Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Elizabeth Mary Giller was born in 1849 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, the daughter of Henry Augustus Giller, a grocer, and Elizabeth Ann Challenger.
Elizabeth came to New Zealand with her family about 1860 and they settled in Southland.
She married John Azariah Slater Royds on 1 May 1866 at St John’s Church, Invercargill. They had nine children.
They farmed at New River and Waikiwi in Southland before moving to Dunedin. There they lived in Russell St where Elizabeth signed the suffrage petition.
Shortly after the family moved back to Invercargill. Elizabeth died in Invercargill on 21 August 1910. John died in 1919 in Christchurch.
They are buried together in the St Johns Cemetery, Invercargill.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
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
Invercargill City Council https://icc.govt.nz/cemeteries
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