Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Eliza Adeline Henty was born in 1846 in Brighton, Sussex – the daughter of James Henty, a bricklayer’s labourer, and Rhoda Puddick.
She married George Pont in 1865 and they had four children before the family emigrated to New Zealand in the mid-1870s.
They settled in Southland where George worked as a publican, miner and labourer. He was declared bankrupt in 1877, 1881 and 1887.
They had a further seven children and when Eliza signed the suffrage petition they were living at Colac Bay.
Eliza died on 3 January 1905 and George died in 1938, they are buried together in the Riverton Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
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/
Invercargill City Council https://icc.govt.nz