Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Elizabeth/Bessie Amelia Lampard was born in 1853 in Wiltshire, England – the daughter of Benjamin Lampard, a gardener, and Sarah Jane Brayne.
Bessie worked as a dressmaker and was forewoman in a dressmaking establishment before her marriage.
She married George William Kent, a miller, in 1880 and two years later they emigrated to South Australia where their first child was born.
In 1884 they came to New Zealand where they had a further six children, one who died in infancy.
The family settled in Milton where Bessie signed the suffrage petition.
Bessie died at her home on 3 September 1935 'within 24 hours of celebrating the fifty-fifth anniversary of her marriage Mrs George William Kent died with tragic suddenness.'
'She was an old and highly-esteemed resident of Milton.'
George died in 1937, they are buried in the Fairfax Cemetery, Milton.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Genealogy S A https://www.genealogysa.org.au/