Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Helen Alice Bridger was born in Petworth, Sussex in 1845 – the daughter of William Bridger, a land surveyor, and Mary Challen.
She married chemist William Earland in 1867 & they had four children before the family emigrated to New Zealand about 1887.
They settled in Dunedin where they separated about a year later. Helen and William “had not agreed well together for a long time”.
Helen and the children moved out of the family home and a short time later William died, possibly due to the overuse of cough medicine – he is buried in the Southern Cemetery.
When Helen signed the suffrage petition the family were living in St Helier’s Court, Caversham.
In the 1910’s Helen moved to Queenstown where she ran the “Lakeside” private boarding house.
She died on 25 February 1923 and is buried in the Queenstown Cemetery with her daughter.
Sources:
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
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
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/
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