Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Margaret Fairley on 7 September 1834 in Kirknewton, Midlothian, Scotland — the daughter of John Fairley, an agricultural labourer, and Catherine Marshall.
In the 1840s her mother died and her father re-married. Margaret married David Pinkerton, a bootmaker, on 1 December 1857 in Kirknewton, they had one son who died in infancy before they emigrated to Otago in 1861 on the Lady Egidia. Also on the ship was Margaret’s sister Janet (See 61 Janet Fairley) and three half-siblings Helen (See 61 Nellie Dickison), aged 14 and twins Thomas and John aged 12.
Margaret and David settled in Dunedin and had a further four children, two of who died in infancy.
In 1879 David was declared bankrupt, he later held the position of president of the bootmakers and tailoress’s association.
He was elected to Parliament as a Labour member in 1890 and when Margaret signed the suffrage petition the family were living in High St, Dunedin.
David died in 1906 and Margaret died at her daughter’s house on 17 December 1923.
They are buried in the family grave in the Southern Cemetery.
Margaret’s obituary says she was 'always of a helpful and obliging disposition' 'beloved by a wide circle of relatives and friends'.
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
NZ Yesteryears http://www.yesteryears.co.nz
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz