Ada Wells

File:Ada Wells, 1910.jpg

Ada Wells in ca 1910

Ada Wells née Pike (29 Apr 1863 – 22 Mar 1933) was a feminist and social worker in New Zealand.

Biography

File:Ada Wells, early 1930s.jpg

Ada Wells in early 1930s

Ada Pike was born near Henley-on-Thames, South Oxfordshire, England. Her parents emigrated to New Zealand with their four girls and one boy in 1873, arriving on the Merope in Lyttelton on 31 October of that year. She attended Avonside School from 1874, and Christchurch West High School in 1876, where she then worked as a pupil-teacher from 1877 to 1881.

Wells attended Canterbury College. In 1884, aged 20, she married Harry Wells. Twelve years Ada's senior, with a violent temper and fondness for alcohol, he was a poor financial manager. Ada's marital experience - where she was, at times, the family breadwinner - strengthened her belief that women should have economic independence.

Ada was a teacher at St. Albans School which was situated in a poor working class part of Christchurch. With her husband's help, Ada put on concerts in aid of the school prize fund. In 1892, Ada, pregnant, sought two months' leave of absence. The North Canterbury Education Board was inclined to grant this. However, Ada was opposed by the headmaster, James Speight, who wrote a long letter on 'the delinquencies of Mrs. Wells'. Rather than being granted leave of absence, Ada was dismissed.

In the 1880s, working within the Women's Christian Temperance Union, Ada was active in the women's suffrage movement. Kate Sheppard was the public face of the campaign, with Ada the backroom organizer. In 1893, women were granted the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

In 1892, Ada established the Canterbury Women's Institute, an organization similar to the Women's Franchise Leagues in other parts of the country; for many years, she was president.

From 1899-1906, Ada was an elected member of the Ashburton and North Canterbury United Charitable Aid Board. She was associated with the Prison Gate Mission for the rehabilitation of ex-prisoners. A founding member of the National Council of Women in 1896, she was the first secretary. As a member of the National Peace Council, Ada helped World War I conscientious objectors. She campaigned for the corollary to women's suffrage, women's right to stand for Parliament. This was granted in 1919 though no woman was elected till 1933. A member of the Labour Party, Ada was, between 1917–19, the first woman member of the Christchurch City Council.

Harry Wells died in 1918. Ada died in 1833 and was buried at the Waimairi Cemetery.

The Ministry for Culture and Heritage now offers an Ada Wells Memorial Prize for Undergraduate Students.

See also

• List of suffragists and suffragettes
• Timeline of women's suffrage
• Women's suffrage in New Zealand