Mabel Bessie SLADDEN (1876-1952)

Mabel Bessie Sladden (1876-1952), known as Maidie, was the niece of Julius Sladden, being the daughter of Julius’ elder brother, Dilnot (1842-1906).

Maidie Sladden was born on 10^th May 1876 at Kaiapoi, Canterbury, New Zealand, the sixth of 11 children of Dilnot and Elizabeth Sladden and eldest daughter.  She grew up in the Oxford district of Canterbury and she and her siblings were known collectively as “the Oxford Eleven”.  She later moved with her family to Petone, a suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, on the North Island.

Maidie came for a year-long visit to England in 1907-1908, staying either with her aunt, Charlotte Hayward, in Folkestone, or her Sladden relatives in Badsey.  The English branch of the family were able to reciprocate the hospitality which had been extended to Charlotte Hayward and May Sladden on their visit the previous year to New Zealand.

Like her two sisters, Maidie never married. She died in 1952, aged 76, and was buried at Taita, Wellington, on 28^th October 1952.