Out of the Shadows - The Life of Millicent Baxter

Griffith, Penny

ISBN 10: 0473335107 / ISBN 13: 9780473335106

Published by PenPublishing, Wellington, New Zealand, 2015

About this Item

Small ownership sticker and some very light shelf wear only. Millicent Baxter was the pivot and driving force of her husband and sons' lives. In some ways they lived in her shadow. Throughout her 96 years, Millicent was surrounded by fame but untouched by it. Son James K. Baxter, was arguably the country's most celebrated poet. Husband Archie was New Zealand's most renowned WW1 conscientious objector, subjected to shocking brutality. Mother was the first woman in the British Empire to earn a degree with honours. Father was a founding professor of the University of Canterbury and Chancellor of the University of New Zealand. Millicent's surviving son Terence, also has a story to tell as a man transformed by his experiences of being imprisoned as a 'conchie' in World War 2. A forceful and sometimes daunting character with a crushing wit, lucid intellect and sharp political mind, Millicent declined an MA at the University of Cambridge and became a leading promoter of pacifism in New Zealand at a time when women just did not do such things. A strongly independent young woman, she defied her controlling father and turned her back on a life of privilege and prosperity to live with a poor rabbiter from a remote part of New Zealand's South Island.The Foreword is by Professor Kevin Clements, Director, National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Otago. This is not only a New Zealand story. It will also interest anyone around the world who is interested in pacifism, World War 1 and 2, conscientious objection, feminism, socialism - and sheer courage and pertinacity. A good deal of the story is set in Britain and Europe; Millicent and Archie travelled there extensively and their forbears came from Scotland. Archie's abuse as a conscientious objector occurred in Salisbury in England and at the front in Belgium, and it was a British doctor who effectively saved his life.

Seller Inventory # 045711

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Out of the Shadows - The Life of Millicent Baxter
• Publisher: PenPublishing, Wellington, New Zealand
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0473335107
• ISBN 13: 9780473335106
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 2nd Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Aotearoa, New Zealand
  • Biography
  • History

About this title

Synopsis

Millicent Baxter was the pivot and driving force of her husband’s and sons’ lives. Although famous in their own right – Archie as a conscientious objector in World War I, Terence as a ‘conchie’ in World War II and James as New Zealand’s most celebrated poet – in some ways they lived in her shadow. Throughout her 96 years, Millicent was surrounded yet untouched by fame.Millicent spurned the fame that came early to her poet son having grown up with famous parents. Her mother was the first woman in the British Empire to earn a degree with honours, her father, a founding professor of the University of Canterbury and Chancellor of the University of New Zealand.A forceful and sometimes daunting character with a crushing wit, lucid intellect and sharp political mind, Millicent declined an MA at the University of Cambridge and became a leading promoter of pacifism in New Zealand at a time when women just did not do such things. A strongly independent young woman, she defied her controlling father and turned her back on a life of privilege and prosperity to marry a poor rabbiter from a remote part of New Zealand’s South Island.

About the Author

Penny Griffith was born in England but emigrated to New Zealand in 1987. She graduated BA Hons at University of Canterbury in 2005. This book grew from an MA thesis on pacifism and the Baxter family. She moved to Wellington in 2011 after Christchurch was devastated by numerous earthquakes in 2010 and 2011 and was finally able to finish the book on more stable ground. She lives in Wellington with her dog ‘Bollie’ on top of a large hill overlooking Cook Strait between the country’s two main islands. After writing, her great passion is travelling the world, whenever the bank balance allows it.