Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Hannah East was born in Auckland in 1864 in New Zealand – the daughter of Richard Rodger East, a Private in the 40th Regiment of Foot, and Mary Ann McMurray. (See 59 M A East)
When her father’s regiment returned to England in 1866 the family followed him. They lived in Portsmouth, Lancashire and Ireland before Hannah’s father’s enlistment expired in 1874.
The family returned to New Zealand in the mid 1870s and they settled in Dunedin.
Hannah married John Bourke, a bootmaker, in 1883.
They had eight children and when Hannah signed the suffrage petition they were living in Anderston Rd, Roslyn.
Hannah died on 25 November 1919 – she is buried in the Southern Cemetery.
John died in 1937 – his burial place is not recorded.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/
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