Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Margaret Gay Cairns was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1858 – the daughter of Alexander Cairns, a building contractor, and Henrietta Wilson.
She came to Otago with her family in the early 1860s and they settled in Dunedin.
When Margaret signed the suffrage petition she was living in High Street although she signed in nearby Stafford Avenue.
She died on 2 November 1943 in Dunedin – she was cremated and her ashes interred in the family plot in the Southern Cemetery.
Sources
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
Community contributions