Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Amy Leigh was born in 1869 in Manchester, Lancashire, England – the daughter of Camille Leigh, a mechanic from France, and Ellen Merritt from Ireland.
She emigrated to New Zealand in 1884 on the Doric with her sister Ada. (See 83 Ada Leigh)
When Amy signed the suffrage petition she was living in Grange St, Dunedin with Ada working as a tailoress.
She married John Henry Howe in 1896 and they had two sons.
The family moved to Australia in the 1900s.
Amy died in Paddington, New South Wales on 3 August 1935 leaving her property to her two sons, she is buried in the Waverley Cemetery.
John’s place and date of death is unknown.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
NZ Yesteryears http://www.yesteryears.co.nz
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Trove https://trove.nla.gov.au
NSW Government https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/
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