Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Eleanor King was born in 1851 in Leicester, England – the daughter of William King, a baker, and Mary Freeman.
Her father died in 1853 and her mother re-married in 1856 to James Bennett, also a baker.
James emigrated to New Zealand soon after and worked as a drover before Eleanor and her family came to join him in the mid 1860’s.
Eleanor married William Hamilton, an engineer, on 12 July 1871 in Dunedin and they had three sons before William died in 1877.
When Eleanor signed the suffrage petition she was living with her sons in King St, Dunedin working as a stationer.
She later went to live with her son Thomas, a doctor, and his family in North East Valley.
When Thomas was appointed to a position at the Orangapai Tuberculosis Clinic at Waipiato in Central Otago Eleanor went with the family.
Eleanor died at Waipiata on 3 July 1935 – she is buried with William in the family grave in the Northern Cemetery, Dunedin.
Sources:
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
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
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
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