Emily K. Black

Further research has revealed the possibility that Emily was more of a suffragette than I was aware. She does appear on the 1893 Electoral Roll but in the Supplementary Roll. It would appear that she was briefly caught up in the grey area of having been born an alien.

Not a little green (wo)man but an American. There appears to have been confusion about the status of women like Emily who were not born British subjects but later became British subjects on their marriage.

Emily applied to be naturalised on September 26, 1893, exactly one week after the Electoral Act 1893 came into force giving women the vote. It would appear that she was very eager to vote.

A news item in the Bruce Herald (Otago) on 6 October indicates that the question came up in Parliament on 2 October. The Hon Sir Patrick Buckley confirmed the right of alien women married to British subjects to vote.

Her naturalisation was therefore never finalised and she did get to vote.

Emily Kinley Black nee Wilson was my GG-Grandmother. She was born in Cressona, Pennsylvania in 1853 and returned to her parents home in Londonderry, Ireland aged 6. She married Robert William Black there in 1872 and immigrated to New Zealand (he had immigrated here in 1865). It's believed they were related but how is unknown. She died in 1939.
I do wonder how serious a suffragette Emily was. Unlike many women she does not appear on the 1893 Electoral Roll, only turning up on the Supplementary Roll in 1896.