Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Eliza Ann Wenlock was born about 1845 in Staffordshire, England.
She married James Warnes on 7 January 1864 at Holy Trinity Church, Cape Town, South Africa.
The couple sailed for New Zealand later that year arriving in Auckland on the barque Alfred in November.
They settled in Waipipi near Onehunga - two years later they lost their home and possessions in a bush fire. James was away from home and Eliza had to lie in a creek with their one month old son to escape the flames, their son died as a result of the experience.
By 1866 they had moved to Greymouth where James found work clearing bush and constructing roads.
In 1871 James caught 'gold fever' and the family moved to Stillwater. While there Eliza 'gave birth to two children, and the hardships she endured were necessarily of the most severe kind'. They had a total of 12 children, three who died in infancy and when Eliza signed the suffrage petition they were living in Greymouth.
Eliza and James celebrated their Golden Wedding in 1914 when 'two of Greymouth’s oldest and most respected residents entertained various members of their family and a few personal friends'.
James died in 1918 and Eliza died on 26 February 1921, they are buried together in the Greymouth Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
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