Organising Timaru’s practical support for troops overseas
1860–1954
First World War and patriotic work
Mayoress
Women volunteers
Florence Annie Plaisted was born in Victoria, Australia, in 1860. She married Edwin Rowland Guinness in Christchurch in 1886 and later settled in Timaru.
When Edwin served as mayor from 1914 to 1919, Florence became mayoress. The position was unpaid, but during the First World War it carried substantial public responsibilities.
Florence headed the Timaru Patriotic Society from the council office. The society organised parcels for departing and serving troops and collected food, warm clothing and Christmas cakes for men overseas.
A 1917 letter published in the Timaru Herald thanked Mrs Guinness and the society’s women for parcels and cake distributed aboard a troopship at Christmas. This provides direct evidence that their work reached the people it was intended to support.
Descriptions such as “the ladies” can conceal the work involved. Supplies had to be raised, collected, sorted, packed, recorded and dispatched. Fundraising and correspondence required sustained organisation.
Florence’s son, Francis Benjamin Hart Guinness, was killed at Gallipoli in August 1915. Her wartime service therefore continued within a family directly affected by the conflict.
Florence died in Timaru on 26 March 1954.
Her contribution was not simply ceremonial support for her husband’s mayoralty. She helped turn public concern into a practical support network, working alongside many other women whose names should also be recovered.