Marjory Houston

Signed family name

Houston

Signed given name

Marjory

Given address

Rankelor Street South

Sheet number

Town/Suburb

South Dunedin

City/Region

Dunedin

Notes

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

Marjory Cormack was born about 1846 in Caithness, Scotland – the daughter of Donald Houston, a weaver, and Mary Henderson.

She emigrated to Otago in the early 1870s – her parents and some siblings also sailed around that time.

Marjorie married James Houston, a carpenter, on 17 March 1876 in Dunedin and they had six children.

In 1877 James was declared bankrupt and, in 1885, he was charged with 'neglecting to support his five children, and he was ordered to pay 20s a week for twelve weeks', Marjorie said he 'was addicted to drink'.

James was declared bankrupt again in 1891 owing £61 9s 9d with no assets.

When Marjory signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Rankeilor St, South Dunedin.

In 1893 Marjory won a silver watch in a competition to 'place the candidates for Dunedin in the general election'.

She applied for a separation order from James in 1908 on the grounds of persistent cruelty and desertion. 'He had just served a sentence of two months for brutally assaulting her'.

The following year James was again before the court for disobeying a maintenance order.

James died in Wellington in 1926 – he is buried in the Karori Cemetery.

Marjory died in Dunedin on 1 August 1927 – she is buried in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.