Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Previously transcribed as A Halham.
Ann Sutton Hemsley was born in 1851 in Brighton, England, the daughter of James Hemsley, a carpenter, and Ann Sutton.
She emigrated to New Zealand with her parents about 1858, and they settled in Dunedin.
Ann married Charles Hadfield Stratham on April 13th 1870 at All Saints’ Church Dunedin. They had seven children.
When Ann signed the suffrage petition they were living in Mornington.
Charles worked, at first, as a warehouseman then as an accountant. He was also a lay Canon at the Anglican Cathedral.
Two of their sons died at Gallipoli. The other son, Sir Charles Ernest Statham, was a Member of Parliament and the first New Zealand born Speaker of the House.
Ann died at Heathcote, her home in Dunedin, on September 22nd 1932, and Charles died in 1942. They are buried in the family grave in the Northern Cemetery.
Sources
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