Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Isabella Pearce was born on 16 March 1870 at Manor Place, Dunedin – the daughter of Thomas Pearce, a plumber, and Isabella Gibb.
In 1886 Isabella’s father Thomas was declared insolvent. Two years later Thomas was trying to find work in Melbourne and wrote a letter to a New Zealand paper warning people not to come over as there was little work to be had.
The family was back in Dunedin in 1893 living in Parkside, Caversham, when Isabella and her mother signed the suffrage petition.
Isabella died on 27 July the following year, aged 24. She is buried in the Southern Cemetery with her family.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz