Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Margaret Peart was born in 1841 in Alston, Cumberland, England – the daughter of Thomas Peart, a lead miner and parish clerk, and Betsey Smith.
She married Richard Little, a fitter, in 1865 in Gateshead, Durham and they had three children, one who died in infancy.
The family emigrated to Otago in 1873 on the Dover Castle and had a further three children in New Zealand.
When Margaret signed the suffrage petition the family were living on the corner of Cutten & Bathgate Streets, in South Dunedin where Richard worked as an expressman.
Richard died in 1893, at the age of 49 and Margaret died on 14 September 1901, they are buried in the family grave in the Southern Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz