Independent and Spirited: Clementina Gordon (1918-2003)

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 48, 1 January 2016, Page 51

Independent and Spirited: Clementina Gordon (1918-2003)

RUTH LIGHTBOURNE

A printed invitation card, loosely inserted into an early printed book dated 1585, stating 'The Rev. Clementina M. Gordon, B.D. invites you to a Garden party at The Manse, High Street, Wivenhoe on Thursday July Ist, 1965' seemed unremarkable in itself, but what was intriguing was that this book, and a number of other works dating from 1578 to 1833, were donated to the Alexander Turnbull Library from the estate of Clementina Gordon in 2003, but with 'Opononi' given as her address. Why would someone with an interest in rare books and an obvious cultured background move herself, and her rare books, from England to the remote reaches of northern New Zealand, where the nearest centre was Kaikohe, 60 km away, and where events such as garden parties would be few and far between? Who was this woman who, at the age of 72, wrote from her sanctuary of St Isaac's near Opononi:

My father's old-fashioned gun happens always to be kept in my bedroom... at a pinch if I were ever in Diane W's situation, I would react with a 12 bore, just by instinct. 1 was taught to handle guns from about the age of 12, and at 7 am quite pleased that I got TWO black 'Captain Cooker' wild boars out of my bedroom window with one 0.22 shot! In fact the black one was only disabled, I had to put on a dressing gown and finish the poor brute off; still, there are some nice hams. 1

A search into the life of this woman was called for, and this article sets out to do just that. Clementina Mary Gordon, or 'Clem' as she called herself, was born in Amesbury, Wiltshire, on 12 December 1918, the second child and only daughter of Peter Christian Gordon and Marian Alice Gordon (nee Wakefield). 2 Her parents were well-to-do. Her father, a motor engineer, was a Lieutenant in the Ist Divisional Motor Transport Company in the First World War, but having fallen victim to the 1919 flu epidemic, spent much of his life as a gentleman of leisure. 3 In adult life, Clem came across as independent and forthright, traits that can be found in abundance among her forebears. On her mother's side, she came from

a family of bankers, and was very proud of her association, although through a different branch of the family, with Edward Gibbon Wakefield (1796-1862), founder of the New Zealand Company. 4 Clem's grandfather, Edward William Wakefield (1862-1941), the last member of the family to run the Wakefield Crewdson Bank, 5 pioneered seaplane flight using nearby Lake Windermere. 6 His plane Waterbird, with pilot Herbert Stanley Adams, made its maiden flight in November 1911. This was significant enough for Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, to acknowledge his activities. 7 As part of his experimentations with planes that could land and take off from water, E. W. Wakefield came up against his near neighbour, Beatrix Potter, who protested that the noise was not good for the wildlife. 8 E. W. Wakefield's brother and sister were no less formidable. Daisy trained before the First World War as one of the first woman doctors in Britain, and became a missionary doctor with the nomadic Tuareg tribe in the Sahara. E. W. Wakefield's brother, Arthur, worked as a missionary doctor for 15 years in Canada with the Inuit, and was part of the first British team to attempt to climb Everest in 1922. 9

On her father's side, she came from a line of engineers and doctors, one of whom, James Edward Henry Gordon (1852-1893), was a pioneer of electric light in Britain. 10 An aunt, Dorothy Gordon (d. 1955), was a founder of a religious order whose aim was to reconvert Britain to Roman Catholicism. Needless to say, this did not succeed, and Dorothy eventually retired to Buchanness Lodge, near Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, with the remnants of her community. Clem recalled that the Lodge, built in 1840, was equipped with a flag pole originally intended to salute Queen Victoria's yacht when she sailed by, but Dorothy sometimes flew the papal flag, and as a result was 'nearly lynched by the local Presbyterians'." To Clem's apparent chagrin, Dorothy would not leave the lodge to Clem in her will because Clem was an Anglican. Instead she left it to Clem's brother, Jim, because he was an atheist. 12 Clem's brother, James Edward Gordon (1913-1998), known as Jim to his family, was one of the founders of material science. He became Professor of Materials Technology at the University of Reading, and was awarded the British Silver Medal of the Royal Aeronautical Society for work on aircraft plastics. 13 With this kind of pedigree, it is perhaps not surprising that Clem's life took the unconventional route that it did.

