Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Margaret Bicket McLaren was born in 1862 in Glasgow – the eldest child of James McLaren and Mary Boyd.
She emigrated to New Zealand with her parents in the early 1860s and they settled in Dunedin.
Margaret married James Colin Ross, a hosier, in April 1892 at her home.
They had two children and when Margaret signed the suffrage petition they were living in Roslyn.
James later worked for a hat manufacturing company before they fell on hard times and he went to work on Mount Royal Station, near Palmerston.
While he was there he died after eating rice custard tainted with strychnine which had been provided by the wife of a workmate.
Margaret remained in Dunedin where she died at her son’s home on 10 May 1927.
She is buried with James in the Northern Cemetery.