Biography contributed by Jessica Colquhoun.
Charlotte Anderson (née Bowles) was born on the 25th of May 1861 in Dover, Kent, England, to Edward and Mary Ann Bowles. Her father Edward was born in 1831 and therefore would have been 29 or 30 years old at the time Charlotte was born. Her mother's birth year is unknown. Charlotte grew up in Kent, before immigrating to New Zealand in September 1873 at the age of 12. She travelled aboard the St Leonards with her parents and younger siblings Maurice Williams (1863), Edward Alfred (1865), Mark (1867), and Louisa Mary (1869). Another younger sister, Emma Jane, had died in Kent at four months old in 1872. Her youngest sister, Susanna Kate, was born in Auckland in 1876.
In 1882 Charlotte married Charles John Anderson, who was born in London, England in 1848. She was 21 years old and he was 34. In the 1896 New Zealand Electoral Rolls, Charles John’s occupation is listed as a tailor. Charlotte and Charles John had 12 children: Jessie Alice (1883), Mary Louisa (1885), Alfred Edward (1886), Sidney John (1888), Mildred Kate (1890), Caroline Elizabeth (1892), Phyllis (1895), Maurice William (1896), Marjorie (1899, died in infancy), James Harry (1900), Doris (1903), and Phillip Charles (1907). Their second son, Sidney John, served in the N.Z.E.F during the first World War as part of the 2nd Field Ambulance Brigade. Sidney John died from veronal (barbital) and opium poisoning on February 17, 1936 at the age of 47.
Charlotte Anderson passed away on the 28th of May, 1951, in Auckland, New Zealand, at 90 years old. Charlotte was cremated, and her ashes are interred at the Waikumete Cemetery and Crematorium. Her husband Charles John had passed away nearly 30 years earlier, in May 1922.