TRANSPLANTED IRISH INSTITUTIONS - University of Canterbury

lecture, in which one of the questioners, who had disguised himself by means of a black false
moustache, had that ornament knocked ofr. 134
Apart from this rather odd incident there seemed to be no other apparent reaction to
Shepherd's lectures. The Orange Lodges had even put advertisements in the newspapers
imploring their members to attend. 13 5 This move by the Orange Lodges indicates what
sector of the community these lectures most appealed to.
At one of her Christchurch meetings Shepherd made the extraordinary claim that
she "represented no organisation and no church, and was quite independent." It seems that
Shepherd did not think that her own Loyal Women of American Liberty was an
organization. She was also a member of the Ladies' Loyal Orange Association of British
America. 136 It is also worth noting that at this same lecture for women only. Shepherd
stated that Protestants and Catholics should not intermarry.137 Two points were being
emphasized here. Firstly by claiming that she did not represent any organization or church
Shepherd was trying to act impartially even though she clearly upheld Protestant theology.
Secondly the admonition against intermarriage between Catholics and Protestant set up the
sectarian divide and only inflamed further prejudice against Catholics.
The reaction of the public to Shepherd's lectures is difficult to gauge but one letter
109
to the paper by J. Seager was very scathing of Shepherd and her 'sheep'.
After a brief
report on Shepherd's 'sordid' background, Seager described Shepherd's followers- "I was
not surprised to see that the most of the people who went to the lectures were of the same
class as the lecturess. The air in some quarters reeked of beer.
Some were there out of
curiosity and some to whet their appetite for gossip, but one could distinguish a large
gathering of Orange followers, who had come to welcome her. "138
Seager had only
contempt for those who attended the lectures and made the telling point that there were
134Ibid., 11 October 1902.
135Ibid., 30 September 1902.
136MJ. Brady, A Fraud Unmasked: The Career of Mrs Margaret L Shepherd, Woodstock, Ontario, n.p.,
1893, p. 52.
1 37Lyttleton Times, 3 October 1902.
138Ibid., II October 1902.