THE CHILLING STORY OF MINNIE DEAN

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On the 12th August 1895, Minnie Dean was the only woman to be executed in New Zealand.

EARLY LIFE

In 1862, young Williamina McCulloch left the squalor and depredation of her Scottish hometown of West Greenock searching for a better life.  Pregnant and also with Ellen, her young daughter, she arrived in New Zealand to live with an aunt who was one of the original Scottish settlers living in Otago. After her arrival in the rough colony, she chose to be known as Minnie.

Greenock 1880s

In 1873Minnie married Charles Dean, a Southland farmer.  Straight after their marriage, Charles and Minnie moved into a very modest two bedroom cottage named ‘The Larches’ in the settlement of Winton. Life in the southern province proved hard for the Dean family and in 1884, Charles was declared bankrupt. To add to Minnie’s misery, her daughter Ellen drowned herself and the two infants she had produced, in their farm’s well. It was a desperate time for poor Minnie. read more