Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Louisa Lambert was born about 1836 in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England – the daughter of Charles Lambert, the manager of a pin factory, and Mary Anne Burgess.
She married Edwin Atchley Dowden, a stock inspector, on 3 November 1859 in Gloucestershire.
In January the following year they emigrated to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia as cabin passengers on the Dover Castle.
They had seven children in Victoria, one who died in infancy, before the family came to Otago – their last child was born in New Zealand in 1876.
They lived at first in Canterbury then Wellington before moving to Dunedin where Mary signed the suffrage petition.
The family ended their lives in Wellington where Mary died on 30 January 1913, Edwin died the following year.
They are buried together in the Karori Cemetery, Wellington.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au
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
PapersPast https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Wellington City Council https://wellington.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