suffrage_petition
Surname: 
Grinlinton
Given names: 
Margaret W.
Given address: 
Woodville
Sheet No: 486
Town/Suburb: 
Woodville
City/Region: 
Hawke's Bay
Notes: 

Biographical information supplied by Joan McIntyre, Friends of the Gorge Cemetery

Margaret W. Glinlinton died 8 Sept 1918 aged 51. She was born at Karori and resided in Woodville for the last 36 years of her life.

The Woodville Examiner reported that she was the wife of Robert E. Grinlinton, a merchant in Woodville and that her father was Captain John Sedcole of Wellington.

She left a family of four sons and five daughters.

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

2 comments have been posted about Margaret W. Grinlinton

What do you know?

Rowan Anderson

Posted: 04 May 2019

The panel referred to is one of those collected by Vinnies Resew (Wellington) in 2018/19. Sadly the photo I provided with this info for National Library has not been published.

Rowan Anderson

Posted: 04 Jan 2019

Sheet 486 MARGARET WEST GRINLINTON (nee Sedcole)

My Great Grandmother Margaret West Sedcole was born on 29 September 1867 in Karori, Wellington. She was the child of John Sedcole (a Sea Captain) who probably immigrated in 1849. He was a sea captain of a schooner and there’s no formal record of his arrival in New Zealand, we believe he probably just hopped off a ship he was on. John Sedcole married Elizabeth Ann Nash, whose parents immigrated to New Zealand on the “Bolton” in 1840. Our family story is that Elizabeth Ann was the first white girl child born in Karori, on 10 February 1841.
Margaret West Sedcole was working as a dressmaker when she married Robert Eldon Grinlinton on 13 February 1884 at Woodville. Robert Eldon was born on 17 August 1860 at Warrington, England. In 1874, he emigrated to NZ with his family, on the “Winchester”.
Robert Eldon and Margaret West had eleven children, two of whom died early. The family lived in a house called “Karori”, in Ross St, Woodville, which became derelict and was pulled down about 1980. Robert Eldon supported the family with his business as a cabinet maker, and then as a general storekeeper and house furnisher. He built and occupied large premises on the main street of Woodville.
Around 1893, Margaret West signed the NZ Women’s Suffrage petition, as did her sister Martha Sedcole.
Robert Eldon died in 1909 aged 49.
Margaret West died in 1918, aged only 51 years, after “three weeks severe suffering from pneumonia”. She left behind four sons and five daughters, two of whom were very young. Her youngest son was on active service in France (World War 1), and her eldest was about to go into camp. Her obituary said that “The bereaved family will have the sympathy of a wide circle of friends, as throughout the district Mrs Grinlinton was well known and very highly respected”.
Sadly I don’t know much about Margaret West, she was clearly busy with her big family. Her husband was a prominent local business man so that probably brought many social obligations.
I like that she did sign the suffrage petition, I think it shows she was socially aware and willing to make a stand.
This is the only photo I have of Margaret West Grinlinton, and it’s the image I’ve used in my panel. She’s on the left (holding the baby) in the middle row. Her sister Martha Sedcole who also signed the petition is back row, left. Her husband Robert Eldon Grinlinton is in the middle of the back row. My grandfather, Frank Eldon Grinlinton, their second child, is the languid fellow second from the left in the back row.

Information provided by Rowan Anderson, at [email protected].