her deathbed in 1868, she asked her son, Joseph Shirley Buxton (1833–1898), to gift land to the Methodists to build a church. Her wish was carried out and the Shirley Methodist Church was named after her. The suburb eventually became known as Shirley after the church. Subdivision started in the early 20th century, at which time the area was known as North Richmond. The name then changed to Windsor, until it was discussed at a meeting at the Windsor Wesleyan School that land agents indicated land sold better if the locality was called Shirley instead of Windsor. Windsor thus went out of fashion as the name of the suburb, but it lives on in names like Windsor Golf Club, Windsor Service Station, Windsor House, and Windsor School. Demographics Shirley, comprising the statistical areas of Shirley West and Shirley East, covers . It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. Shirley had a population of 6,852 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 264 people (4.0%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 273 people (4.1%) since the 2006 census. There were 2,457 households. There were 3,273 males and 3,579 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.91 males per female, with 1,317 people (19.2%) aged under 15 years, 1,452 (21.2%) aged 15 to 29, 2,940 (42.9%) aged 30 to 64, and 1,149 (16.8%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 80.1% European/Pākehā, 13.1% Māori, 5.1% Pacific peoples, 10.8% Asian, and 2.5% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). The proportion of people born overseas was 19.9%, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people objected to giving their religion, 49.8% had no religion, 37.8% were Christian, 0.9% were Hindu, 1.2% were Muslim, 0.8% were Buddhist and 3.0% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 909 (16.4%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 1,155 (20.9%) people had no formal qualifications. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 2,559 (46.2%) people were employed full-time, 816 (14.7%) were part-time, and 222 (4.0%) were unemployed. Services The suburb now includes one of the largest shopping malls in Christchurch, called The Palms Shopping Centre, together with the Shirley Golf Course and Bunnings Homebase. The building of the Shirley Community Centre, which was the original building of Shirley Primary School, was listed