A. W. Heatley

Biography contributed by Veronica Cross (great-great-granddaughter)

Agnes Walker Burns was born on 22 February 1849 in Port Glasgow, Renfrew, Scotland. She was the seventh child of John Burns and Catherine (nee Wilson). Agnes' older siblings were John, Margaret, Robert, James, Catherine and Hellen. Agnes was named after her great grandmother, her father's grandmother.

Agnes married Joseph Heatley, son of James Heatley and Jane (nee Bell) on 2 June 1868 in Alnwick United Church, Northumberland, England.

In England, Agnes and Joseph had four children: 

• Frederick Joseph Heatley born 3 November 1870 Market Place, Alnwick, Northumberland
• Elizabeth Agnes Heatley, who was born in 1873, but died in 1875.
• Helen Jane (Nelly) Heatley was born in 1873 in Middlesborough, Yorkshire
• David Park Heatley  born 15 January 1876 Middlesborough, Yorkshire.

On 8 September 1880, Agnes and Joseph, with their children Frederick, Nelly and David, emmigrated to New Zealand, arriving in Dunedin in December 1880.

The Otago Daily Times Family Notices of 5 April 1886 included a death notice for Jane Helen (Nelly) Heatley, beloved and only daughter of Joseph and Agnes Heatley.

Agnes Josephine (Nina) Heatley was then born in Dunedin, on 28 November 1889.

In 1893, Agnes signed the Suffrage Petition:  A. W. Heatley, Belleknowes.

Agnes died on 13 May 1898 at the age of 49 in Dunedin, and is buried in the Southern Cemetery. Little Nina would have only been nine at the time of her mother's death. Joseph subsequently married Alice Isabella Twemlow on 31 March 1899, no doubt to provide a mother and a home for his child, as his work as a commercial traveller for Mackerras and Hazlett, Merchants and Importers meant he needed to be away from the family home.