Newspaper Article 1999 – One hundred busy years

One hundred busy years

By Alexa Lucas

Spending 18 months of her life under the reign of Queen Victoria isn’t something many people can boast about, but for centenarian Majorie Davies it marked the beginning of a life of independence.

Mrs Davies was born in Seapoint, Capetown, South Africa, on February 17 1899 where her father owned and worked in a wholesale grocery outlet.

At 13 she was sent to boarding school in England but was swiftly pulled back to South Africa at the start of the First World War.

Later she returned to England and married Welsh minister David Davies on October 6, 1923.

They lived in Wales and Kent but never had a family.

Her husband became an invalid after an illness, and she nursed him for ten years before moving to New Zealand in 1960.

In 1962 she moved to Napier were [where] she taught English to immigrant children and became a member of St Paul’s Presbyterian Church.

Her only surviving relatives, apart from a 95-year-old “bachelor” brother in Australia, Judy Jenkins and Mary Holgate, of Cape Town, joined their aunt this week for today’s celebration.

Photo caption – Mrs Davies . . . 100
Photo: John Cowpland