Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Ann Davies was born on 1 May 1857 in Hobart, Tasmania – the daughter of Francis Crowder, a seaman, and Ellen Duffey.
She moved to Otago with her family in the late 1860s and married George Wilcock Davies, a carter, in 1876.
They had three children but their marriage did not go smoothly as, in 1892, the family was in court when George was charged with 'failing to provide his three children with adequate means of support...the case had been adjourned from time to time to allow the defendant to make some arrangement for the support of the children, but it was now evident that he had been simply using the adjournments to evade payment.'
An order was made for him to pay 8s a week towards the support of each child.
When Mary signed the suffrage petition she was living in Cumberland St, Dunedin working as a charwoman.
She died on 6 August 1949, at the age of 93 and is buried with one of her daughters in the Andersons Bay 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
Libraries Tasmania https://librariestas.ent.sirsidynix.net.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