Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Sophia Pickworth was born in 1864 in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, the daughter of Robert George Pickworth, an agricultural labourer, and Eliza Clarke.
Sophia emigrated to Otago in 1875 on the Gareloch with her family and they settled in Palmerston.
Her daughter Jessie was born in November 1887 and she married Charles Muncey, a baker, on December 26th 1887 in Palmerston.
They had 14 children, 2 who died in infancy. When Sophia signed the suffrage petition they were still living in Palmerston.
They later moved to Christchurch where Charles died in 1929.
Sophia re-married later that year to William Russell – what happened to her after this is unclear.
Sources
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