Florence Marion BYRCH (later WILSON) (1890-1984)

Florence Marion Byrch (1890-1984), known as Florrie, was the daughter of a prominent Evesham solicitor who was friendly with the Sladden family.  When the Byrch family emigrated to New Zealand at the beginning of the 20th century, the two families kept in contact.  May Sladden stayed for a few days with the Byrches on a visit to New Zealand in 1906 and wrote about it in her diary.

Florrie Byrch was born at Evesham on 19th June 1890, the eighth of ten children of Albert William Byrch, a solicitor, and his wife, Constance (née Bremmer).  She grew up at The Elms, Bengeworth.

In 1902, Florrie emigrated with her family to the South Island of New Zealand.  They lived firstly at a sheep station at Mount Brown near Amberley, which was where May visited them in February 1906.  Soon after the Byrches moved to a sheep station at Motunau near Canterbury.  Florrie was educated at a boarding school in Christchurch.

In 1914, Florrie married George Arthur Hamilton Wilson.  They had two sons:  Leslie George Hamilton (1915) and Eric Hamilton (1917).

Florrie died in 1984, aged 93; her husband had died 14 years earlier.