Person Page - 291

Adela Maria Pickmere was born in New Zealand on 7 August 1865.^2,1,3

Adela's marriage to Jenkyn Jones was registered between July 1894 and September 1894 in Warrington, Lancashire. There were no children from this marriage.^1,4

She was widowed on the death of her husband Jenkyn in 1940.¹

Adela's death was registered between July 1946 and September 1946 in Oswestry, Shropshire.^5,6

Alan Radcliffe Pickmere was born on 2 February 1926.^1,2

He married Jean Kathleen Cameron in New Zealand on 4 March 1949.^1,3

Alan died on 4 August 2003 in Whangarei, Northland, at age 77.^4,5 He was cremated at the Maunu crematorium, Cemetery Rd in Whangarei on 6 August 2003.⁴

Alison Blomfield Pickmere was born in Mount Eden, Auckland, on 14 November 1908.^2,1,3

She married Terence Thornton Bond in Sydney, New South Wales, on 30 June 1949. There were no children from this marriage.^2,1,4

The following biographical details were taken from the NZ Dictionary of Biography: -
"After leaving school she wanted to be an artist, but succumbed to pressure and postponed a career that her family considered both insecure and unsuitable. Instead, for 10 years she was secretary to an engineering firm, where she became knowledgeable about metals; she also worked as a part-time interior decorator.

Finally, in 1937 she attended Auckland’s Elam School of Art for nine months, laying the foundation of her future career. In 1942 she joined the Auckland Society of Arts (ASA), serving both as a working member and as its secretary (1942–46). She also became a member of the Hawke’s Bay and East Coast Art Society and the Rutland Group. By 1947 she was in Australia studying at East Sydney Technical College, where her friend Dorothy Thornhill was teaching. At that time the Contemporary Art Society was drawing New Zealand artists to exhibit there, including Rita Angus, Alfred and James Cook, and Godfrey Miller. She also studied Bauhaus design for three months with Phyllis Shillito.

On 30 June 1949, in Sydney, she married Terence Thornton Bond, a publisher from Auckland. A nephew of the well-known New Zealand painter Charles Goldie, he had attended Canterbury Agricultural College, Lincoln, and then studied typography and bookbinding in England. For some years his property at Mahurangi had been a haven for many in Auckland’s literary and artistic community. Terry provided Alison with moral support, a studio, a library on ecology (she was a lifelong conservationist), and a self-sufficient garden at his home in Birkenhead, Auckland. There were no children of the marriage.

In the 1950s Alison’s younger brother Ralph, an architect, helped design the National Women’s Hospital at Green Lane, Auckland. Alison researched the effects and therapeutic benefits of colour on patients, and helped design the hospital’s interior decor. She was again employed by the ASA between 1952 and 1956, and organised the first Australian contemporary art exhibition in Auckland. She exhibited with the Thornhill Group and in 1957 with The Group. In 1958 her work was included in an exhibition of New Zealand contemporary artists touring the Soviet Union.

In 1963 Pickmere (who continued to work under her unmarried name) attended Paul Olds’s design in painting course at Wellington Polytechnic, which provided another way of handling semi-abstraction. Later that year she and Terry went to Europe, where printmaking was booming. In Paris she attended S. W. Hayter’s Atelier 17 to study viscosity printing, a technique that enabled many colours to be printed simultaneously. After her return home friends helped her make rollers, a hot plate and etching equipment, as import licensing made the acquisition of essential printmaking materials difficult.

From the early 1960s Pickmere mostly used Hayter’s colour-etching technique. She exhibited four times at the New Vision Gallery, as well as at the ASA, the Hawke’s Bay and East Coast Art Society, the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, and galleries in Sydney and Adelaide. She is best remembered for her abstract interpretations of New Zealand landscapes, particularly the Northland and Auckland coasts, which display a strong but subtle use of colour. In 1968 she and two other printmakers were commissioned to produce 450 prints for an international hotel group."^5,6

Alison died on 5 August 1971 at Green Lane Hospital in Auckland at age 62.^2,1,7

Arnold George Pickmere was born in New Zealand on 22 May 1873.^2,1,3

He married Elinor Violet Croyden (Nellie) Woolley in New Zealand in 1906.^4,1,5,6

Arnold died on 17 September 1925 in New Zealand at age 52.^4,1,7 He was buried in Panmure.^8,1

Arthur Hereward (Pick) Pickmere was born in Whangarei, Northland, on 29 January 1905.^1,2

He married Estelle Theodora (Buster) Mortimer-Griffen in Suva, Fiji, on 17 September 1933.¹

He was widowed at age 52 on the death of his wife Estelle on 25 October 1957.¹

Arthur's second marriage was to Nancy Margaret Preece. There were no children from this marriage.¹

Arthur died on 10 June 1973 in Whangarei, Northland, at age 68.^3,4 His ashes were buried on 10 April 1982 at Maunu Cemetery, Cemetery Rd in Whangarei.⁵

Arthur Ranulph Pickmere was born in Mangatete on 22 November 1869.^3,2,1

He was educated at Auckland Grammar School, then qualified as a dentist in 1892 and started his practice in Whangarei the next year.
He was a founding member of the Whangarei Cruising Club in 1921 and held the office of Commodore. When he owned a launch called "Kaikoa" he led 20 other boats in escorting the Governer General Lord Jellicoe's boat "Tutanekai" to Onerahi on the G.G.'s first visit to the district in 1920. He also later owned a second launch called 'Winsome' which was taken over by his son Hereward.²

He married Edith Mary Wilson, daughter of Daniel Cook Wilson and Emily Beuzeville Hewlett, in New Zealand on 5 December 1896.^2,4,5

Arthur died on 21 January 1943 in Whangarei, Northland, at age 73.^6,7 He was buried on 21 January 1943 at the Maunu Cemetery, Cemetery Rd in Whangarei.⁸

Barbara Edith Pickmere was born in New Zealand on 12 July 1920.^1,2

She married John Mathews Cartwright in New Zealand in 1952. There were no children from this marriage.^1,3

She was widowed on the death of her husband John in 1985.⁴

Barbara died in 2017 in New Zealand.²

Dorothy Adela Pickmere was born in Whangarei, Northland, on 7 November 1908.^1,2

Dorothy died on 30 January 1909 in Whangarei, Northland.^1,3

Edith Kate Pickmere was born in Whangarei, Northland, on 25 February 1910.^1,2

She married William Wallace Reynolds in Whangarei, Northland, on 7 February 1946.^1,3

She was President of the Whangarei Horticultural Society and was awarded the Loader Cup for Horticulture in 1974.¹

She was widowed on the death of her husband William circa July 1976.^4,1,5

Edith died on 25 December 1999 in Auckland at age 89.^6,1

Edward John Pickmere was born in Whangarei, Northland, on 11 March 1936.¹

Edward died on 17 August 1956 in Whangarei, Northland, at age 20 of pnuemonia.¹ He was buried on 20 August 1956 at the Maunu Cemetery, Cemetery Rd in Whangarei.²