Biography

ALICE SHARPE MCDONALD ROWE

Burial register ID: 12684
Surname: ROWE
First name: ALICE
Middle names: SHARPE MCDONALD
Gender: Female
Age: 24 Years
Cause of death: Unknown
Burial type:
Date of death: 18-Dec-1914
Date of burial: 20-Dec-1914

Block: 164
Plot: 33
Inscription:

In memory of

ALICE McD TAYLOR

Died Sept 27th 1911

Aged 64 years

Beloved wife of

ALEX TAYLOR

Also their grandchild

ALICE CHARLOTTE McD ROWE

Daughter of I M LEE

Died Decr 8th 1914

Aged 24 years

R.I.P.

Note: the headstone is broken in two and one fragment lies some distance away from Alice Taylor’s grave (May 2006).

Bio contributor: Historic Cemeteries Conservation Trust

Alice Sharpe McDonald Rowe née Lee was born in July 1890, a daughter of Mary Isabella Lee née Taylor and Alfred (known as Alfredo) Lee. Her younger brother was John A. Lee, later to become the Labour MP for Auckland East. Alice would not have had an easy childhood; she contracted typhoid along with her mother while living at Waikaka at a small coal mine where there was no running water, and her mother moved around a lot after leaving her father, between 1891 and 1893 living at about seven Dunedin addresses. Alice had a son in 1906 when aged 15, and four years later married Thomas Rowe.

Alice Rowe died of tuberculosis on 18th December 1914 at the age of 24, and is buried here in the Northern Cemetery with her grandmother, Alice Taylor, and a sister who died in infancy.

Details from Dictionary of New Zealand biography of Mary Isabella Lee:-

Cooper, Annabel ‘Lee, Mary Isabella 1871 – 1939’ Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, updated 22 June 2007

URL: http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/

Note: Alice Rowe’s second name is recorded as ‘Sharpe’ right back to the original burial records, but is recorded as ‘Charlotte’ both on the gravestone and on the Dictionary of New Zealand website.

There are 3 Interments in this grave:

Surname First names Age Date of death Date of burial
LEE KATHLEEN GEORGINA 8 Months 07-May-1901 09-May-1901
ROWE ALICE SHARPE MCDONALD 24 Years 18-Dec-1914 20-Dec-1914
TAYLOR ALICE 63 Years 27-Sep-1911 29-Sep-1911