Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Esther Louisa Reed (also known as Ettie and Hettie) was born in 1876 in New Zealand – the daughter of Joseph Reed and Elizabeth Ann Richards. Esther's sister Annie also signed the petition.
Esther worked in the hosiery department of the Roslyn Woollen Mills and, on the eve of her marriage to Frederick William Atchely in 1897, she was presented with a dinner service and clock by her fellow workers. Esther and Frederick had one son.
Frederick served as church warden at St Michael’s and All Angels in Andersons Bay, Dunedin, for many years and Esther assisted with church activities as well as being a member of the Anderson Bay Red Cross and Patriotic Society who knitted socks and balaclavas for the soldiers in the First World War.
The family lived in Musselburgh Rise, Dunedin, where Frederick died in 1943. Esther died there also on 24 June 1964. They were both cremated and their ashes scattered.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
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