Agnes Inkster

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

Agnes Inkster was born on 24 March 1867 in Northmaven, Shetland, Scotland – the daughter of Agnes Inkster.

She emigrated to Otago in 1875 on the Nelson accompanied by her aunt Barbara Inkster (See 107 Barbara Pearce) and her uncle Andrew Inkster.

She lived with her aunt in Bannockburn near Cromwell then in Queenstown.

In 1892 Agnes was charged with 'having no visible means of support...Arrangements had been made by a lady in Queenstown to get the girl into Dr Teevan’s Rescue Home at Dunedin, but she declined to go there'. Agnes was ordered to go to the Rescue Home or face imprisonment.

She signed the 1892 suffrage petition while living in King St, Dunedin but was back home in Queenstown to sign the 1893 petition.

Her son Augustus was born in September 1893 and Thomas Lowery Price, a carpenter from Macetown, was charged with neglecting to provide for his illegitimate child. An order was made of 7s per week but Thomas was soon in arrears and he left the district.

When the local constable visited Agnes’ home he found it 'in a most dilapidated and filthy condition'. Agnes said 'she did not want to part with her child, although she had no means of keeping it'. Augustus was sent to the Industrial School in Dunedin until he was 15-years-old.

Agnes was charged in 1903 with failing to contribute to the support of her child in the Caversham Industrial School.

She appeared before the court several times and had an alcoholic prohibition order made against her.

She was charged, in 1910, with assaulting her aunt Barbara who had come to Dunedin to help Agnes who had been in hospital and was having problems with alcohol.

Barbara gave her money to buy biscuits and Agnes 'returned with a flask of whisky, drank it, and became uproarious, and attacked her aunt. She is alleged to have begun by dragging her out of bed, to have then struck her on the head twice with a flatiron, and finally to have thrust her out of the house, and left her sitting on the footpath'.

Agnes was sentenced to five months hard labour.

She died by suicide on 24 August 1937 in Auckland and is buried in the Hillsborough Cemetery, Auckland.

A social worker said that Agnes had 'received notice that her house was to be demolished. She had a large number of cats as pets. They were her only companions, and she was greatly worried as to what would become of them.'

Sources

BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/

Family Search https://www.familysearch.org

Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz

Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz

Auckland Council https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/cemeteries