Clem's immediate family was financially well off. Her parents and her brother Jim spent the English summers at the family home 'Lane Head', near Kendal in the Lake District of Westmorland in the north of England. Here, Clem developed an interest in local plants and wildlife, which would form the basis of her first career. The English winters were spent in Italy where the family had a villa at Diano Marino, about 90 km south-west of Genoa. 14 Clem was educated at home by governesses, and at convents in Italy and France. 15

Her extant diaries begin in 1936 when she was 18 years old. They show a young woman who enjoyed shooting, sailing, walking, and riding her horse, Hebe. She spent many happy hours collecting specimens of flora and fauna on the fells near her family home. Some of the latter she would stuff and mount. She was also an active photographer, developing her own negatives in her laboratory. The diary entries are written in English and Italian, showing a fluency in both. When her diary opens in April 1936, she was keenly awaiting results for the entry exams into Oxford. However, her bid was unsuccessful. Instead, she decided to go to London University to begin a BSc in Zoology, and she continued this at University College Bangor, Wales. Unable to graduate because of the war, she went to work in pathology at Lake Hospital, Ashton-under-Lyne. Her curriculum vitae states that while there, she started and ran the laboratory for biochemical, histological, and haematological work. 16 In 1941, she moved to the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) at Farnborough, where she was a junior scientific officer, later becoming scientific officer in charge of Plastics. During these years she published a number of papers in scientific journals. 17 At the end of the war, the government sent her to Marischal College, Aberdeen, on a temporary fellowship to carry out research into high polymers. 18

So things may have continued for Clem, but in 1945 something happened that appears to have changed the course of her life. Loosely inserted into her diaries are letters from Basil, a co-worker at the RAE, signed 'all my love', but without any other indication that there was anything more than friendship, on his side at any rate. Then out of blue, on 13 June 1944, Clem's heartfelt statements about Basil appear in her diary: I had suffered of the flesh, I have suffered of the spirit of love; if with God's help I can go straight on, then I have wone [sic], & I am much nearer Him, & so much more able to help Basil & perhaps others too. It is no use beating about the bush. I love the boy. And he is in the middle of running off with someone else's wife. And I must not show it. I must help him. A pretty state of affairs, & ample setting for a fair old nervous breakdown. I shall not break down. I will go on and work. If I am to love him it must be detachedly & not for my own requitement. Meanwhile I must learn to work & balance my private worries without straining myself, above all a mental poise which I must have, or I shall fritter my nerves and energy down the drain. 19

And, seven months later, on 15 January 1945: I doubt if I am winning this battle, I'm tearing myself to pieces. It is a perpetual pain which can only be ignored by brute will power, & then I'm utterly exhausted but 'come to' as if I had just emerged [from a?] severe

physical pain - sick & un-nerved. Day & night I cannot really live without the shadow of my longing for Basil, the hoy cannot know what a purgatory I am struggling through. [As he has?] not written since the 25th, I know that he really cannot love me, I know that I should [be mad?] to marry him - even if I could. [...?] that is no help. Like the [capi nero?] I silently cry 'lui e lui sempre lui'. How the devil can one work, research work in this? I'm getting old, 26 or is it 27 and so please I don't want anything more, were I Alexander I would say 'lndia, what is use of conquering India?' I know too much & I know how rotten the plains of life are. This merely weakens, instead of helping my quest of God. De profundis clamavit Domine! And I can hardly ['clamat' crossed out] 'clama'.

Out it is no relief, the coast in all it's winter beauty, the white foam spilling off the cliff foot, the colour & tiny shape of the birds, they all bring pain because I can fulfil nothing. I cannot express, paint, write or sing of them, without a recreation in my mind it is just one great pain, & the pain always leads to Basil. I will not, I cannot give in; by pressing myself with courage I can at the worst only bring on another nervous breakdown, & at all events it is better than giving in - but what future is there? 'And I said to the man who stood at the door of the new year, may I put my hand in your hand, & the way will seem less dark'. 20

Then her next diary entry, dated 22 February 1945: 'Something has happened, quite what Ido not know but lam going to be confirmed'. 21 It was soon after this that Clem resigned her fellowship at Marischal College in Aberdeen and decided to read Theology. In 1946, she was accepted into London University, Kings College to begin her Bachelor of Divinity, graduating in 1952. But there were problems. Unlike her male colleagues, she was not allowed to take part in services because she was female. The General Synod in England did not allow women to be ordained as deacons until 1985 (the first women deacons were ordained in 1987), and it would not be until 1992 that the Synod approved the ordination of women priests. 22 After she graduated, in an attempt to overcome this prejudice she bought a van and travelled from the south of England to the Scottish border, offering to work for nothing, but was continually refused. 23 According to Clem:

Most of the bishops refused to see me; the few I managed to corner, when I insisted on a reason for their refusal even to consider the matter, looked embarrassed, hedged some more. Finally, they would mutter something about women being impure once a month and unsuitable in that condition to be present in the sacristy...which would be offensive to the members of the congregation. 24

Eventually, she found a sympathetic bishop, Neville Gorton, Bishop of Coventry, who allowed her to work in adult education in his diocese and, for two days a week, in the parish of St Mary Magdalene, training under Canon Rathbone. However, this latter activity proved to be an unhappy experience, and from there she was moved to another parish, St Thomas, Brampton, where the incumbent excluded her from the Daily Offices and then locked her out of the communion service. In her words, this was because he thought that she was 'a danger to his moral reputation!!' [Clem's exclamation marks]. This led to her lifelong assumption that she had been excommunicated from the Anglican Church. She eventually decided to withdraw from the Anglican Church altogether and work for the Free Churches. 25

She found a position in 1957, working as an unofficial assistant to the minister at Hammersmith Congregational Church. The next major step in her life was her successful application to study as a non-matriculating student for the ministry in the Congregational Church at Mansfield College, Oxford. 26 The Congregationalists were more open to change, and had accepted female ministers since 1917. 27 Even so, the student photo for her year shows Clem as the only woman. Again she faced prejudice against her sex. She had to find her own lodgings outside the college, since it was for men only, and, as its dining room was also an all male preserve, she ate her sandwich lunch sitting outside in her car.

