A centre of activism
During the prime years of her activism, from 1888 until 1902, Sheppard worked in the house, writing letters, speeches and articles. It was where newspapers and books were read, ideas formed and actions plotted. Other women activists, such as Ada Wells, and male supporters Alfred Saunders and John Hall were regular visitors.
It was in the dining room that the iconic third petition, with 32,000 signatures from around the country, was pasted together and wrapped around a wooden handle for Hall to roll down the aisle in Parliament. And it was where the suffrage victory was celebrated.
After 1893, the property remained a hub of feminist ideas for social change. As Sheppard later put it, there were still many ‘‘fossilised prejudices’’ to work on. In 1896, she became the founding president of the National Council of Women, directing activities and fostering international connections from the house.
Sheppard worked hard, advocating for health and wellbeing, education and social, political and economic justice.
The Married Women’s Property Act 1884 and the Divorce Act 1898 were two further important feminist victories, but it took until 1910 for the repeal of the 1869 Contagious Diseases Act, which unfairly targeted prostitutes.
Sheppard believed in women’s economic independence, their place in the professions and equal pay for equal work. She campaigned for women to be able to stand for Parliament, to be appointed as justices of the peace, to act as jurors and to be guardians of children.
Despite its illustrious history, the Clyde Rd house was mostly overlooked for decades. But thanks to a succession of owneroccupiers who poured love and money into the villa, it has not only survived but thrived.
John Joseph Dougall, lawyer and mayor of Christchurch from 191112, bought the house from Walter Sheppard and undertook grand Edwardian improvements. It was further extended and modernised during the ownership of Julia Burbury and family, who for 33 years were the last private owners.
Unlisted and largely unknown when Burbury bought it, the house eventually became a category 1 historic place in 2010.
By then, a second wave of feminism had raised the status of women’s history, recovering and celebrating Sheppard and her colleagues as role models.