Margaret Dennis

– Margaret Dennis 1951 – 1966

Contributed by Elizabeth Wright

If you were at Rangi between 1951 and 1966, you’ll no doubt remember Mrs Dennis.

Girls had many opportunities to know her as she taught a wide range of subjects - English, History, Social Studies, Scripture, Core Mathematics, Latin, French and German - and her extra-curricular activities included assembling and editing the school magazines; free choice groups including public speaking, current affairs; and elementary Civics and Economics.

Archives has a hand-written letter from Mrs Dennis detailing her postgraduate law degree from Edinburgh University. Edinburgh Law School information details “This degree was only open to graduates, usually those who had studied for the M.A.(Arts) at a Scottish University or the B.A. at Oxford or Cambridge. Students of the LL.B. had to attend courses and be examined in Civil Law, Conveyancing, Public law, Constitutional law and History, and Medical Jurisprudence; Edinburgh was the only University to offer this degree for some time.”

Mrs Dennis told students that there were few female students studying law and, despite her presence, one of her professors persisted in greeting the class with, “Good Morning Gentlemen”! How times have changed! Undeterred, she graduated and practised briefly in an Edinburgh law office before leaving to work in the south of England around the time WWII began.

We wondered what brought Mrs Dennis to New Zealand and were delighted that her daughter, Sarah, provided these insights.

‘I'm not sure that I can help you much as you know children never show much interest in their parents' past lives, and I'm afraid that was very much the case with me.

As I understand it, she was employed on the staff/personnel side of a department store in Southampton but left to travel north to Yorkshire to join the Forestry Corps (part of the Land Army) which was where she met my father, a Yorkshireman. The department store was bombed soon after she left.

My parents both worked for the Forestry Corps during the war, living in parts of rural Yorkshire. My mother adored Yorkshire. We three children were all born near Harrogate (Spofforth and Wetherby) and we lived in a village called Birstwith in Nidderdale. Both my parents were very keen to travel and they thought New Zealand (or Australia, or Canada or then Rhodesia!) would offer new opportunities compared with post-war Britain. They took berths on a ship sailing for NZ in late 1948, arrived here in early 1949, and decided to settle in Christchurch, first in South Brighton, then in Riccarton (Kilmarnock Street).

Mrs Dennis started teaching at Rangi Ruru in February 1951, finished at the end of 1966, but did return to do some relief teaching. She died in 1994.

Sarah continues, “I know she loved that school. She always had a soft spot for the "naughty" girls as she usually felt they had spirit. She liked helping the less academic students and I think she did well in that capacity. As I grew older, I recall many girls (current and former students) dropping round to the house, even occasionally tethering a horse on the grass verge and popping in for a cuppa. She really liked that.

You may know that we were very grateful to be able to hold her funeral service in the Rangi Ruru Chapel, which the then Principal, Gillian Heald (a personal friend of mine) facilitated for us. There were quite a few former pupils and staff there and I received many, many letters from girls she had taught remembering her very fondly, as indeed do I. She was a great mum and, I think, a natural and very good teacher.” Sarah also supplied the photo, adding “My mother hated having her photo taken and mostly tried to avoid it!”

With thanks to Sarah Dennis, RR Archives, Edinburgh Law School-Wikipedia.

M Dennis LL.B Degree