Biography provided by Cecilia Wong-Cornall
Emily Phoebe Leighton was born on 27 Jan 1859 to Charlotte and James Frances Leighton in Auckland, New Zealand [1]. She was the eldest of eight children [2].
Her father, James Frances Leighton, descended from a long-standing family of bookbinders in England [3]. He was born in the parish of Clerkenwell, London in 1830 [4], and immigrated to New Zealand in 1855 [5]. Later, he established J. F. Leighton and Sons Ltd on High Street, Auckland, which offered various bookbinding and stationary services [3,5]. According to the Burgess Rolls for the City of Auckland 1881-1894, James Francis Leighton had several properties – both shops and houses. When James passed away in 1910, aged 80, he left two properties to his daughters and made several bequests for large amounts of money [6]. This would infer that Emily, and her siblings, lived quite a comfortable life.
Her mother, Charlotte (née Read), was born in 1836 in Titchfield, Hampshire, England [7]. Passenger records showed that Charlotte sailed to Victoria, Australia, with her parents and siblings in 1853 on the Barrackpore [8]. Charlotte and James were married on 1 May 1858 at St Paul’s Church in Auckland, New Zealand [9]. Charlotte passed away in 1882, aged 46, leaving four young children (aged between two to twelve years) [10]. It is possible that Emily may have been involved in the upbringing of these children as their eldest, unmarried sister.
According to electoral roll records, Emily lived at the family homestead on Collingwood Street in Ponsonby, Auckland until 1919; she lived on Marine Parade, Herne Bay from 1922 - 1931 [11]. Emily listed ‘gentlewoman’, ‘home duties’, and ‘spinster’ as her occupations in the electoral rolls between 1839 – 1931 [11]. This may suggest that she was probably financially secured enough that she did not need to work. However, women’s occupations were rarely listed in electoral rolls at the time.
Two other signatories on the petition (p. 388) – E. A. Leighton and S. A. Leighton – were Emily’ s younger sisters and they were living together at the Collingwood Street address (mentioned above) in 1893 [11].
Emily never married [12]. She passed away in Auckland on 19 Sep 1932, aged 73. She was buried at Purewa Cemetery alongside a few of her siblings [13].
Sources:
[3] https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Leighton_Family_and_the_Sandemanian_Church
[5] https://ponsonbynews.co.nz/blogs/news/street-names-leighton-street
[6] https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/cemeteries/id/88916
[7] https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/sources/MLTH-QX2
[10] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/205507498/charlotte-leighton
[11]https://www.ancestryinstitution.com.au/search/collections/1836/?name=Emily+Phoebe_Leighton
[13] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/221243503/emily-phoebe-leighton