Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Margaret Hartley was born on 8 April 1865 in West Harbour, near Dunedin – the daughter of John Hartley, a mariner and farmer, and Euphemia Kilgour. (See 167 E Hartley)
In the 1870’s the family moved to Dunedin where Margaret studied at the Dunedin School of Art.
On the advice of her tutor, in 1886, the family moved to London so she could further her studies at an art school in South Kensington.
Her sister Elizabeth also studied music at the Guildhall School of Music.
Margaret was awarded first prize for a portrait in oils and after her graduation the family returned to Dunedin in 1891.
When Margaret signed the suffrage petition she was living with her family in Howe St, Dunedin.
She worked as a teacher of drawing and painting and exhibited in local art exhibitions until “a painful illness, with threatened blindness” nearly put an end to her art career.
She recovered from the illness and in 1908 was teaching advanced drawing at St Andrew’s Collegiate School in Dunedin.
She continued painting and exhibited at the Otago Art Society in the 1920’s.
Margaret died on 29 January 1926 – she is buried in the family grave in the Northern 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