Zoë Maynard
Lady Zoë Maynard | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | Zoë Ruth Davis Cumberbatch 1926 |
| Died | (aged 92) Nassau, Bahamas |
| Political party | Progressive Liberal Party |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 5, including Allyson Maynard Gibson |
| Parent |
|
| Relatives | Kathleen Davis (aunt) |
Zoë Ruth Davis, Lady Maynard (née Cumberbatch; 1926 – 10 December 2018) was an important figure in the Bahamas known for advancing women's rights.
Early life[edit]
In 1926 her parents, surgeon Roland Cumberbatch and musician Meta Davis Cumberbatch, moved from Trinidad to the Bahamas when her father accepted a post from the Colonial Medical Service.[1] She was born Zoë Ruth Davis Cumberbatch the same year.[2]
Military service[edit]
During World War II Maynard, still a teenager, enlisted as a private in the Auxiliary Territorial Service and was stationed in Jamaica.[3] She had numerous duties, including communications.[3] At the time of her death in 2018 she was reported to have been the last living female veteran from the Bahamas.[3]
Career and family[edit]
On 17 January 1947, a little more than a year after the end of the war, she married Clement T. Maynard, the son of a builder and a suffragist.[2] Trained as a medical technologist, he would go on to become a politician and eventually deputy prime minister.[4] Maynard and her husband had five children: Julian (died 1995),[5] Peter, Allyson, David and Clement III. (Her husband also had one daughter from a previous relationship.)[6] Their daughter Allyson would go on to become the country's attorney general.
For some time, Maynard worked for the British Overseas Airways Corporation.[7] Arthur Foulkes recalled that she and her husband used the travel opportunities afforded by her career to purchase books for their comrades in the progressive movement.[8] (Books by radical West Indian authors such as C. L. R. James, Frantz Fanon and George Padmore were not easily accessible in the colony.)[8] She also served as secretary general of the Airport, Airline and Allied Workers Union.[3]
A supporter of the progressive movement and women's rights, she worked closely with her mother-in-law, Georgianna Kathleen Symonette, during the suffrage movement.[3] In January 1968, a year after her husband was first elected to the senate, Maynard became the first woman to register for jury duty in the Bahamas.[3][9] She also served as secretary for the Women's Branch of the Progressive Liberal Party.[3]
In 1989, Clement Maynard was appointed a Knight Bachelor and Mrs. Maynard became Lady Zoë Maynard.[10]
Later life[edit]
After her husband's death in 2009, Maynard began studying pottery and painting.[11] Her works were exhibited in group shows such as "The F Factor: Female Artists of The Bahamas".[12]
Maynard died on 10 December 2018 at the age of 92.[3][2] In a tribute, opposition leader Philip Davis called her "a freedom fighter, particularly for women’s rights and in the arts."[13]
References[edit]
- ^ Maynard, Peter D. (2010). Great Awakening: Meta Davis Cumberbatch, "Mother of the Arts". p. 167.
- ^ a b c "Tributes pour in following the passing of Zoe, Lady Maynard this morning..." Bahamas Press. 10 December 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Ward, Jasper (11 December 2018). "Lady Maynard dies at 92". The Nassau Guardian. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
- ^ "Newsletter". The Bahamas Historical Society. October 2009.
- ^ "Right Back Before 1967 -- Sir Clem's Book". bahamasuncensored.com. 29 July 2007.
- ^ "Hon. Sir Clement T. Maynard" (PDF). The Bahamas Public Service Union. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 September 2014.
- ^ "Free Holidays for Top Seat-Sellers". B.O.A.C. Review. September 1964. p. 28 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b Foulkes, Arthur (11 October 2009). "A Tribute to Sir Clement Maynard". Bahama Pundit. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
- ^ "First Woman Applies for Jury Service". The Nassau Guardian and Bahamas Observer. 30 January 1968. Retrieved 15 January 2022 – via Bahamianology.
- ^ "Bahamas Prime Minister and Officials Pay Tribute to the Late Sir Clement Maynard". The Bahamas Weekly. 14 October 2009.
- ^ Gibson, Jeffarah (18 December 2013). "Lady Maynard Shines In Ceramic Art Exhibition". The Tribune. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
- ^ D'Aguilar Foundation (22 September 2011). "Popop Artists In F Factor" (Press release). Retrieved 17 January 2022 – via Popop Studios.
- ^ "Lady Zoe Maynard Dies, Aged 92". The Tribune. 10 December 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2022.