Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Clara Brimfield was born in 1846 in Oxfordshire, England – the daughter of George Brimfield, a gardner, and Harriet Cox.
She married John Chetwin, a house painter, in 1865 and they had four children before the family emigrated to Otago in 1874 on the John Nicol Fleming.
A further seven children were born in the next 12 years and when Clara signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Cargill Rd, South Dunedin.
John was active in local body politics serving on the South Dunedin Borough Council for several years before being elected Mayor for a term in 1902.
Clara died at her daugher’s home in Timaru on 29 November 1909 and John died in 1923, they are buried in the family grave in the Southern Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
Community contributions