Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Dinah Josephine Hunt was born about 1860 in Ireland - she emigrated to New Zealand about 1875.
Dinah married Horatio Nelson Pine, a widower and labourer, in 1877. They had nine children in the next 13 years.
When Dinah signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Great King St, Dunedin.
The following year Dinah charged Horatio with 'ailing to provide adequate means of support for his seven children. After evidence his Worship said the best thing the husband and wife could do was to make it up and live together.' The case was dismissed.
In 1895 they were again before the courts when Dinah charged Horatio with assault.'The wife lived with the husband till seven or eight months ago, when his conduct became intolerable and she had to leave his house. Since that time she had been living by herself and gaining her own livelihood. The husband, not satisfied with what he had done, went to his wife’s house, broke open the door, and struck her.' After all the evidence had been given the case was dismissed.
In 1896 several of the children were brought before the Court under the Industrial Schools Act. Their father 'was given to intemperance, so much so that it was found necessary to obtain a prohibition order against him.' 'The man worked very seldom, and the children wanted food and were sadly neglected.' The Judge ruled that it would cost too much to send the children to the Industrial School & the mother should have them & the father pay 10s per week for their upkeep.
Horatio neglected to keep up the payments and was jailed for sent to jail for a fortnight in 1897.
Horatio disappeared from the records in the 1900s and his place of death is unknown.
Dinah died on 4 April 1930 and is buried in the family grave in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.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