Originally transcribed as W L. Beckingsale
Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Louisa Beckingsale was born in 1866 in New Zealand – the daughter of Henry Beckingsale, a draper, and Sarah Bromley.
She attended Otago Girls High School enrolling in 1879, when the school was eight-years-old.
When Mary signed the suffrage petition Mary was living with her family in Park St, Dunedin although she signed the petition as George St. At the time she was working as a saleswoman, George St may have been her place of work.
She married Ebenezer William Roy, also a draper, in 1894.
Prior to her wedding the Sunday School teachers of the Hanover Street Baptist Church presented Mary with an electro-plated cake basket and breakfast cruet.
Mary & Ebenezer had three children and spent their lives in Dunedin.
Ebenezer died in 1947 and Mary died on 9 June 1950, they are buried in the family grave in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
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