Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Eleanor Speight was born in 1842 in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, the daughter of John Speight, a dyer, and Eliza Bell. Her brother James Speight founded the Dunedin brewery.
Eleanor married Frederick Hanson, a compositor, in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1861. They emigrated to Otago about 1864 and had three children.
About 1875, the family returned to Yorkshire where their daughter Alice was born in 1879.
The family returned to New Zealand in 1883, travelling on the Catalonia.
When she signed the suffrage petition Eleanor was living with her family in Russell St, Dunedin.
In 1899 Frederick obtained the licence for the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel in Russell St. The licence was transferred in 1901 and they then moved to Caversham.
Frederick died in 1912. Eleanor died on 6 September 1925. They are buried together in the Southern 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
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