As a concession, she was given some access to the junior common room, so was able to meet her fellow students there. 28

Success came in 1960 when she was ordained as a minister in the Congregational Church and was inducted to the church at Wivenhoe in Essex. She was one of three candidates for the position, and instead of arriving by train, as most people did, she sailed round the coast from London and up to Wivenhoe's small harbour on her boat. She commented, 'Word spread round the town like wildfire; there was hardly any need to preach after that'. 29 Here she worked tirelessly for six years, clearing the Wivenhoe church debt, and erecting a new church building. As part of this, she helped to clear scrub and fell trees on the site. A newspaper article at the time, headed 'Rev. Do-it-myself Leads the Lumberjacks', summed up Clem's practical and down-to-earth attitude in its opening paragraph: 'The Rev. Clementina Gordon swung an axe into a tree yesterday and said "Lumberjacking? Nothing to it really. Much easier than handling a small boat in a Force Ten gale".' Clem continued to push boundaries, and in 1968 she became the first woman minister in the 140-year history of the Congregational Church in High Street, Witney, near Oxford. 30

Sailing was a major part of her life, and over the years spent a total of about eight years as a hermit living at sea in a succession of her boats, often cruising in the Atlantic or in more sheltered Netherland waters, and up to the Celtic Isles. 31 She won the Robert Tucker Trophy for a lone cruise to Zeebrucker, Belgium in her 16-ft plywood boat, Mary Williams. It was during this trip that the boat was dismasted in a force 10 gale off Zeebrugge, but she carried out the repairs herself, and continued her journey back to Essex. 32

On another occasion, she had a lucky escape when the Mary Williams was completely destroyed by a gale in the early hours of the morning on the rocks of Sainte Beuve, off Boulogne. She eventually got herself ashore, uninjured, in an inflatable rubber dinghy, but spent the next two days in a French hospital being treated for exposure. She subsequently admitted that the incident was her own fault as she had not heeded the weather warnings, and had opted instead to anchor outside the inner harbour as it was 'such a beastly smelly place'. 33 She would later build her own yacht, a trimaran, Tersancta, which she claimed was the first yacht built of foam-sandwich construction for offshore sailing. 34 At one stage, she considered sailing out to New Zealand in this trimaran, but good sense prevailed and she came by air. 35 Clem continued this hobby in New Zealand, where she owned a sailing dinghy and a 24-ft cruising cutter, although a combination of age and ill-health meant that she did very little sailing here. 36

New Zealand

The next watershed in Clem's life was her decision to live the contemplative life full time, as far from civilisation as possible, it seems. She had considered this idea over a number of years, and finally decided to make it a reality. She came to New Zealand at the end of November 1974 to look for a suitable place: 'Practically I would like to buy something like a disused farm house with a few acres of space for a second cottage or bach if required for guests - and then just live there'. 37 Money was not an issue. Clem had inherited a number of stocks and shares, and a life interest in several farm properties in England and Scotland, and this provided her with the funds she needed. When looking for a place to settle in New Zealand, she later commented to her brother Jim, 'No, I don't think much of the S. Island. Had a trip around in 1976/77; nice scenery in summer, but grimmer than Scotland in winter and mentally as dour as the wilds of Aberdeenshire'. 38

A letter of 12 November 1978, addressed to her friend Renee in Holland, showed that she eventually found the property she was looking for in the far north of New Zealand, calling it St Isaac's Retreat House. She described her 80plus acres as:

Quite lovely country, hot, volcanic hills like Japanese prints, indented with deep sea lochs (as Scottish would call them) and clothed with vast sub-tropical forests, originally the mighty Kauri trees, 1100 years old at least, more for the larger surviving specimens. My land goes back onto such a Forest Reserve with a sheer waterfall of 100[m?] at least, there are wild pig, goats and a few cattle and stallion horses lost there. I am on the side of the Waitemarama [i.e. Waiotemarama] Gorge, light bush and grass with pockets of deep wet soil to grow anything, oranges, tea, bananas etc and then I look out in front to the Hokianga sea 'loch' 40 miles long and brilliant coloured sand hills on the far shore. 39

In another letter, she added that her nearest neighbours were Maori farmers; the next three to four miles were unsealed road; she had to fetch the post weekly at Kaikohe, 36 miles away; and she did monthly shopping. 40 It was remote, but this was perhaps what she wanted.

