| Brief Description |
The original Art Union ticket that won the prize of a tapestry in coloured wools of a large arrangement of flowers in a small vase, made in 1916 by Mrs Ann Evans, one of Florence Nightingale's nurses during the Crimean War of 1854. The tapestry (1955.57.1), a “Handsome Hand-worked Wool Picture”, was a prize in an Art Union raffle to be drawn on September 21st 1916, with proceeds in aid of the Wounded Soldiers' Fund organized by the Hawera Patriotic Committee. At this time an Art Union meant a lottery or raffle though prizes were restricted to art works, mechanical models and mineral specimens (gold).
Ann Evans was in the first party of nurses who served with Florence Nightingale in the Crimea between 1854 and 1865. English-born, she eventually settled in Whanganui in 1863 with husband Thomas Evans. Thomas died in 1871, leaving Ann with five children. She moved her family to the main Armed Constabulary camp at Waihi in Taranaki where her skills as a nurse and midwife were quickly recognised and she became known as “Ann the Doctor”, or "Dr Ann". From the late 1870s the family lived in Häwera, and there it is said she was approached by a group of Mäori to attend a sick man. She was taken to the outlawed resistance leader Tïtokowaru who was suffering from pneumonia. She treated him for six to eight weeks. Ann was transported blindfolded to her patient and she kept her visit secret for many years.
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