Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Helen Robb, nee Colvin was born 22 Jan 1853 in Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland, the daughter of Benjamin Colvin & Marion McAlister.
Helen’s family moved to Glasgow and her mother died there in 1868, Helen was working as a cotton weaver in 1871 and in 1874 arrived in Dunedin on board the “Mairi Bhan” with her sister Ann, brother William and William’s wife Margaret nee Lawrie.
Helen married James George Robb, a widower with 5 young children, in 1881, at Knox Church, Dunedin.
Helen & James had a further 8 children, the last in 1891, all but one surviving to adulthood.
Helen’s husband James died in January 1893 so at the time she signed the petition she would have been newly widowed with a total of 12 children & step children in her care.
Helen died in 1906 and is buried in Dunedin’s Southern Cemetery.
Sources
Scotlands People https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/
Presbyterian Archives http://www.archives.presbyterian.org.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
