Jessie Marguerite Williamson

Jessie Marguerite Williamson (née McAllan, c.1855–26 July 1937) was a notable New Zealand suffragist and welfare worker.

Early life Jessie Williamson was born in Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland somewhere between 1855 and 1857. Williamson married Hugh Bellis Williamson (1850–1926) on 11 December 1875 in Dublin, and a few years later they moved to New Zealand and settled down in Whanganui They had four daughters: Lena, Ann, Mary, and Sheila. She was featured on the cover of the Women's Christian Temperance Union of New Zealand's White Ribbon in which her work was lauded and that "her enthusiasm, and shrewd common sense, has been invaluable; while her lively sense of the humorous is a constant sense of refreshment."

Her family moved several times, and finally she settled in Auckland where she joined the Civic League, an organisation raising awareness on women's issues and women running for office. Williamson served as vice president of the Auckland branch of the NCW from 1918 to 1919, and then served as vice president of the Civic League in 1922 and from 1926 to 1928.

Death On 26 July 1937, Jessie Williamson died in her home in Epsom, New Zealand, after a lifetime of advocating for women's rights throughout the nation.