Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Ellen Hickey was born in 1843 in Hull, Yorkshire – the daughter of Peter Hickey, a wheelwright, and Hannah Dinsdale.
Ellen emigrated to New Zealand and, in 1890, she married her widowed brother-in-law Thomas Primate, a mariner.
Thomas’ wife Emma had died the previous year leaving two grown children.
Ellen and Thomas had two children together and when she signed the suffrage petition they were living in Albany St, Dunedin.
Thomas died at their home in 1905 and Ellen died at Timaru Hospital on 29 October 1919, she is buried in the Timaru Cemetery.
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
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