In other letters written between 1978 and 1980, she commented that when she arrived at the end of January 1978 there was, in addition to the farm buildings, a bungalow where she lived and where she set up a chapel and library. She immediately put her carpentry skills to good use and added a separate bach with two rooms for guests. By 1980, the original bungalow had been moved to the other side of the farm, and she had bought a new prefabricated guest house, put in a half mile of water pipe to the top of the gully using a pack pony, created

'miles' of fencing, and installed a 5,000-volt electric-fence unit. She had also put down a vegetable garden. Her livestock included beef cattle, which were rounded up in late autumn for sale; two jersey cows for milking; four saanen goats; geese; 15 laying ducks; hens; and a large white pig. 4l

She delighted in the sub-tropical climate of the far north with its plant and bird life: 'parakeets calling, yellow kowhai trees in flower like a laburnum and pohutukawa like old oaks festooned with bright red flowers'. 42 Her garden included broad beans, kumara, Brussels sprouts, green peppers, guavas, and 'queer things we don't get at home'. 43 She sawed her own firewood using a 'l6in circular off shp roto cultivator by switching belt, less work than a chain saw', killed her own meat, made her own butter and cheese, and commented that most people near where she lived did this anyway. 44 By 1985, she had built a new chapel and library. In a letter of 1987, she mentioned that the chapel, specifically, was 'mostly my own carpentry in Rimu plywood', but she probably built both. 45

However, life in New Zealand was not without its challenges. She would soon discover that establishing an old-European-style monastic community was not straightforward in this relatively recently colonised country, and that the Church here was not like the Church she had left behind in England:

I am on the job of trying to make a sort of modern monastery place of prayer interdenominationally, and make it self-sufficient so people can live here, like the old monks with their farms and fish ponds. A new idea as there is no historical background of the country being civilized by Abbeys and Church schools. There really is no history. The Maoris were eating each other 150 years ago, the 'civilised' european settlement only about 100 years old, a house built in 1920 is preserved as an ancient monument by Gov. order. 46

And in a letter to a colleague in England she wrote: Seriously speaking though, this is a spiritual wilderness, far more acute than the physical loneliness. New Zealand barely has any Religious Life, and the Churches seem to descend into pure drivel, bilge and tripe in their so-called Union Parishes. There is no theological backbone, all they want is a suburban social club. The Anglican man here can take an entire 'Service' without bringing in any mention of God, let alone Christ. The Sacraments barely exist, they are superceeded [szc] by sandwich suppers. 47

The local ecumenical parish is described as groaning under a 'little Anglican Hitler who has destroyed all other Ministries, Elders, Deacons Methodist Stewards etc and stands triumphant in the Pulpit with a damp forelock hanging down cursing anyone who objects'. 48 However, the Bishop of Auckland, Paul Reeves, at that time the new

Governor General designate, clearly passed muster, and was described as 'charming, intelligent and able, a rare mixture of Maori and Pakeha with the best of both'. 49 To say that Clem's often-difficult personality meant that she did not always get on with some of her colleagues is an understatement. Following a conference on religion and nature, where she gave a paper entitled 'Alternative Monastic Agriculture' she was invited, as were others who attended, to send in her paper for publication. 50 The letter from Clem has not been found, but the tone of her letter can be ascertained from a rather appalled reply from Kevin Sharpe, editor and university chaplain at the time: I was taken aback by the abusive tone both of your letter and in the comments you have made in your initial typescript. I decided as a matter of editorial policy to avoid sexist language in all papers to be published in the Proceedings. It appears that you strongly disagree with my decision. If you wish to stick to your position I cannot accept your paper for publication. 51

The resulting publication states quite clearly in the preface that Clem's presentation at the colloquium was not included. 52 Aside from church affairs, she got on with life in this country. She reported finding a patch of marijuana at the top of the farm in the 1980 s, which she duly pulled up and burnt. 53 In 1992, she confronted some Touts' shooting her milking goats with an 0.22 rifle. 54 A Dutch neighbour was murdered in his bed in 1990: We do have our troubles, my nice Dutch neighbour was shot in bed late Sunday night, a Maori of course. Most of us are armed. [A]n awful lot of stock is stolen, driven off at night and shot and quietly sold for cheap meat. 55

Visitors came and went. They were advised that food, all from the farm, was basic, that anything elaborate would have to be brought in by the visitor, and that guests did their own cooking, ft was also suggested that they bring sensible shoes and country clothes, as 'we are not Queen Street'. 56 Some visits were colourful. One particular lot of visitors was delivered by a local 'oddity' who was adamant that Celtic saints sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in stone boats: [Visitors] were staying quite near, 6 miles away, with some local oddity who could not drive them here, lost them all around the country, when they did materialize, rather the worse for wear (!!) the odd woman took the platform. Quite bonkers, yapping about Celtic saints navigating in stone boats to the USA. 1 did produce the Brendan documents and even modern,

recent, re-enactment of his trip in skin sailing coracles. No good. She had a divine vision and they were stone ones! The displaced calculations, weight of stone versus weight of displaced water, make flotation impossible until the vessel is around 50 ft x 15 ft (Concrete barges OK nowadays, big, but no concrete then). 57

