Obituary

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31168, 19 September 1966, Page 2

Obituary

MRS M. S. C. WINTER

Mrs Mary Sarah Charlotte Wigley Winter who died in Christchurch last week was active in many community activities. She had been a freelance journalist, teacher of speech and drama, founder of two comercial colleges, and president of the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Pioneer Descendants’ Club. Mrs Winter, who was 66, was connected with some of the earliest pioneering families of Canterbury. She was the daughter of the late Mr W. C. H. Wigley, a barrister and solicitor in Christchurch. Her grandfather, the Hon. T. H. Wigley, who in 1853 acquired Balmoral Station, was a member of the Provincial Council in Nelson and a member of th.e Upper House for 20 years. Her maternal grandfather, the Rev. C. Turrell, became the first professor of languages at Canterbury University College.

Mrs Winter founded commercial colleges at Whangarei and later in Christchurch. She received a charter which entitled her to put her own name over the college. At one time she was secretary to Mr W. F. Massey, Prime Minister from 1912 to 1925. Later she taught speech in Christchurch, being an Associate of the Trinity College of London. Her husband, Mr William Winter, predeceased her.