Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Mary Johnston was born about 1834 in Berwick upon Tweed in England.
She married David Webster, a painter and decorator, in Victoria, Australia in 1860.
They had 2 children in Victoria, both who died shortly after birth.
In 1862 they sailed for Invercargill where they had a further 5 children, one who died in infancy & one who was stillborn.
David ran a decorating business for a few years before trying his hand at the hotel business, running the Clarendon Hotel until 1866.
He returned to the decorating business which he ran until his death by illness in May 1872.
Their last child, a son, was born later that year in October.
Mary remained in Invercargill and when she signed the suffrage petition she was living in Spey Street.
She died at her home on August 22nd 1911 and she is buried with David in the family grave in the Eastern Cemetery.