Author Jocelyn Robson.
In August 1907, English woman Grace Oakeshott went swimming while holidaying in Brittany.
That was the last her husband Harold ever saw of her. With just a pile of clothes left on the rocks, she was presumed drowned. However, it wasn't a long swim around the headland and out of
sight until Grace was picked up by friends and she was reunited with her lover Walter Reeve. They made their way to Marseille where they boarded a ship bound for New Zealand.
An obituary stated that Grace Oakeshott was "one of the most capable younger workers for the industrial progress for women".
Two months later Dr Reeve and Grace, now going as his wife Joan, arrived in Wellington.
They initially settled in Gisborne. Walter set up a medical practice and Joan gave birth to three children.
