Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Combe was born in Scotland about 1828, she married John Bamber/Bambery, a shoemaker and widower, on 16 February 1857 in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland.
They had two children before they, with four of John’s children, emigrated to Otago in 1860 on the Gala.
Their son William Gala Bambery was born on the voyage followed by a further six children.
When Mary signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Cumberland St, Dunedin.
John died in 1894 and is buried with their daughter Johanna in the Northern Cemetery.
Mary died at her daughter’s home in Lawrence on 25 August 1906, her place of burial is unclear.
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
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
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