Judith Medlicott, photographed when retiring as chancellor of the University of Otago. Photo: Jane Dawber JUDITH MEDLICOTT While Judith Olwyn Medlicott took great pride in raising her family, she was equally at home as a highly intellectual and prominent Dunedin lawyer, tirelessly advocating for women and children. She was born in Invercargill on March 6, 1942, and was the first of Max and Amy Sloan’s two children.
She started at St George School, and when the family moved to Dunedin in 1951, she attended Mornington School and then Otago Girls’ High School, where she developed a passion for art, singing and acting. At that time she was an avid member of the Dunedin Shakespeare Society. Following school, she studied English, French, Latin and philosophy at the University of Otago, graduating with a master of arts in 1964.
While at university, she was a member of the Otago University Dramatic Society and acted in The Country Wife and then The Lady’s Not For Burning . It was there that she met her future husband, Tim Medlicott, a fellow actor and medical student. Soon after, they married and had three children — Christopher, Louisa and Richard.
Raising a family was a fulltime job, but it was not sufficient to keep her intellectually stimulated. She managed to find time to attend a course on pottery and porcelain given by Mervyn Palmer, which led to a love of fine antique porcelain. Over her lifetime, she built up a museum-class collection of beautiful porcelain and high-.
