Originally transcribed as Agnes M Naughton
Biography contribued by Katherine Blakeley
Agnes was born about 1844 in Argyllshire, Scotland – the daughter of Donald McNaughton, a distillery worker, and Mary McLean.
She worked as a pupil teacher before she emigrated to New Zealand.
She continued her teaching in Dunedin being appointed as an assistant mistress at the Albany St School in 1878.
The following year she was appointed as schoolmistress at Kensington School where she stayed for a year before she gained the position of head teacher at Cambrians School in Central Otago.
She stayed in Cambrians until 1884 and when she resigned her position, the residents of Cambrian presented her with 'a testimonial in the shape of a nice marble clock, on the eve of her departure from the district.'
All the children and their parents were invited to a picnic after which Agnes was presented with the clock which was inscribed 'Presented to Agnes McNaughton by the residents of Cambrian as an acknowledgement of her 4 ½ years’ service as head-teacher of the Cambrian School.'
After the speeches the meeting concluded with all present singing a hymn.
Agnes appears to have retired from teaching after this and when she signed the suffrage petition she was living in Prince Edward Rd, St Kilda.
She died on 11 July 1925 and was buried in the St Bathans Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz