Flora McMillan Forde

Flora McMillan Forde (9 June 1883 – 13 December 1958) was a New Zealand political activist, feminist and welfare worker.

Early life

Forde was born on her parents' farm in Wyndham, Southland, New Zealand on 9 June 1883. Her parents were Catherine Stalker and Henry Ive. Her father later became a baker and master butcher. She attended school in Wyndham and Invercargill. She married a railway clerk, Michael Joseph Forde, on 5 November 1902 and they had two daughters and a son. Michael left his job in July 1903 to become a journalist and eventually became the chief reporter for the Southland Times.

Later life and activism

She began to volunteer in women and labour movements in 1910 by joining the Sixpenny Clothing Club, the Invercargill Housewives’ Union and the Southland Trades and Labour Council. She also helped set up the Southland branch of the Worker's Educational Association in 1915. and in 1953, she was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1952 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Forde died on 13 September 1958 in Wellington and was survived by her husband and two daughters.