Serena Lake

Serena Lake (née Thorne) (28 October 1842 – 9 July 1902) was an English Australian suffragist and evangelical preacher in South Australia.

Serena was born in England at Shebbear, Devon. She was the daughter of Bible Christian Methodist preachers, Samuel and Mary Thorne. Her grandfather, William O’Bryan was the founder of the Bible Christian Church.

Bible Christians allowed women preachers and by the age of 21 Lake was a widely known preacher through Devon, Cornwall and South Wales.

Serena was sent to preach and help establish Bible Christianity in Queensland, Australia in 1865 and in 1870 she was invited by Sir Samuel Way and Dr Allan Campbell to preach at Bible Christian Churches in Adelaide, South Australia. She preached to large crowds in Adelaide and travelled widely amongst the parishes of South Australia.

In March 1871 she married Reverend Octavius Lake (1841 – 9 September 1922), whom she had previously known in England. They were married by Rev. James Way in Sir Samuel Way's house in Adelaide on 2 March 1871. Between 1873 and 1883 she gave birth to seven children only one of whom survived to adulthood.

In 1888 Lake was involved in the foundation meeting of the South Australian Women's Suffrage League and was appointed to the council. Lake believed gender equality was ‘the original design of the Creator’ and combined her passion for women's suffrage with her evangelical passion. Lake shared platforms with suffragists such as Mary Lee, and used logic, wit and evangelical fervour to argue in favour of women's suffrage.

...
Wikipedia