Biography contributed by Wendy Napier-Walker
M M Gormley was born Margaret Mary Donnelly born on 28 July 1840 to Michael Donnelly and Margaret Dowling in Jerusalem, Tasmania, Australia.
It is not known when Margaret arrived in New Zealand.
Terence Gormley is one of the signatories to a Notice of Intention to Construct a Tail Race, Gabriels Gully, 30 November 1863.
On 16 August 1865 Margaret Donnelly married Terence Gormley [transcribed as Gormlay] in Dunedin. They had ten children.
The Otago Nominal Index records Terence Gormley, Waipori 1867–1868.
In 1881 Terence Gormley is recorded as being a Cabman living in Mulgrave Street, Wellington.
Terence Gormley [registered as Gormly] drowned in Wellington Harbour on 3 September 1888. At the time of his death he was living in Roxburgh Street, Wellington and at one time was an owner/driver of a hackney carriage.
At the time of signing the 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition, Margaret was living in Nairn Street, Wellington.
It is not known when Margaret returned to Australia.
Margaret died on 12 December 1895 in Sydney, NSW, Australia, aged 54. She is buried in Rookwood Catholic Cemeteries and Crematoria, Section M1, Row S, Plot 530.
Sources
Hocken Collections – Lawrence Application files 1863–1867
NZ DIA Marriage Index 1865/8420
NZ DIA Death Index 1888/2959 Terence Gormley
Evening Post 5 September 1888, pg 2 – Deaths
NSW Death Index 11206/1895 Margaret Mary Gormley
Evening Post 3 January 1896, pg 2 – Deaths
Findagrave.com/memorial/150739594/margaret-m-gormley