Maker: Sandra Hall

Panel number: 421

Petition Sheet  Number: 510

Person honouring: Sarah Jane Foster

Relationship to makers: Great-great-grandmother (maternal)

Sarah Jane Chubb was born 4 March 1838, at Tamerton, Foliot, Devon, England. She was baptised in 1838 and had five siblings: Richard Chubb, Louisa Eleanor Chubb, and three others. 

Sarah married Thomas William King Foster in 1858, at age 19. They came to New Zealand on the La Hogue. After landing in Wellington, the family moved to Feilding where Sarah was the first midwife and nurse in the area – before a doctor arrived. The original homestead still stands in Feilding.

Her husband Thomas was born on August 30 1835, in Devonport, Plymouth, Devon, England. His occupations were: labourer in a dock yard, clerk at E & C Aid Corporation, deputy registrar of births, deaths & marriages, and attorney’s clerk.

Sarah and Thomas had 13 children: Sarah Jane Johanson, Louisa Eleanor Laing, John Foster, William Foster, George Foster, Alice Foster, Albert Foster, and Frederick Foster (born on the crossing to New Zealand). Five more children were born in New Zealand.

Sarah died in Fielding on 1 February 1929, aged 91.

Panel materials: Made from 100% cotton sheets I made for my children when they went from their cot to first bed and kept for a further purpose.