Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Eliza Sophia Barrett was born in Oxfordshire, England in 1845 – the daughter of Henry Barrett, an agricultural labourer, and Ann Keep.
She had a son in 1866 and in 1870 she married Charles Sparrow, an agricultural labourer.
They had two children before they emigrated to Otago in 1874 on the Sussex.
A further seven children were born in New Zealand, one who died in infancy.
When Eliza signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Stafford St, South Dunedin.
She died there on 11 March 1906 and Charles died in 1919, they are buried in the family grave in the Southern Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
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