Suckling was born on 3 January 1890 in Christchurch, to parents Evelyn and Walter, and attended Richmond Primary School and Christchurch Girls' High School. In 1907, Suckling was a Senior National and Gammack Scholar.[1][2] She obtained a BA in 1911, and in 1912 achieved Second Class Honours in botany from Canterbury University College.[3][1]
Suckling's Masters' thesis was on plant ecology of the forests on the Port Hills, and she published a paper from this work in 1913. In her paper, she thanks Leonard Cockayne for his assistance.[4] The paper was communicated on Suckling's behalf by zoologist Charles Chilton, who was the Chair of Biology at the College at the time.[5]
Teaching career
[edit]Diagram of the leaf structure of Parsonsia heterophylla (New Zealand jasmine) as drawn by Lydia Suckling
As was common for university-educated women in New Zealand at the time, Suckling entered teaching after completing her studies. She was employed as a student assistant at Canterbury University College in 1910, and then taught at Napier Girls' High School from 1912 to 1915. She worked at Auckland Girls' Grammar School 1916–17.[1]
On 8 May 1918 Suckling married Ewin John Bramwell Hickmott and had three sons.[3] Hickmott was a fruit-grower who later became the "biggest breeder and producer of pigs in the South Island".[6][7] Suckling died on 10 March 1979.[8][9]
