Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Ann Farmer Bamber/Bambery was born on 20 October 1845 in North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland – the daughter of John Bamber/Bambery, a shoemaker, and Jane Thomson.
Her mother died in the 1850s and her father re-married. (See 51 Mary Bambry)
The family emigrated to Otago in 1860 on the Gala and settled in Dunedin.
On 12 July 1864 Ann, aged 18, married George Bartholomew Purdue, aged 34, in Dunedin.
George was a policeman then a hotelkeeper in Dipton, Southland and they had five children.
George died in Invercargill in 1886 and Ann re-married in 1891 to Thomas Wyborn Sutton, a widower.
Thomas’ occupation is given as boarding house keeper, farmer, storekeeper then later a labourer.
When Ann signed the suffrage petition they were living at Bluff Harbour.
Thomas died in Invercargill in 1917, he is buried with his family in the Invercargill Eastern Cemetery.
Ann died in June 1929 – she is buried in the Purdue family grave in the Invercargill Eastern 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
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
Invercargill City Council https://icc.govt.nz
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