Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Grainger was born in 1848 in Tynemouth, Northumberland, England – the daughter of Thomas Grainger, a coal miner, and Ann Laverick.
Mary appears to have has a daughter in 1881 and she emigrated to Otago with her daughter Ann and, probably with her sister Elizabeth (See 65 Elizabeth Grainger), in the early 1880s.
Mary did not marry and when she signed the suffrage petition she was living with her sister Elizabeth in Cargill Rd, South Dunedin where they both worked as dressmakers.
Mary died at her daughter’s home in Andersons Bay, Dunedin on 29 May 1933, she is buried with Elizabeth in the Southern Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
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