Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Hughina McLeod was born about 1844 in Scotland and arrived in New Zealand about 1861.
She married Charles McArthur at First Church, Dunedin on 28 July 1865. They had eight children, one dying in infancy.
In January 1877 Charles, described as a powerful-looking labourer, was charged with assaulting Hughina at their house in Duncan St, Dunedin.
She had obtained a separation order, but Charles was still living in the house and he gave her no money. The newspaper reported 'He came home raving like a madman and using most abusive language, besides injuring the furniture'. The magistrate considered no assault proved, but said that Hughina could call in a constable and have him turned out if he made a disturbance.
In June the same year Charles was charged with wilful trespass and refusing to leave his wife’s house. 'She had warned him that if he did not forsake his drunken ways and allow her peace and quietness he must leave the house'.
Charles was warned to stay away and that if he was brought up on a similar charge he would be punished.
Charles died, as the result of an accident, in 1878.
When Hughina signed the suffrage petition she was living with her family in Lower Russell St, Dunedin. Her daughter Mary also signed the petition.
Hughina died on 22 September 1922. She is buried in the family grave 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
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/