Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Elizabeth Sturgeon was born in South Ockenden, Essex, England in 1854 – the daughter of Henry Sturgeon, a carrier, and Sarah Brown.
She emigrated to Otago on the Wild Deer with her family arriving in January 1875 and settled in Dunedin.
Elizabeth married Thomas Fitzroy Girvan, a photographer and photographic apparatus manufacturer, on 1 July 1875 at St Matthew’s Church, Dunedin.
They had 11 children, three who died in infancy and, when Elizabeth signed the suffrage petition, the family were living in Brook St, Dunedin.
They later moved to Dundas St where Thomas ran the Kapai Photographic Studio.
Thomas died in 1921 and Elizabeth died on 8 July 1943, aged 88. They are buried with their infant children in the Northern 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
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz