Pura McGregor
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Honour
McGregor was born in about 1855 at Karatia on the Whanganui River.[1][2] Her father was Maui Te Manihera of Ngā Poutama and her mother was Hohi Hori Kingi of Ngāti Ruakā and Ngāti Rangi.[1][3] Her father was killed in the New Zealand Wars at the Battle of Moutoa in 1864.[4] After her father's death, her mother married Stewart Manson, who owned stores in Whanganui and surrounding settlements.[1] Her uncle was Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui (Major Kemp), and McGregor accompanied him on his campaigns against Te Kooti during the New Zealand Wars, leading the haka before Te Keepa went into battle.[1][2][5]
In 1879, she married Gregor McGregor.[3] McGregor was the son of Scottish settlers; his father was from Uist in the Outer Hebrides. His mother disapproved of her son's marriage to a Māori woman.[1] After the marriage, Gregor ran one of Stewart Manson's stores at Ranana on the Whanganui River, became a canoe-man on the river, was fluent in Māori and became the first station manager of Morikau station at Ranana.[1] They had three children: two sons, Gregor and George Stewart, and a daughter, Rawinia, who died in her teenage years.[1][2] George married Maata Mahupuku, a muse of Katherine Mansfield.[1][6]
McGregor resided for most of her married life at 129 Harrison Street in Whanganui,[1] and became a notable community leader.[5] She was president of the Putiki Maori Ladies' Branch of the Lady Liverpool League.[7] She was active in the Wanganui Beautifying Society and enlisted the help of both Pākehā and Māori locals to plant native shrubs and trees around Rotokawau Virginia Lake in Whanganui as well as raising funds.[1][2]
McGregor's work supporting the Māori Expeditionary Force was recognised in the 1919 King's Birthday Honours.[8] Her honour is recorded as an MBE in the 1919 Yearbook[9] and other sources of the time.[10][11] Other sources record it as an OBE.[1][5] She was the first Māori woman to receive the honour.[1]
