Lois Suckling

Sophia Lois Suckling (12 August 1893 – 20 June 1990) was a notable New Zealand optician and family planning reformer.

Early life Sophia Lois Anthony (known as Lois) was born in Bondi, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on 12 August 1893 to Clara Emma (née Ackland) and Stephen Anthony (formerly Nowinsky), a Polish draughtsman. The family were members of the Plymouth Brethren and in 1900 migrated to Amodeo Bay, on the Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand, an area where other Brethren were settled.

Her father became an apiarist and her mother encouraged her daughter to love literature and learning which stood her in good stead later in life. and the only woman to practice for some years following. Some male colleagues were in opposition to her working in the field. as secretary. They planned to 'educate and enlighten the people of New Zealand on the need for birth-control and sex education...so that married people may space or limit their families, and so mitigate the evils of ill-health and poverty.'

Personal life On Lois Anthony married Walter Edgar Suckling, an optician and fellow Brethren on 22 September 1914. The couple had four daughters and a son. In 1918 they moved to Wellington where they set up an opticians business.

Suckling was a member of the Wellington branch of the National Council of Women of New Zealand, a founding member of Soroptomist International (New Zealand). She supported the New Zealand Labour Party, was a member of the Friends of the Soviet Union (New Zealand Section) and the local Fabian Society.

Whilst living in Britain, Suckling explored the country and travelled to United States and in Europe during her holdiays. She retired to Auckland, New Zealand.

Lois Suckling died in Auckland on 20 June 1990.