Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Catherine Davidson Malcolm was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 30 November 1837 – the daughter of Andrew Malcolm and Euphemia Warwick.
She married John Smith in Glasgow in 1861 and a few years after she emigrated to New Zealand.
It is not known if she travelled with John or if he died in Scotland.
She had two children with James Patrick, a baker, before they married in Dunedin in 1873, Catherine's marital status was 'widow'.
James had divorced his previous wife, Julia, in 1869 because when he was away from Dunedin working she 'had left his house, and was living by prostitution' and he 'subsequently discovered that his children were residing at the Asylum for the destitute poor'. Julia died in 1873 shortly before Catherine and James married.
They had a further five children and when Catherine signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Great King Street.
Catherine died at her home on 24 December 1899 and James died in 1915 – they are buried in the family grave in the Northern Cemetery.