Amelia Green

Biography and image contributed by Ken Green, great great grandson, Whangarei

At the 125th anniversary of women gaining the vote in New Zealand I was delighted to find that my great great grandmother Amelia had signed the 1893 women’s suffrage petition. Amelia Ann Foreman Willett was born on 7 April 1842 at Strand, Middlesex, London. She was the daughter of Henry Foreman Willett, a tailor, and Mary Ann Deny, a needle woman, both aged 22. Her sister, and only sibling, Charlotte was born in 1844 but died aged one month. At the beginning of a widespread influenza epidemic in 1856 Henry became ill and Mary Ann entered the Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum on 3 June. Henry passed away and was buried at Hackney, Middlesex on 11 August 1856, Mary Ann remained in the asylum until her death on 31 January 1858. Amelia, now 16, went into service in London and was chosen as a women’s companion to travel to Australia. Declining the return voyage to England she left Melbourne on 19 June 1860 on board Pirate, bound for Otago, and from there made her way to Akaroa on Banks Peninsula.

It was here that she met William Thomas Green, who, aged two, had arrived in Akaroa in 1839. Amelia and William were married on Amelia’s 20th birthday in 1862. William had a small farm in German Bay and worked as a labourer. In 1882 they moved to Christchurch, then Wellington, eventually purchasing 50 acres of bush in Eltham, Taranaki, that they cleared to establish a dairy farm. Amelia and William had 14 children, including two sets of twins. Six of the children died before they reached one year of age, one died aged ten, the remaining seven lived to adulthood. In 1889 the family moved to Palmerston North and it was from their Church Street home that Amelia signed the petition, aged 51. William, 71, died suddenly on 5 July 1908 after a night out with Amelia visiting friends, Amelia died on 11 October 1919, aged 77. They are buried together at Terrace End Cemetery, Palmerston North. Their headstone reads 'They miss you most who loved you best'.

Amelia would have had more sorrow in her life than most but she had a wonderful marriage and was remembered fondly by those who knew her. To find her signature on the petition was no surprise, she would have had no hesitation to become a part of history and contribute to the future lives of all women. It was with great pride that I read the 1896 Electoral Roll – Amelia Ann Foreman Green, Dressmaker, Palmerston North.