Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Walker was born about 1862 in County Donegal, Ireland.
She came to New Zealand where she married Robert Timmis Coomer in 1883.
Robert was a farmer and dredgemaster who was a widower with four children who had remained in England.
Mary and Robert had a further six children and when Mary signed the suffrage petition they were living in Charlton, near Gore.
Robert died in 1917 when he was struck by a car – he left his, sizable, estate to all his children with Mary receiving nothing.
Mary sued the estate for relief under the “Family Protection Act” – and interim payment of £40 was made but the outcome is unknown.
Mary died at her home in Invercargill on 1 February 1927 – she is buried with Robert in the Gore Cemetery.
Sources:
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
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
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/