Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Hannah Jane Tonkin Worthley was born in 1854 in Devonshire, England – the daughter of William Worthley, a carpenter, and Mary Ann Stephens Tonkin.
She married James Thomas in Tynemouth, Northumberland in 1871 and they had two children before they emigrated to Otago in 1875 on the Earl of Zetland.
They had a further 14 children after their arrival, three who appear to have died in infancy.
When Hannah signed the suffrage petition she gave her address as Main Rd, South Dunedin – the family was soon after living in nearby Gisborne St, now Oxford St.
James was a temperance campaigner, a borough councillor and a Methodist lay preacher.
He died at their home in 1912 and Hannah died on 15 October 1920, they are buried in the family grave in the Northern 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