1865. She was orphaned at the age of eight and suffered from ‘delicate’ health as a young woman. In 1891, Jessie married New Zealand lawyer and politician Sir Robert Heaton Rhodes. The Rhodes’ expected to have a family, and designed their home, the grand Otahuna at Tai Tapu, with this in mind. To their distress, they were unable to have children. Infertility, coupled with her underlying health issues and sleeplessness, caused Jessie to experience poor mental health. A breakdown in 1909 removed her from public life for several years, and it is thought she received psychiatric treatment at Ashburn Hall in Dunedin. Image: Jessie Cooper Clark on the occasion of her engagement, Dunedin, c1896. Courtesy of the Dr. Stewart Johnson collection, Geoffrey Rice album, Otahuna Lodge.

Along with unfailing support and protection from her husband and family, a series of women were integral to Jessie’s recovery. Her personal maid, Kate Smiddy (Kitty) nursed her from 1909–14, as well as Jessie’s good friend Rose Tabart. Louisa Creswell, a psychiatric nurse, lived at Otahuna and cared for Jessie from 1914–17. In 1918 Jessie met Auckland nurse Vera (Vee Vee) Hynes in London. Cheerful Vee Vee became a companion and surrogate daughter to the Rhodes’ and helped Jessie to fully participate in her public duties and philanthropic work once more.

Image: Kate Smiddy nursed Jessie through a depressive illness from 1909–14 . Courtesy of the Heather Toombs Collection, Geoffrey Rice album, Otahuna Lodge.

Image: Louisa Creswell, a psychiatric nurse who cared for Jessie while Heaton was overseas during World War I.

Betty Sulima-Rogaczewski Collection, Geoffrey Rice album, Otahuna Lodge. Courtesy of Dr Lydia Sulima-Rogaczewski

Vera Hynes and Jessie Rhodes, 1918. They are selling roses outside the New Zealand Government Offices in The Strand, London.

Courtesy of the Dr. Stewart Johnson Collection, Geoffrey Rice album, Otahuna Lodge

Jessie actively supported many causes in her lifetime, especially charities assisting women and children. After she died suddenly at Otahuna from a stroke in 1929, Heaton commissioned the building of St Paul’s Church in Tai Tapu, in her memory.

Image: Portrait of Jessie, Lady Rhodes c1920, by Steffano Webb. Courtesy of the Tai Tapu Library.

Kei te whakaaturia
On display

Image: Jessie, Lady Rhodes exhibition featuring her sheet music gifted to her by her sister-in-law Edith (Edie), in close-up below. Reproduction from original loaned by Otahuna Lodge. Case photographed by Michelle Sim

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Mana wāhine: Jessie, Lady Rhodes