Despite all this, Clem commented that 'normal sensible life goes on': The goats report every morning on the verandah for milking, Guests come and go, some VIPs like Hieromonks in black pork-pie hats, some just hikers in shorts. The new chapel is lovely, used twice a day. The bananas ripen, possum eat tomatoes, I shoot possum and Big Piggie comes with her weaners and eats dead possum. The hawks are plentifyl [i.e. plentiful], same as your Hen Harriers, mostly live off squashed possum & hedgehogs on the road.... One has come daily to the duck run for eggs, sometimes he sits preening on tussock among the ducks, who don't even quack. I've never seen a duck damaged, so I leave him or her, in peace. 58

The library and the books But what about her books, the original reason for this research? Unfortunately, archival material on her books and reading habits is fairly sparse: a list of books offered to the Alexander Turnbull Library; an incomplete notebook listing titles read between the years 1940 and 1953; a small number of comments in her diaries and letters; a few photos of the library at St Isaac's in New Zealand; and a guide to the St Isaac's library classification system. Her diaries include comments such as the following:

Have been devouring books lately. Plato's Republic in two nights, Parry's Growth of Civilization and now the first book of Toynbee's Study of History. Also memoirs of Wilson in the Persian Gulf, a charming man - a lesser Lawrence. Toynbee has a magnificent brain, I can hardly follow a quatre [sic] of his matter. 59 Sometimes these comments are followed by further analysis of her thoughts in varying degrees of depth. From 1940 to 1953, she kept a notebook in which she listed the books she had read, usually with a short, no-holds-barred comment on what she thought about each title. 60 Some pages have been ripped out, but what is left gives some idea of her reading tastes and her strong opinions. She read widely: scientific books, novels, poetry, autobiographies, theology, philosophy, and books on sailing.

Her comments ranged from: J. C. Squire's Water Music, which she noted was 'Autobiography disguised as a canoe trip, boring literary rubbish'; Hans Zinsser's Rats, Lice and History - 'A history of typhus - rather long winded'; Nietszche's Works - 'The man died mad, and seems to have been born mad also'; Herbert Simonds' Handbook on Plastics - 'Rotten'; Alan Richardson's Science, History and Faith - 'probably I could have done it better'; to John Buchan's Memory Hold the Door - 'Autobiography. Unobtrusively fine. A gentlemanly book'; Oscar Wilde's De Profundis - 'Worth being imprisoned to write such a book'; W. G. Barnard's Elementary Pathological Histology - 'Good photographs - beautifully got up. new 1940'; H. G. Wells' First and Last Things - 'Surprisingly interesting'; A. J. Cronin's Keys of the Kingdom - 'Very fine, still worth reading & keeping'; and Anthony Trollop's Dr Thorne - 'Delightful'.

By the time she died in New Zealand, her library amounted to over 2,000 books. 61 Most of the items were acquired after she arrived in this country and were largely theological and philosophical titles, both books and journals. They were intended for the use of visitors to the St Isaac's retreat centre, but were also available for other local users, and for offsite borrowers. She wrote in a letter to Nina Giles of Waiheke Island in 1987: The Library here is quite good. I'm trying to get the 2,000 books or so, classified and catalogued. Meanwhile I often mail stuff, Marcus had heaps. There is a lot of sound Orthodox stuff, as well as Patristics and nearly all the 'classics' of prayer, I mean things like St. John of the Cross etc. 62

Many were ordered from Philip Lund, a dealer in theological books in Arbury Road, Cambridge, England. 63 Trying to order the rather specialised publications she wanted through Auckland or Wellington bookshops proved less than satisfactory; there could be delays of eight months or more before items were received, or until she was told that something was 'not obtainable'. 64 She commented in a letter in 1986 that, 'I get our new books direct by sea, much more reliable then struggling with the mental aberrations of Auckland booksellers - also about half the price!' 65 In order for the library to function properly, the books and journals needed to be catalogued and this was achieved by 1990 at some cost. Secretarial wages alone amounted to $1,500. 66 In 1985, a new library building was underway. This was a second library to replace the first, which had been housed in a room of the bungalow where she first lived. 67 A photograph showing the library and chapel building has a date of completion, 1985, in Roman numerals above the door. While rather roughlooking on the outside, the inside, albeit lined with plywood, gives a much more pleasant view.

In amongst the main run of books were what she called her 'antique books'. A typescript 'Use the Library: St Issac's Retreat House', 68 basically a guide to the classification system for users of the library, includes a short paragraph about the early publications: These are safeguarded behind glass, because they are, some of them, 400 years old and easily damaged. There are early Bibles, Greek and Latin. British Monastic records from before the Reformation etc. There are also beautiful ninteenth [sic\ century illustrated Natural History books, and some rare early science books. None of these may be taken out of the Library.

