Emma Hulbert

Biography and images contributed by Carole Jackson

Emma Magdalena Hulbert nee Wissenden is the daughter of Robert Lewis Wissenden a Police Constable and Mary Anne Judith Gavelle. Emma was born on the 30 June 1853 at Chiswick, Middlesex, England. Emma’s mother died when she was about 2 years of age. Robert then remarried Elizabeth Jane Rowe.

On the 24 May 1875 Emma married Alfred Hulbert in London, Ontario, Canada. They married at Emma’s father’s residence. Emma puts her stepmother Elizabeth on her marriage certificate. Shortly after they married they caught a ship back to England and then they boarded the ship Merope in Plymouth, England to Timaru, New Zealand. The newly married couple arrived in New Zealand on the 24 September 1875. Emma was aged 22 and Alfred was aged 23, a Blacksmith from Biddestone, Wiltshire, England.

Emma and Alfred had eight children: William Lewis Hulbert 1876-1955, Henry Charles Hulbert 1877-1915, Annie Elizabeth Hulbert 1878-1973, Rose Hulbert 1880-1948, Edward James Hulbert,1882-1975, Clara Hulbert 1885-1942, Robert Hulbert 1891-1977, Elsie May Hulbert 1894-1954.

In the 1893 and 1896 Electoral Rolls Emma and Alfred lived in Southampton Street in Sydenham. Emma signed her name as Emma Hulbert on the Women’s Suffrage Petition in 1893. In 1911 they lived on Tennyson Street in Beckenham, New Zealand.

Emma died aged 86 years old on the 8 May 1940 and Alfred died 27 October 1929. Both are buried in the Sydenham Cemetery in Christchurch.

Emma Magdalena Hulbert

Emma and Alfred Hulbert 1925

Golden Wedding anniversary announcement, The Press 25 May 1925.