Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Sophia Bush was born in 1857 in Wymondham, Norfolk, England – the daughter of Thomas Bush, an agricultural labourer, and Mary Everett.
She emigrated to Otago in 1874 on the Tweed and married Charles Albert Arnold, a carpenter, in 1877.
They had five children, one who appears to have died in infancy, and when Sophia signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Castle St, Dunedin.
Sophia died on 10 December 1893 at the age of 35.
Charles re-married the following year and he died in 1931.
They are buried in the family grave in the Northern 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