In addition, there is a note under the 'Literature' section which states that the 'antique books' also included some very old and fragile examples of literature, and gives the example of Gulliver's Travels (1740). Unfortunately, the photographs of the inside of the library at St Isaac's do not include the glass case. Other historic books known to be in the family included a set of around 60 volumes of 'Jacobean books', but while Clem had input as to where these should go, they were never in her personal possession, and certainly never came to New Zealand. The 'Jacobean books' had been collected by Clem's grandmother, Mary Wakefield (nee Wilkinson) of Stricklandgate House, wife of E. W. Wakefield, and included historical volumes and pamphlets from about 1745. 69

After her death, the theological library was willed to the St Columbas (Clementina Trust) with the aim of shared use between St Isaac's and St Columbas. Most of it is still held at St Isaac's, along with the card catalogue, but many books are not recorded in the catalogue, possibly because they were part of Clem's personal collection rather than belonging to the St Isaac's Trust. The early printed books were listed separately and offered to the Alexander Turnbull Library. Some of the early books may never have reached the fisting stage, as they were probably retained by her nephew, John Gordon of London, as stated in Clem's will, 70 along with a number of family antiques which were also shipped back to England to John Gordon.

From the list of 62, and an additional list of 17 books relating to the family of Edward Gibbon Wakefield (which included bank notes and a cheque from the Wakefield Bank, Kendal), the Turnbull Library selected 32 titles. 71 Clementina Gordon died in 2003, and is buried in the private cemetery in the grounds of St Isaac's. She led an unconventional life, both in England and in her adopted country New Zealand, and filling in some of this detail has been a fascinating journey. Constantly coming up against the rules of society because of her sex, she fought against the authorities of the time with all the ammunition at her disposal. Her ambition to be ordained into the Anglican Church in England was thwarted early on, and even in New Zealand in later life, she found working with the churches difficult.

The archival material on her life is plentiful; this essay has only scratched the surface. A detailed look at her interaction with the church in New Zealand, in particular, is a study waiting to be done. While there is less background material on her book collection, the books themselves, in particular the rare books, are still able to speak for her, and indeed, they were the catalyst for this initial foray into the life of the woman behind the books. I will leave the last word to Clem: Honestly, I'm glad I'm here. Not just money wise but the tensions, quarels [sic], strikes etc etc are so much milder, less noticeable. Maybe it is because there is less pressure on people. We are about 2 1/2 folk per square mile, Britain about 700 so it is like crowding pigs in a run, till they start eating each others tails! It is still relaxed here, and in this wilder north part, people do go into the bush, build themselves cabins and live off wild goats, veg. etc without any building permit, or (low be it said) owning the land.... Yes, it is a good country. 72

ENDNOTES 1 Rev. Clementina Gordon Papers, envelope 'Graham Colley' 4of 4, Archives, Anglican Diocesan of Auckland Box 5:4. The diaries, letters, photographs, and other papers of Clementina Gordon are held at the Archives, Anglican Diocesan of Auckland in Parnell (AADA). The box numbers were given by the donor. All future references to AADA box files are for the Rev. Clementina Gordon Papers. 2 The Wakefield family, and its long lineage in Westmorland, is listed in Burke's Peerage, where Clementina is listed as the daughter of Marian Alice. See 103rd ed. (1963), pp. 2482-2483. For a 1967 report in Martins Bank Magazine, Spring 1967, on a staff visit to Marian A. Gordon's home, see http://www.martinsbank.co.uk/ Kendal%2o-%2oA%2oHistory%2oLesson...htm, accessed 27 February 2013. 3 John Gordon, 'Clem Gordon (1918-2003): A Reminiscence', p. 1. Unpublished typescript which expands on a speech given at Clementina's funeral. Supplied by AADA. 4 David J. Moss, 'Wakefield, Edward Gibbon (1796-1862)', in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press (2004); online edition, May 2007, available at http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28415, accessed 18 February 2013.

5 'Wakefield Crewdson - The Kendal Bank', available at http://www.banking-history.co.uk/kendalbank.html, accessed 27 February 2013. 6 http://www.civicvoice.org.uk/uploads/sites/WaterbirdLeaflet.doc, accessed 5 March 2013. Also http://www.waterbirdproject.eom/#, accessed 22 February 2013. 7 http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/search/hydro-aeroplanes?speaker=mr-william-joynson-hicks, accessed 22 April 2013. 8 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8909079/Beatrix-Potter-wins-100-year-battle-against-noisy-sea-plane.html and http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/22/seaplane-replica-windermere-beatrix-potter, both accessed 11 February 2013. 9 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17493939, accessed 18 February 2013. 10 Brian Bowers, 'Gordon, James Edward Henry (1852-1893)', in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004); online edition, May 2006, available at http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1 1057, accessed 18 February 2013.

