Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Eliza Hannah Gregg was born in 1841 in London – the daughter of John Gregg, an upholsterer, & Eliza Clark.
She emigrated to Australia with her family in the 1850’s &, in September 1855, they arrived in Dunedin on the Gil Blas.
Eliza married Richard Sweetman Howard, a butcher, in 1864.
By 1876 they had 4 children when Eliza summoned Richard before the court for the charge of “deserting herself and family”. She “complained of her husband’s harsh conduct towards her, and the abuse to which she had been subjected. Her little girls had been sent away, she did not know where, and the house broken up”.
Richard countered with the claim that Eliza was the one who deserted the family, he was fined 20s and costs.
They appear to have reunited for a few years as a further 3 children were born in the next 8 years.
When Eliza signed the suffrage petition she was living in Grange Street working as a ladies’ nurse.
In 1901 Richard was charged with failing to provide Eliza with “adequate means of support”. The judge “did not know which party to believe” - he declined to make an order.
Richard was charged with a similar offence in 1906. “The parties had not lived together for some time. Incompatability of temper appeared to be the cause”. Eliza was “practically a destitute person” & had been unable to get an old age pension due to Richard owning property.
Eliza died at her daughter’s home in South Dunedin on September 19th 1915 & Richard died in 1928, they are buried with Eliza’s parents in the Southern Cemetery.