Robina Nicol

New Zealand photographer and suffragist

Alexander Scott Nicol
​
​
(m. 1885)​

Robina Nicol (née Sinclair, 7 June 1861 – 17 July 1942) was a New Zealand photographer and suffragist.

Life

Nicol née Sinclair was born on 7 June 1861 in Shetland, Scotland. Her family emigrated to New Zealand in 1874. In 1885 she married Alexander Scott Nicol in Wellington, New Zealand.[1][2]

Nicol was a photographer, capturing images of local people and places, especially many images of her family. Although considered an "amateur" because she did not pursue a career in photography, she was active in a time when there were few women photographers in New Zealand. Her photographs were digitised by the Alexander Turnbull Library.[3]

Nichol was a signer of the 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition which ultimately won women the right to vote.[4]

Nichol died on 17 July 1942 in Wellington.[2][5]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Nicol, Robina, 1861–1942". Alexander Turnbull Library. National Library New Zealand. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Nicol, Robina, 1861–1942". National Library of New Zealand. 1 January 1861. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  3. ^ "Photograph taken by Robina Nicol". DigitalNZ. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  4. ^ Oliver, Fiona. "R Nicol". New Zealand history online. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  5. ^ "Deaths". The Evening Post. Vol. CXXXIV, no. 16. 18 July 1942. p. 1. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
Amy Kirk, Sarah Jane Kirk, and Robina Nicol seated in a garden

External links

  • Media related to Robina Nicol at Wikimedia Commons
  • The Ghostly World of Robina Nicol
  • Turnbull archival collection

Further reading

  • The roundness of life: Domestic spaces and photography in Aotearoa New Zealand, Essay by Christine McFetridge for PhotoForum 2019