11 Typescript on sheet headed 'Buchanness Lodge', AADA Box 13:3. 12 Buchanness Lodge, AADA Box 13:3. The death certificate for Dorothy Frances Gordon is in AADA Box 4:1. 13 http://www.penguin.co.Uk/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,, 1000004802,00.htm1, accessed 18 February 2013. 14 See photograph of the view from Diano Marino towards Diano Castello, AADA Box 4:1. The note on the reverse states that the family owned this villa from c. 1925 until it was sold in 1937. 15 Among Clementina Gordon's papers are two typescript curriculum vitae; one from around 1952 (AADA Box 8:1), and the second one from around 1975 (AADA Box 4:1). Some of this general life information is taken from there. 16 Curriculum vitae for Clementina Gordon, AADA Box 8:1. 17 See her two typescript CVs. A letter acknowledging Clem's work at the RAE, dated 7 March 1946, is interfiled in her Diary 1939-1947, before the page dated Sunday 19 May 1946. Owing to the fragile state of this diary, the letter was not available for consultation at the time of revisiting the archive. Clem's dairy for 1938 has also been closed.

18 Typescript CV. AADA Box 4:1. 19 Diary 1939-1947, AADA Box 12:3. 20 Diary 1939-1947, AADA Box 12:3. 21 Diary 1939-1947, AADA Box 12:3. 22 The first women priests were ordained in 1994. http://oldsite.womenandthechurch.org/training_daysAA/TD_ HistoryofProgress_lsl2lo.pdf, accessed 17 February 2013. 23 Wyn Jones, 'Wivenhoe's Woman Minister' in Essex County Standard, Thursday March 26 1964, p. 16. AADA Box 12:2, loosely inserted into Diary 1953-1960. 24 Jean Soward, 'A Women Against the Tide', newspaper clipping dated Wednesday 11 April 1962. AADA Box 4:1. The source was not included with clipping. 25 The whole series of events relating to the perceived excommunication of 1956 is documented in a letter written in Wales from Clem to an Archdeacon (unnamed), dated 13 December 1975, AADA Box 4:1. See also letter 14 February 1956 (possibly a draft) from Clementina Gordon to the Bishop. AADA Box 4:1. 26 Letter 17 July 1958, to Miss Gordon from John Marsh, Principal, Mansfield College, Oxford. AADA Box 12:2. The letter is loosely inserted in Diary 1953-1960 at 3 October 1958.

27 http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/article.jsp?articleid=so3sl&back=, accessed 21 May 2013. 28 Letter 17 July 1958 to Miss Gordon from John Marsh, AADA Box 12:2. Also Jones, 'Wivenhoe's Woman Minister'. 29 Jones, 'Wivenhoe's Woman Minister', and Soward, 'A Women Against the Tide'. 30 Newspaper clipping (no title), Oxford Times, Friday 1 November, 1968. Diary 1967, AADA Box 12:1. The last entry has the clipping about the Witney induction pasted in. 31 Letter to Father Gregory (undated as page detached from rest of letter), envelope 'Correspondence G-l', 3of 4, AADA Box 5:4. 32 Soward, 'A Woman Against the Tide'. 33 Newspaper clipping 'Rev. Do-it-myself Leads the Lumberjacks', in Daily Sketch, Wednesday 7 February 1962, inserted into Diary 1953-1960 with numerous other clippings. AADA Box 12:2. Also newspaper clipping 'Woman minister's boat mishap at Boulogne'. The source of the clipping is missing, but the date exists in part (Friday August [...?]) and the volume number (Vol. CXXXII 6861), AADA Box 12:2. Also 'Miss Gordon home again', newspaper clipping (no source), tipped into manuscript volume 'Bird Alone 1961-1964', AADA Box 12:2. 34 Letter 20 December 1992 and 19 February 1994, to Bette and Geoff Cleave, Landshipping, Pembrokeshire, envelope 'Correspondence G-l', 2 of 4, AADA Box 5:4. See also the photo album detailing the building of Tersancta in 1967, AADA Box 4:1. 35 Gordon, 'Clem Gordon (1918-2003)', p. 4. 36 Letter 20 December 1992, to Geoff and Bette Cleave, envelope 'Correspondence G-l, 2of 4, AADA Box 5:4. 37 CV, AADA Box 4:1. Also letter 29 October 1974 from Clem to an unknown recipient (but probably the Church of England Enquiry Centre, Church House, Dean's Yard, London), AADA Box 4:1. Clem's passport (AADA Box 4:1) has a visitor's permit to enter New Zealand between 3 December 1974 and 5 June 1975. The authority stamp for permanent entry is dated 5 January 1977. She arrived at Auckland airport on 22 June 1977.

