Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Martha Beatty was born in Lurgan, County Down, Ireland. She married Rev Robert James Porter about 1882 and soon after they came to New Zealand.
They settled at first in Christchurch, then came to Dunedin where Robert worked in the Mornington Parish. Their daughter was born there in 1892 and when Martha signed the suffrage petition her address was given as the Mornington Manse.
The following year they moved to Oamaru. Robert died in Oamaru in 1917 and sometime after Martha decided to return to her home town in Northern Ireland where she lived with her brother at 'Donagh Cottage', Donaghcloney.
After her brother’s death in 1938 she was considering whether she should return to New Zealand when she died on 20 September 1939. She was survived by her daughter.
Her obituary said:
'[Martha] took an active part in the work of the church. A ladies’ sewing guild was established under her presidency in 1901. [...] On the outbreak of war in 1914 she was instrumental in forming a body of church workers, who in conjunction with the Red Cross Society, undertook the making of garments and other comforts for soldiers on active service.'
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz