Agnes Lane

Biography contributed by Lane Mohi (McGill) QSO (granddaughter)

Agnes Lane was born on 19 November 1867 in Bensington, Wallingford in the counties of Berks and Oxford, England. She was the eldest child of Charles Mathew Lane, Blacksmith, and Hannah Newell, daughter of Richard Newell, owner of 'The Red Lion', a coaching inn established in the 17th century. The Lane family were landlords too, of the 17th century 'Three Horseshoes' inn, also in Benson, until the early 20th century.

Six-year-old Agnes emigrated to Otago with her parents and three siblings (Maria 5, George 3 and John Henry 3 months) on the Corona in 1874. The family lived at Glenore where three more children were born and where Charles Matthews Lane was a railway employee. It was while living with her family in Glenore that Agnes and her sister Maria signed the suffrage petition.

Agnes married John Mains McGill, a miner, in 1900. They moved to Waikaka Valley where John worked initially in the gold mining industry and latterly as a farmer and where their four children were born (Rubina Leckie, Edith Newell, John Neil, and Mabel Catherine).

In 1922 the McGill family moved to Dunedin at which time the two eldest girls were attending secondary school while staying with their aunt, Catherine Campbell McGill. John Mains McGill purchased at a home on a parcel of land at the top of Montague Street in North East Valley. Agnes cared for her widowed mother Hannah (Newell) Lane in the McGill family home until Hannah's death in 1924 at 83 years. John Mains McGill farmed the property until his tragic death, by suicide, in 1932.

Agnes stayed at the home with her son and youngest daughter until the mid-1940s when the property was sold. In the later years Agnes was cared for by her daughters in Dunedin during which time she enjoyed visits from her many Otago-born grandchildren. Agnes Lane died at her youngest daughter's home, 384 High Street Dunedin, on 4 August 1952 aged 84 years. She was cremated and her ashes scattered.

Sources

Certified copy of Entry of Birth in District of Wallingford BxB 122123 11 November 1985

Benson Families. The Lane Family of Benson by David Lane. Bensington Society History Group. bensingtonhistory.org 

DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search

New Zealand, Immigration Passenger Lists, 1871-1915 for Agnes Lane

New Zealand Marriage Certificate Registration Number 1900003277

Certificate of Title, City of Dunedin Township of Dalkeith. North Harbour and Blueskin District. Transfer No. 81923 Thomas Forsyth to John Mains McGill of Maori Hill Farmer produced 19 October 1922.

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

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