Anna Crighton
{{Short description|New Zealand heritage campaigner and local politician (born 1944)}}
{{for|the New Zealand illustrator, cartoonist and ceramicist|Anna Crichton}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox academic
| name = Dame Anna Crighton
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|DNZM|QSO|JP|size=100%}}
| image = File:Anna Crighton DNZM (cropped).jpg
| alt =
| caption = Crighton in 2020
| birth_name = Anna Louisa de Launey Crighton
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1944|01}}
| birth_place = Christchurch, New Zealand
| death_date =
| death_place =
| other_names =
| occupation =
| years_active =
| known_for =
| thesis_url = https://otago.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/q5v1tf/OTAGO_ALMA21130070250001891
| thesis_title = The selection and presentation culture of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand, 1932–2002
| alma_mater = University of Canterbury (BA, MA)
University of Otago (PhD)
| thesis_year = 2012
}}
Dame Anna Louisa de Launey Crighton {{post-nominals|country=NZL|DNZM|QSO|JP|size=85%}} (born January 1944) is a New Zealand heritage campaigner and historian, and former local-body politician in Christchurch.{{Cite web |url=https://chchplan.ihp.govt.nz/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/3688-Peter-Dyhrberg-Others-Supplementary-evidence-of-Anna-Crighton-9-03-2016.pdf |title=Supplementary statement of evidence of Anna Louisa de Launey Crighton on behalf of submitter 2688: Peter Dyhrberg and others |date=9 March 2016 |access-date=30 December 2021 |archive-date=28 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190128005700/http://www.chchplan.ihp.govt.nz/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/3688-Peter-Dyhrberg-Others-Supplementary-evidence-of-Anna-Crighton-9-03-2016.pdf |url-status=dead }}
Biography
Crighton was born in Christchurch in January 1944.{{cite news |url= https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/350189764/life-anna |title=The life of Anna |date=24 February 2024 |first=Philip |last=Matthews |work=The Press |access-date=29 February 2024}} She attended Christchurch East Primary School, before her family moved to Dunedin. There she attended Pinehill School and Otago Girls' High School, before returning to Christchurch where she went to Christchurch Girls’ High School. After travelling overseas and a brief unsuccessful marriage, she worked and was a single parent in North Canterbury, before moving back to Christchurch where she completed her education. She earned School Certificate and University Entrance by correspondence, before enrolling at the University of Canterbury with a scholarship as a mature student. Her Bachelor of Arts degree in history, art history and classics, was followed by a Master of Arts degree, with a thesis on colonial architecture.{{cite news |url=https://ageconcerncan.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Keeping-On-Autumn-2016.pdf |title=A mother of city heritage |date=February 2016 |page=3 |work=Keeping On |publisher=Age Concern |volume=89 |access-date=13 March 2022}}
In 1979, Crighton was appointed registrar or collections manager at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, where she remained until 2001. For part of that time, she served as the New Zealand representative on the committee of the American Association of Museum Registrars.
In Christchurch, Crighton has been a community board member and chair, and she was a Christchurch city councillor from 1995 to 2007. She has a long association with Christchurch Heritage Ltd and the Christchurch Heritage Trust, which she founded in 1996. The trust purchased the former Trinity Church in Worcester Street and saved it from demolition.
From 2008, Crighton undertook doctoral research through the University of Otago. She completed her PhD studies, which had been disrupted by the Christchurch earthquakes, with her thesis titled The selection and presentation culture of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand, 1932–2002.{{cite thesis |last=Crighton |first=Anna |year=2012 |type=Doctoral thesis |title=The selection and presentation culture of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand, 1932-2002 |publisher=OUR Archive, University of Otago |hdl=10523/2449}} Her doctoral thesis led to the book, English, Colonial, Modern and Māori: The Changing Faces of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand, 1932–2002, which was published in 2014.{{cite web |url= https://gg.govt.nz/image-galleries/8727/media?page=0 |title=Investiture ceremony 6 July 2020 |publisher=Government House |access-date=13 March 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-4438-6694-1 |title=English, Colonial, Modern and Maori: The Changing Faces of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand, 1932–2002 |website=Cambridge Scholars |access-date=13 March 2022}}
From 2010 to 2014, Crighton was chair of the Canterbury Earthquake Heritage Buildings Fund Trust. Since 2001, she has been a director the Theatre Royal Charitable Foundation, and she has chaired the Christchurch Heritage Awards Charitable Trust since 2009. She served as a board member of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust between 2003 and 2010, and she was president of Historic Places Aotearoa between 2010 and 2013.{{cite web |url=https://www.otago.ac.nz/alumni/news/anna-crighton.html |title=Otago alumna awarded top honour for heritage |date=29 January 2020 |publisher=University of Otago |access-date=13 March 2022}} Crighton was an elected member of the Canterbury District Health Board for 12 years, from 2007 to 2019.{{cite news |url=https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/the-press/20071015/281569466362647 |title=Protest over unelected chairmen |first=Amanda |last=Morrall |date=15 October 2007 |work=The Press |access-date=13 March 2022}}{{cite news |url=https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/the-press/20191014/281659666802086 |title=Dual roles for some DHB members |first=Tina |last=Law |date=14 October 2019 |work=The Press |access-date=13 March 2022}}
Honours
In the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours, Crighton was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services.{{cite web |url=https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/queens-birthday-honours-list-2005 |title=Queen's Birthday honours list 2005 |date=6 June 2005 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |access-date=10 August 2020}} In the 2020 New Year Honours, she was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to heritage preservation and governance.{{cite web |url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/new-year-honours-list-2020 |title=New Year honours list 2020 |date=31 December 2019 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |access-date=31 December 2019}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.companiesnz.com/person/1003319/anna-louisa-de-launey-crighton Profile at companiesnz.com]
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Category:University of Canterbury alumni
Category:University of Otago alumni
Category:21st-century New Zealand historians
Category:Christchurch City Councillors
Category:New Zealand justices of the peace
Category:Companions of the Queen's Service Order
Category:Dames Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit