suffrage_petition
Surname: 
Knowles
Given names: 
Emma J.
Given address: 
Makino Road Feilding
Sheet No: 509
Town/Suburb: 
Feilding
City/Region: 
Manawatu / Horowhenua
Notes: 

Biography contributed by Sharlene Rumney in addition to Community Contribution

Emma Jane Knowles had also signed the 1892 suffrage petition.

Emma Jane’s future daughter-in-law Mary L Retemeyer signed sheet 508.

On the 20th of December 1893 at St John’s Church, Feilding; Mary Louisa Retemeyer married Henry Walter Knowles, the eldest son of Henry Hamilton and Emma Jane Knowles of Makino.

Henry Hamilton Knowles died at their residence on Ferguson Street, Palmerston North on the 21st of September 1915 and Emma Jane Knowles died at their residence one week later, on the 30th of September 1915. Henry and Emma Knowles are buried at Terrace End Cemetery, Palmerston North.

Sources

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/womens-suffrage/about-the-petition - 1892 suffrage petition Excel spreadsheet

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers (all newspaper articles below from Papers Past)

Feilding Star (21 December 1893, issue 197)

Manawatu Standard (21 September 1915, issue 10181)

Manawatu Standard (30 September 1915, issue 10189)

https://www.pncc.govt.nz/services/cemetery-and-cremation-search/?LastName=knowles&FirstName=&Year=&Cemetery=

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

3 comments have been posted about Emma J. Knowles

What do you know?

Jeanette Grant

Posted: 09 Dec 2020

Emma Jane GUNDRY was born on 19 July 1839 in Devizes, Wiltshire to Samuel GUNDRY (1809-1894) and his first wife Emma HAYTER (1811-1841). The Gundry family came to Lyttleton on the 'Steadfast' in 1851. Emma married Hamilton KNOWLES in the Temporary Church at Lyttleton on 26 October 1859 and they went on to have eleven children. Both their older daughters - Edith Marion (1871-1950) and Emma Constance (1872-1962) also appear on the first roll which included women.

Jeanette Grant

Posted: 11 Aug 2020

Emma Jane GUNDRY was born in Devizes, Wiltshire on the 19th July 1839 and baptised at St James, Devizes on 13 August 1839. She was the 2nd daughter of a grocer - Samuel GUNDRY (1809-1894) and his first wife Emma HAYTER (1811-1841). Samuel remarried to Mary Ann LOWE (1825-1864) on 23 January 1847 and the family came out to Canterbury in 1851 on the STEADFAST. He became a wine merchant in Lyttleton and later in Christchurch.
Emma Jane GUNDRY married Henry Hamilton KNOWLES (1833-1915) in the Temporary Church at Lyttleton on 26 October 1859. By 1882, they had produced eleven children – three girls and eight boys - all of whom survived. Hamilton was variously a bank manager & accountant in Nelson, a head teacher in Kaikoura, a farmer at Makino and a council inspector in Palmerston North.
Emma Jane signed the petition in 1892 and with her two eldest daughters – Edith Marion and Emma Constance KNOWLES - was on the first electoral roll to accept women.
Emma died at home in Ferguson St, Palmerston North on 30 September 1915, only nine days after her husband, and they are buried together in the Napier St Cemetery, Palmerston North. Two of their sons – Charles Hamilton Knowles (1862-1943) and Francis Speke Knowles (1868-1941) were later buried with them.

Jeanette Grant

Posted: 21 Apr 2018

My greatgrandmother Emma Jane KNOWLES nee GUNDRY was born in Devizes to Samuel GUNDRY and his first wife Emma HAYTER on 19 July 1839. The family - by then consisting of her father, stepmother, two sisters and a half brother - came out to Canterbury on the STEADFAST in 1851. She married Henry Hamilton KNOWLES in the Temporary Church at Lyttleton on 26 October 1859 and they eventually had eleven children - all of whom lived to adulthood. Her husband was variously a bank manager in Nelson, a teacher in Kaikoura, a flax miller in Bulls, a farmer in Makino and a Council Inspector in Palmerston North. Emma and her two oldest daughters Edith and Constance all appear on the first inclusive electoral roll - and I was delighted to discover her name on the original petition.