Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Elizabeth Kerr Hay was born on 27 May 1829 in Kilsyth, Stirlingshire, Scotland – the daughter of William Hay, a merchant, and Elizabeth Rennie.
She came to New Zealand in the early 1860s as did several of her brothers and sisters.
Elizabeth did not marry and she worked as a teacher in Oamaru then North Dunedin and Union St schools before taking a year leave of absence in 1877.
She had 'been recommended by Dr Hocken to take a sea voyage, and purposed visiting the Home country'.
She later worked a mistress at Forbury School before being forced to resign due to an enrolment scandal in 1885.
When she signed the suffrage petition Elizabeth was living in George St, Dunedin.
She died at her home on 29 April 1914 and is buried in a family plot 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
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