Biographical information provided by Stefanie Lash, Archives New Zealand, for the He Tohu exhibition:
When she signed the Women’s Suffrage Petition Caroline Holgate was a newlywed, aged 27, and expecting her first son, named after her husband Enoch Denton Holgate.
Caroline Fortune was born in Castlemaine, Victoria in 1869 to Henry and Ann Fortune. She married Enoch Holgate in Victoria in 1892, and they emigrated to New Zealand, settling in Christchurch. Two children were born in Christchurch – Enoch and Violet – before the family returned to Australia, where the Holgate family lived. Enoch worked as an engine-fitter on the railways, and died in 1912. Caroline lived until 1960.
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
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