Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Eliza Gertrude Louisa Bowden, known as Louisa, was born in 1857 in Chelsea, London – the only child of James William Bowden and Betsy Ann Pritchard.
Her father worked as a house painter in London before they moved to his home town of Bath where they ran an oyster house.
James died in May 1874 and later that year, in August, her mother died when she fell down the stairs while drunk.
The death was deemed to be suspicious and Louisa was taken into custody while an inquest was held.
Louisa 'stated that her mother was much addicted to drink...she had not been sober for several days, having drunk beer since the commencement of her illness'.
A surgeon gave evidence at the inquest which cleared Louisa of any wrongdoing and she was released with a reprimand from of Coroner for not summoning help sooner.
Sometime after this Louisa came to New Zealand where she married Joel Faulks in 1883.
They lived in East Gore where Louisa signed the suffrage petition.
Joel died in 1896 and Louisa died on 15 February 1897 – they are buried together in the Gore Cemetery.
Sources
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