Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Elizabeth Best Hawkins was born in 1851 in Ilmington, Warwickshire – the daughter of George Hawkins, an agricultural labourer, and Eliza Dumbelton.
She married Thomas Woodhill, a shepherd, in 1869 and they had three children, one who died in infancy, before the family emigrated to Otago in 1877 on the James Nicol Fleming.
They settled in the Tokomairiro district where Thomas worked as an engine driver at a flour mill and they had a further seven children, one who also died in infancy.
When Elizabeth signed the suffrage petition they were living in Milton – she died at her home on 30 July 1928.
Thomas died in 1932 – they are probably buried in the Fairfax Cemetery, Milton.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
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
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