Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Elizabeth Marion/Miriam Affleck was born in 1859 in New Zealand – the daughter of Andrew Affleck, a general labourer, and Eliza Vallance.
She married James Reynolds Hayne, a chemist, in 1879 and they had two children.
James had been declared bankrupt in 1878 while trading in Palmerston and he took over a business in Oamaru in 1882, this lasted until 1888 when he was again declared bankrupt and the family moved to Dunedin.
When Elizabeth signed the suffrage petition the family were living in High St, Dunedin.
In 1906 James was arrested and charged with manslaughter – he had performed an abortion on a young woman and she had died of peritonitis. After a long trial he was found not guilty. Further charges were brought in 1913 and 1919 but there were no convictions due to lack of evidence and a jury unable to come to a verdict. However in 1923 James was convicted of procuring an abortion and sentenced to seven years imprisonment with hard labour and his name was erased from the pharmaceutical register.
James died at the Otaki Hospital in 1926 and is buried in the Otaki Cemetery.
Elizabeth moved to Epsom, Auckland and she died there in June 1951, she was cremated.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Kapiti Coast District Council https://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz