Elizabeth Webb Nicholls

Nicholls was born on 21 February 1850 in Rundle Street, Adelaide to parents Samuel Bakewell, grocer, and his wife Mary Ann, née Pye. Her father Samuel and her uncle William both became members of the South Australian House of Assembly, providing her with some background in local politics. An active member of the Archer Street Wesleyan church in North Adelaide, Nicholls taught Sunday School and distributed religious tracts. Nicholls was said to be "short in stature, with a benign expression, she was a pleasant, unself-conscious speaker and quickly earned her members' approval for her efficiency and enthusiasm", Nicholls was described as being "prone to chafe quietly at 'unreasonable restraint'" ==Woman's Christian Temperance Union==

In July 1886, three months after its formation, Nicholls joined the "WCTU of South Australia". Becoming heavily involved in 1888, Nicholls became the provisional president of the Adelaide branch late that year and was elected colonial president in 1889, holding the position until 1897. later shortened to "South Australian Alliance". Nicholls founded the WCTU's journal Our Federation and was its editor from 1898 to 1904 when it ceased. ==Women's suffrage==

Nicholls reinvigorated the WCTU's suffrage work and encouraged women to write to their local Member of Parliament. She invested large amounts of effort in educating women on their political potential, speaking in numerous places on the basics of enrolling and voting, using her 'Platform of Principles'. Nicholls helped to gather 8,268 of the 11,600 signatures for the 1894 South Australian Women's Suffrage Petition to the South Australian Parliament, which led to the passing of the Constitutional Amendment (Adult Suffrage) Act 1894. ==Later life==

Nicholls was an appointed member of the Adelaide Hospital Board from 1895 to 1922 and was one of the first four female Justices of the Peace appointed in 1915 and would often sit on the Children's Court. In 1921 she helped found the Australian Federation of Women Voters and lobbied the League of Nations (now the United Nations) on behalf of Australian women. Nicholls remained committed to the WCTU throughout her life and was involved in successful referendum of hotel closing hours which resulted in the imposition of a 6:00 pm closing time in 1915. She justified all reforms on the grounds of temperance and social purity. Her husband, who had worked 55 years with G. & R. Wills & Co., died on 11 November 1920. Nicholls moved into Willard House, the WCTU Adelaide headquarters and residence on Wakefield Street near Francis Xavier's Cathedral. She died at North Adelaide on 3 August 1943 and is buried in Payneham cemetery, South Australia. == References ==