Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Cecilia Ester Rosemma Newsome was born in 1861 in Surrey, England – the daughter of John Murray Percy Newsome, a stationer, and Harriett Rosemma Turton. (See 32 Mrs Newson)
She emigrated to Canterbury in 1874 on the Carisbrooke Castle with her family and they settled in Dunedin.
Cecilia married James Thomas Wren, a sign writer and painter, in 1879 and they had seven children.
When Cecilia signed the suffrage petition the family were living in George St.
James died in 1926 and Cecilia died on 2 June 1935 in Brisbane, Australia.
She is buried with James in the family grave 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
Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
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