Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Marie (later Gwendoline Marie) Payne was born about 1858 in Glamorganshire, Wales.
She emigrated to Canterbury in 1878 on the Marlborough and she married William Earnshaw, a brass finisher, in Christchurch in 1880.
They moved to Dunedin shortly after their marriage and had three sons, one who died in infancy.
When Marie signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Cutten St, South Dunedin.
In 1890 William was 'elected to Parliament as one of the first three Labour members. From then on Mrs Earnshaw took a keen and active interest in political affairs during the 35 years of her husband’s Parliamentary career. She was vice-president of the Women’s Franchise League in Dunedin and was one of the first women in New Zealand to record a political vote.'
William was defeated in the 1899 election and after a fire in his Wellington brass foundry he gave up politics and took up gold dredging on the West Coast of the South Island, later working for the Wellington Harbour Board.
He was elected to the Legislative Council in 1913.
William died in 1931 and Marie died on 5 June 1947 – they are buried together in the Karori Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/