Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Alice Pitman was born in 1859 in Surrey, England – the daughter of John Miles Pitman, a goldbeater, & Elizabeth Skinner.
She married Robert John Watts, a plumber in 1879 & they had 2 children before the family sailed for Invercargill in 1884 on the Arawa.
Their 3rd child was born on board & named Arawa after the ship. The had a further 2 children after their arrival, one who died in infancy, & when Alice signed the suffrage petition the family were living in North East Valley, Dunedin – Robert was then working as a painter.
He later took over the licence of the Portobello Hotel &, later the Shiel Hill Hotel.
Robert died in 1926 & Alice remarried on August 29th 1929, at the Dundas St Methodist Church to Charles Allen.
Charles was the widower of Elsie Allen.
Charles died in 1932 & is buried with Elsie in the family grave in the Northern Cemetery.
Alice died on December 8th 1933, she is buried with Robert & their young daughter, also in the Northern Cemetery.
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