suffrage_petition
Surname: 
Beaven
Given names: 
Margaret Hamilton
Given address: 
260 Gloucester St
Sheet No: 324
Town/Suburb: 
Central Christchurch
City/Region: 
Christchurch
Notes: 
Biographical information provided by Barbara Mulligan for the He Tohu exhibition:
 
Three of the women who signed page 324 of the NZ Women’s Suffrage Petition in 1893 were closely related to Kate Sheppard. They were Marie Beath (nee Malcom) – Kate Shepherd's older sister – her niece Margaret Hamilton Beaven (nee Beath), and Alice Fanny Malcolm, her sister-in-law (married to Kate’s brother, Frank Souter Malcolm). The Malcolm family maintained close relationships throughout their lives, including purchasing adjacent properties in Riccarton, and socialising and working together constantly.
 
Margaret Hamilton Beaven (nee Beath) was the second daughter of Marie and George Beath. She was born in Christchurch in January 1870, and lived with her parents until March 1892 when she married Arthur Ward Beaven, owner of and partner in a successful agricultural engineering company, Andrews and Beaven. Margaret was 22 when she married, and her husband was 36. As the daughter of wealthy parents Margaret led an elegant and enriched life, and was a talented watercolourist. With her family she had travelled to Great Britain to study music and art.
 
Margaret and Arthur lived at 260 Gloucester Street, and she gave this address when she signed the petition. Her first child had been born in December 1892, so Margaret would have been busy with parenthood during the promotion of the petition and its circulation, though her relationship with her aunt Kate Sheppard would have influenced her decision to sign.
 
Margaret eventually had four children, and continued to paint and be an active participant in a range of causes until her death in 1954. She lived in Christchurch all her life. She was known throughout her family, and to her descendants, as Meemee.
 

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

2 comments have been posted about Margaret H Beaven

What do you know?

Anonymous

Posted: 10 Jul 2021

This entry is somewhat confusing - it’s not clear in stating Kate Beaths mother signed the petition. It reads as if Kate Sheppard’s mother signed the petition. Kate’s mother was Jemima Malcolm and she died in 1881.

Barbara Mulligan

Posted: 10 Jun 2012

Margaret Hamilton Beaven was Kate Sheppard's sister. Their mother, Marie Beath, also signed the petition, on p. 324.