Biography contributed by Sharlene Rumney
Mary Elizabeth Foley married William Russell in 1886 and then married Richard Harbourne Bulling in 1888.
Mary Bulling also signed page 408 of the 1892 suffrage petition.
Mary had three children, Florence May Foley born in 1885 (in March 1890 the Auckland Star recorded the maintenance order Edgar Cooper was to pay Mary Bulling for the support of May), Elizabeth Mary Ann Bulling born 1892 and Cedric Roy Bulling born in 1899.
On 25 August 1897 at the Magistrate’s Court in Thames, Richard Harbourne Bulling was charged with failing to provide adequate means of support for his two children, May and Elizabeth.
The 1905/6 Thames electoral roll records Mary Elizabeth Bulling as living at Beach Road, Thames and her occupation was listed as married woman.
Richard Harbourne Bulling died in New South Wales, Australia in 1926 and Mary Elizabeth Bulling died in New South Wales, Australia in 1959.
Sources
https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/womens-suffrage/about-the-petition - 1892 suffrage petition Excel spreadsheet
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/
Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 59, 12 March 1890
Thames Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 8747, 25 August 1897
https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.au/
https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/lifelink/familyhistory/search?7
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