Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Julia Diggle was born in 1855 in Radford, Nottinghamshire, England – the daughter of Nathaniel Diggle, a warper, and Elizabeth Miller.
Julia arrived in Canterbury with her family, in 1862, on the Mermaid.
Julia married John Holmes, a bootfinisher, in 1874. They had five children. The family lived mostly in Canterbury, spending a few years in Dunedin in the early 1890s where they were when Julia signed the suffrage petition.
Late in 1893 the family moved back to Christchurch where Julia died on 18 March 1896, her 42nd birthday.
She is buried in the Addington Cemetery with John, who died in 1938.
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
Christchurch City Council http://heritage.christchurchcitylibraries.com
