Elizabeth McCombs

Elizabeth Reid McCombs (née Henderson, 19 November 1873 – 7 June 1935) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party who in 1933 became the first woman elected to the New Zealand Parliament. New Zealand women gained the right to vote in 1893, though were not allowed to stand for the House of Representatives until the election of 1919. McCombs had previously contested elections in 1928 and 1931. Early years McCombs was born in Kaiapoi, North Canterbury, New Zealand. She was one of the nine children of Alice and Daniel Henderson. The family spent some years living in Ashburton, but in about 1882 the family moved to Christchurch. A passion for activism was embedded in her family, as some of her siblings were notable activists themselves. Two of McCombs' sisters, Stella Henderson and Christina Kirk Henderson, were both in the public eye; Stella writing for a prominent New Zealand newspaper, and Christina advocating for the suffrage movement. In 1886, her alcoholic father died, leaving her family in financial difficulty for a time. Politics