Emma Eliza Packe ( de Winton (20 April 1840 – 11 July 1914) of Christchurch, New Zealand was the founding president of the Christchurch Women's Christian Temperance Union in May 1885 and National President of the Women's Christian Temperance Union New Zealand from 1887 to 1889.
Early life
De Winton was the eldest child of Emma Eliza and John Jeffreys de Winton, a banker and justice of the peace in Brecon, Wales. She was born and baptised on 20 April 1840. According to the Welsh census, her family household expanded quickly with three younger brothers (Parry, Herbert and Charles) and three servants. On 28 July 1861, she married George Packe, the son of Eliza Isham Packe and Colonel Henry Packe (by then deceased) of Twyford Hall in Norfolk. He was, at that time, a Lieutenant of the Royal Welch Fusiliers (1st Battalion). They sailed from Plymouth on the Matoaka for New Zealand on 13 November 1861 and arrived in Lyttelton on 10 February 1862.
Temperance leadership and philanthropy
Mary Greenleaf Clement Leavitt, the first world missionary for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), had travelled to Christchurch from Dunedin where Catherine Fulton led the formation of a WCTU NZ chapter there. Leavitt was travelling with evangelist Richard T. Booth sent to New Zealand from England on behalf of the Blue Ribbon Army. The local newspapers provided an introduction to Leavitt's life and official mission as a representative of the World WCTU and announced her first lecture hosted by the Christchurch Blue Ribbon Committee the evening of 9 May at the YMCA rooms. Leavitt continued with a series of lectures each evening that week in various churches. On Thursday, 14 May, toward the end of the week of her lectures, Leavitt gave "An Address to the Women's Prayer Union" at 3 p.m. in the Rooms of the YMCA. At that meeting, with over forty women attending, Leavitt explained the difference between a WCTU's organization and other kinds of temperance clubs. At the next evening's event, Emma E. Packe was elected president of the founding chapter of the Christchurch WCTU NZ. Cecilia Wroughton was elected treasurer, and Kate Sheppard was elected secretary of the new local Union. It was decided that the chapter's vice presidents would be "all wives of all ministers of religion who are willing to act as such." They adopted the same WCTU constitution as had already been used in Auckland, Dunedin and Port Chalmers earlier that year, and similarly adopted and circulated a petition to the Legislature against the employment of barmaids.
Later that same month, Packe and Wroughton accompanied Leavitt as she travelled north to speak at the Rangiora Literary Institute Hall. The next day they supported the creation of the new Union chapter in that city. The Union at Christchurch had weekly general meetings with the Executive officers meeting monthly. The founding members of the Executive Committee for the Christchurch Union were: President: Mrs. Emma E. Packe. Secretary (Corresponding): Mrs. A. C. Newton, North Belt. Secretary (Recording): Miss Aldred, Spring field Road. Treasurer: Mrs. Cecilia Wroughton, 78, Chester-street Treasurer (Assistant): Mrs. Toneycliffe, Richmond
In addition, the Union hosted an evening meeting once a month dedicated to recruiting "young women engaged in business" to attend. The Prison Gate Mission, led by Mrs. Raffles, offered support for incarcerated women and a halfway home for released prisoners. With only four beds in the Prisongate Brigade Home, they hosted 80 prisoners within the first six months. Mrs. Lodge, the superintendent of Evangelist Work, held 680 prayer meetings that year. Mrs. Isitt printed temperance tracts for circulation in Christchurch, and Mrs. Cunningham wrote an essay on "the Social Evil" which was included. The Temperance Booth at the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association Show offered literature, hot tea and water in its first year (and a hot lunch for the next forty years). The Union gathered 4,800 signatures on the anti-barmaid petition. By the end of the year, the Union could count 105 working members along with nine "honorary" (i.e., paying male subscribers) members.