Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Harriet Bright was born in Barley, Hertfordshire, England in 1840 – the daughter of Henry Bright, an agricultural labourer, and Sarah Abraham.
She married William Gardner, a porter, in 1857 in London. They had eight children, three who died in infancy, before they emigrated to Otago in 1875 on the James Nicol Fleming.
A further four children arrived after their arrival in New Zealand and when Harriet signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Grosvenor St, Kensington, Dunedin.
Harriet died on 18 September 1906 and William died in 1909, they are buried together 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
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