Serena Lake

Serena Lake (née Thorne) (28 October 1842 – 9 July 1902) was an English Australian suffragist, temperance activist, and evangelical preacher in South Australia.

Early life Serena Thorne was born in England at Shebbear, Devon. She was the daughter of Bible Christian Methodist preachers, Samuel and Mary Thorne. Her grandfather, William O’Bryan was the founder of the Bible Christian Church.

Bible Christians allowed women preachers and by the age of 21 she was a widely known preacher through Devon, Cornwall and South Wales.

Australia Serena Thorne was sent to preach and help establish Bible Christianity in Queensland, Australia in 1865 and in 1870 she was invited by Samuel Way and Dr Allan Campbell to preach at Bible Christian Churches in Adelaide, South Australia. She preached to large crowds in Adelaide and travelled widely amongst the parishes of South Australia.

In March 1871 Lake married Reverend Octavius Lake (1841 – 9 September 1922), whom she had previously known in England. They were married by Rev. James Way in Samuel Way's house in Adelaide on 2 March 1871. Between 1873 and 1883 she gave birth to seven children only one of whom survived to adulthood.

Women's Suffrage League In 1888 Lake was involved in the foundation meeting of the South Australian Women's Suffrage League and was appointed to the council. Lake believed gender equality was "the original design of the Creator" and combined her passion for women's suffrage with her evangelical passion. Lake travelled widely across South Australia, as well as to Broken Hill, to enrol new members and establish branches of the Union throughout country South Australia. She was, with Elizabeth Webb Nicholls (1850–1943), Maria Peacock Henderson, Mary Jane George, Hannah Chewings, and Sarah Lindsay Evans a trustee of the Union when it was incorporated in 1891. She also spread the women's suffrage message through the Union in her role as Suffrage superintendent. In an 1890 report to the Union, Lake recorded 27 new Unions she had organised across South Australia.

Lake requested each of the 65 South Australian Unions to report on the works of their women's suffrage departments, however, in her 1891 report she noted that only half replied and some did not have suffrage departments. The 1891 report provided information on the progress of women's suffrage legislation and contained an appeal from Lake to members to spread the suffrage work.

Lake died in Adelaide, South Australia, on 9 July 1902 and is buried in Payneham Cemetery.

A cousin, John Thorne (17 April 1838 – 22 August 1914), served the church in the northern areas of South Australia, arriving in 1873.