Bain, Wilhelmina Sherriff (1848–1944)
Bain, Wilhelmina Sherriff (1848–1944)
New Zealand teacher, librarian, feminist, pacifist, and writer. Name variations: Wilhelmina Elliot, William Sherif. Born Wilhelmina Sherriff Bain (registered as William Sherif), Sept 5, 1948, in Edinburgh, Scotland; died Jan 26, 1944, in Auckland, New Zealand; dau. of John Bain (merchant) and Elizabeth (Middlemass) Bain; m. Robert Archibald Elliot (merchant), 1914 (died 1920).
Taught school in Invercargill area (c. 1893–96), before becoming librarian at Christchurch; served as president of Canterbury Women's Institute and frequently promoted antiwar views; continued to teach until 1904; worked as journalist (1910–13); contributed to Southland Times (1911); established Aparima Peace Union (1912); traveled to London and published book of poetry, From Zealandia, and novel Service: A New Zealand Story (c. 1920s).
See also Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (Vol. 3).