Sarah McMurray | |
---|---|
Born | Sarah Ann Silcock 26 August 1848 |
Died | 14 September 1943 Palmerston North, New Zealand | (aged 95)
Nationality | New Zealand |
Other names | Sarah Ann McMurray |
Known for | Wood carving |
Spouse |
Robert McMurray (m. 1872) |
Children | 6 |
Parent(s) | Simon Bonnet Silcock and Susannah Flower |
Relatives | Sarah Page (cousin) |
Signature | |
Sarah Ann McMurray (née Silcock, 26 August 1848 – 14 September 1943)[1] was a New Zealand woodcarver and craftswoman.[2]
McMurray was born in Nelson, New Zealand, on 26 August 1848, the daughter of Susannah Silcock (née Flower) and Captain Simon Bonnet Silcock.[3] McMurray was the third of 14 children.[4] Sarah Page, a prohibitionist, was McMurray's cousin through her mother's sister, Rhoda Saunders (née Flower), who married politician Alfred Saunders.[5][better source needed]
She married Robert McMurray on 12 September 1871.[6] They had six children.[7] They lived for some time in dense forest in the Inangahua Valley on the West Coast of the South Island. In the 1880s they moved to a farm in Awahuri in the North Island. Later moving again to Wanganui.[3]
She took up relief carving as a hobby and despite being over 50 years old she enrolled in a local technical college to develop her wood carving skills.[8][3] She was prolific and elaborately carved most of the furnishings in her house.[9][3]
She was among the signatories to New Zealand's 1893 women's suffrage petition.[7] In 1914 her and husband Robert McMurray moved to Palmerston North.[3] She continued her woodcarving in Palmerston North working in the garden shed.[3] She worked mainly in kauri.[3] She also handmade toys for her children and grandchildren one of which is in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.[10]
McMurray died at her home on Ada Street in Palmerston North on 14 September 1943, aged 95.[11][12] She is buried at Terrace End Cemetery next to her husband, who died in 1927.[7][13][14]