Wilhelmina Sherriff Bain

Wilhelmina Sherriff Bain (5 September 1848 – 26 January 1944) was a Scottish-born New Zealand teacher, librarian, feminist, peace activist and writer.

Early life Sheriff Bain was born in Midlothian, near Edinburgh, Scotland, to John and Elizabeth Middlemass Bain. She had six siblings, one of whom, James Walker Bain, emigrated to Invercargill, New Zealand. Sheriff Bain, her parents and the remaining siblings followed him, travelling on the Gloucester and arriving in 1858.

Career Sheriff Bain became a teacher in 1879 and was a strong campaigner for equality for women teachers, who were often paid half the salary of male teachers.

She was a passionate advocate for peace and arbitration, and presented a number of papers on these topics at conventions and meetings. She was particularly opposed to the Boer War and in 1900 delivered a strong anti-war speech at the conference of the National Council of Women. In 1901 she was elected New Zealand's representative on the International Council of Women's standing committee on peace and arbitration. In 1904 attended the ICW's Berlin conference, followed by the Thirteenth Universal Peace and Arbitration Congress in Boston, U.S.

From 1909 to 1913, Sheriff Bain lived in Riverton and worked as a journalist. She campaigned against compulsory military training, which New Zealand had introduced in 1909, and organised the Aparima Peace Union and, in Invercargill, the Women's Peace Society. Bain was an opponent of hunting and vivisection.

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