38 Letter 20 April 1985 to Jim & Theo Gordon, AADA Box 13:2. 39 Letter 12 November 1979 to Rene [Renee] at Molenschot, Holland, envelope 'R-Correspondence' 2 of 2, AADA Box 5:1. 40 Letter 31 October 1978 to Mr Evans, Llangadog, S. Wales, envelope 'G-Correspondence' 1 of 4, AADA Box 5:4. 41 Letter 30 July 1978 to Mr Witbrock, envelope 'A-correspondence', 2of 2, AADA Box 5:5; letter 18 July 1978 to Fr. Gregory, The Monastery, Crawley Down, West Sussex, AADA Box 0; letter 12 September 1978 to Mr Elder, envelope 'A-Correspondence' 2 of 2, AADA Box s:s;letter 8 February 1979 to Dr Philip Rousseau, Dept of History, University of Auckland, AADA Box 5:2; and letter 15 November 1980 to Grace and Watkins [i.e. Watkin] Jones, Rose Cottage, Landshipping, envelope 'Correspondence G-l' 2 of 4, AADA Box 5:4. Although Clem always addresses her letters to Grace and Watkins, the recipients give their names as Grace and Watkin in their replies. 42 Letter 23 May 1982 to Octavia Snow, Cornwall, envelope 'O-Correspondence', AADA Box 5:2. 43 Letter 11 September 1983 to Mrs Rosser, envelope 2of 4. AADA Box 5:4, 44 Letter 23 May 1982 to Octavia Snow, envelope 'O-Correspondence', AADA Box 5:2; and letter 19 November 1982 to Grace and Watkin, envelope 'Correspondence G-l' 2 of 4, AADA Box 5:4.

45 Letter 21 January 1987 to Octavia Snow, envelope 'O-Correspondence', AADA Box 5:2. 46 Letter 15 November 1980 to Grace and Watkin Jones, envelope 'Correspondence G-l' 2of 4, AADA Box 5:4. 47 Letter 31 October 1978 to Mr Evans, Llangadog, S. Wales, envelope 'G-correspondence' 1 of 4, AADA Box 5:4. 48 Letter 18 July 1978 Fr. Gregory, The Monastery, Crawley Down, W. Sussex, AADA Box 0. 49 Letter 20 April 1985 to Jim & Theo Gordon, AADA Box 13:2. 50 The title of her paper given in May 1982 is mentioned in a letter to Chris Laidlaw, 16 June 1997. AADA Box 8:1. 51 Letter 28 June 1983 to Clem from Kevin Sharpe Maclaurin Chapel, University of Auckland, AADA Box 8:2. 52 Kevin J. Sharpe and John M. Ker, eds., Religion and Nature - With Charles Birch and Others: Proceedings of the Eighth Auckland Religious Studies Colloquium, May 14-16, 1982 (Auckland: University of Auckland Chaplaincy Publishing Trust, 1984). 53 Letter (date erased but 1980 s) to Grace & Watkin, envelope 'Correspondence G-l' 2of 4, AADA Box 5:4. 54 Letter 15 December 1992 to Hannah Stanton, London, envelope 'H-Correspondence' 2of 2, AADA Box 5:4. 55 Letter 15 February 1990 to Iris and Ron Fairman, Whatamongo Bay, Picton, envelope 'l-Correspondence', AADA Box 5:4. 56 Letter 9 January 1985 to Margaret Foster, Auckland, AADA Box 5:2. 57 Letter 5 July 1990 to Hannah Stanton, envelope 'H' correspondence' 1 of 2, AADA Box 5:4.

58 Letter (date erased but 1980 s) to Grace & Watkin, envelope 'Correspondence G-l' 2of 4, AADA Box 5:4. 59 Diary 1939-1947, 8 April 1941, AADA Box 12:3. 60 'Notes 1940-1953', AADA Box 4:1. 61 Letter 1 July 1996 to her lawyer, Mr Fortune, of Fortune Manning, Auckland, AADA Box 8:1. 62 Letter 13 Feb 1987 to Nina Giles, Waiheke Island , envelope 'N-Correspondence', AADA Box 5:2. 63 Letter 20 April 1985 to Jim & Theo Gordon, AADA Box 13:2. 64 Letter 22 January 1980 to Mr Evans, envelope 'G-Correspondence' 1 of 4, AADA Box 5:4. 65 Letter 12 August 1986 to Loma, envelope 'L-Correspondence', AADA Box 5:2. 66 Letter 22 Feb 1990 to Mary Ann Ferrier, envelope 'Mary Ann Ferrier', AADA Box 5:2. 67 Letter 20 April 1985 to Jim & Theo Gordon, AADA Box 13:2. 68 AADA Box 8:2.

69 Memo to Mrs Caroline Bongham [i.e. Bingham], Flat 4, 199 Prince of Wales Road, Haverstock Hill, London, AADA Box 4:1. Also letter 5 January 1981 to Mr Young: 'Jacobite Books. I am most grateful to you for your care and have had a letter from Mr Davenport to say they were delivered by Lukers to Mrs Bingham. These to go, after sorting, to the National Scottish Library, as some were very rare.' AADA Box 13:2 70 Letter 1 July 1996 to Mr Fortune, AADA Box 8:1. 71 See Alexander Turnbull Library File 'AT 10/25, 3 October 2003'. For Clem's list of 62 antique books in the library at St Isaac's and the list of 17 books relating to the family of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, see AADA Box 13:2. The photocopy of the banknote is held in the Turnbull Library Manuscripts Collection at MS-Papers-10438. 72 Letter 19 November 1982 to Grace and Watkin, envelope 'G-Correspondence' 2of 4, AADA Box 5:4.