Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Margaret Stirling was born about 1847 in Renfrewshire, Scotland – she arrived in New Zealand about 1863 and, in 1865, she married James Barclay. They had ten children.Her daughters, Lilas Mary Barclay and Elizabeth Ellen Barclay, also signed the petition.
They lived in many locations through Otago and ran the 'Prince of Wales Hotel' Waipori; 'Railway Hotel', Lawrence; 'Panama Hotel' Stuart St, Dunedin; 'Salutation Hotel' Arthur St, Dunedin; and 'North East Valley Shades Hotel', Main Rd, North East Valley.
Their son James also ran the 'Caledonian Hotel' in Dunedin where James snr. worked as a barman in later life.
Margaret is named as a licencee of the Panama Hotel in a court case in 1892 and when she signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Arthur St, Dunedin.
James died in 1923 and Margaret died at her daughter’s residence on 31 May 1930. They are buried together in the Northern Cemetery.
Sources
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.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