Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Rosa Rigg was born in 1871 in New Zealand – the daughter of Charles William Rigg, a Methodist minister, and Elizabeth Sarah Butler Bryan.
In 1878 Rosa’s father accepted a position with a church in Oregon.
Whether the family travelled with him is unclear – in 1883 Charles’ body was 'found floating in the harbour...It is supposed that he wandered on the wharf while in a state of mental aberration and fell overboard.'
When Rosa signed the suffrage petition she was living with her mother and sister (See 174 Mary Flora Rigg) in Cargill St, Dunedin working as a machinist.
In 1896 she was in Invercargill working as a dressmaker, she had returned to Dunedin by 1911 when she was living with Mary in Moray Place.
After this she moved to Auckland where her mother was living and where she married Charles Arthur Edgar Knight, a commercial traveller, on 1 January 1916.
Rosa died in August 1956 – she is buried in the Karori Cemetery, Wellington.
Charles died the following year – he is buried in the Kelvin Grove Cemetery, Palmerston North.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/
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