Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Elizabeth Hopwood was born in 1856 in Victoria, Australia – the only child of George Frederick Hopwood and Isabella Dunn. (See 33 Mrs Hopwood)
The family sailed for Otago in 1862 on the City of Hobart and they settled on the Otago Peninsula where they had a market garden.
Mary married Peter Grant on 8 April 1881 at her parent’s home 'Humber', Highcliff on the Otago Peninsula and they had a son the following year.
In 1889, when Mary’s mother made her will, Mary and Peter’s relationship had broken down and Peter was described as 'from whom she has for some years lived separate and apart of'.
When Mary signed the suffrage petition she was living, presumably with her widowed mother, at Highcliff on the Otago Peninsula.
What happened to Peter is unclear, Mary was described as a widow in the 1911 electoral roll.
She died on 22 May 1934 and is buried with her parents in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au
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