Mary SPRAGG

1879 - 1963  (84 years)

• Name	Mary SPRAGG
  Birth	1 Jan 1879	Auckland, New Zealand
  Gender	Female
  _UID	D738DEFD8C5B4DF6B5B218EE198B26C20DA5
  Death	23 Dec 1963	Auckland, New Zealand
  Person ID	I26	Boxers
  Last Modified	13 Apr 2026

  
  

  Father	Wesley SPRAGG,   b. 13 Feb 1848, Madeley, Shropshire, England d. 15 Aug 1930, Auckland, New Zealand (Age 82 years)
  Mother	Henrietta NEAL,   b. 12 Jul 1857, Boston Spa, Yorkshire, England d. 22 May 1889, Auckland, New Zealand (Age 31 years)
  Marriage	29 Jan 1878	Robert Neal's House, Epsom, Auckland, NZ
  Family ID	F85	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Harold Ernest SIMMONDS,   b. 1873, Levuka, Fiji d. 19 Jul 1943, Mt Eden, Auckland, New Zealand (Age 70 years)
  Marriage	13 Jun 1901	Mt Albert, Auckland, New Zealand
  Divorced	31 May 1929
  	Divorced
  _STAT	Divorced
  Children	1. Harold Neal SIMMONDS,   b. 27 Sep 1905, Auckland, New Zealand d. 3 Jun 1998, Auckland, New Zealand (Age 92 years)   2. Geoffrey Wainhouse SIMMONDS,   b. 25 Apr 1909, Auckland, New Zealand d. 27 Nov 1976, Whangarei, New Zealand (Age 67 years)   3. Mary Hill SIMMONDS,   b. 5 Jun 1911, Auckland, New Zealand d. 24 Sep 2000, Mandurah, Western Australia (Age 89 years)
  Family ID	F16	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	15 Jul 2006

  
  

• Notes

  Mary Spragg was a very strong character. She liked to hold musical evenings at her home where she would invite her friends and visiting artists of the time. At one time, she had an autographed photo of the famous Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, who had visited New Zealand in the early 1900s. She seems to have given up on her marriage very early and had to resort to her excellent tailoring skills in order to support the family for a while. Possibly, her father was not happy with her divorce for he does not seem to have helped her financially at that stage. The story goes that her two sons, Neal and Geoff, could not further their education as they were needed to help support the family. It was also said that Geoff could not marry his girlfriend Ruby because the family was too poor at that time. Ruby later married Gordon Biss and remained friends of the Simmonds family all her life. She appears in many photos with Mary Grange.