Originally transcribed as Mrs Hanbre
Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Letitia Cunningham was born about 1847 in Ireland – the daughter of Joseph Cunningham, a hotelkeeper.
She married Simon Hanlon on 31 December 1861 in County Donegal and sometime after this they emigrated to New Zealand.
They had 13 children in New Zealand, one who died in infancy, and the family lived in Dunedin.
Simon worked as a drayman then as a gardener and when Letitia signed the suffrage petition they were living in Cumberland Street.
In 1896 Simon accused their daughter of assaulting him. In the resulting court case he was accused of frequently being drunk and had 'rendered his household miserable during the last 10 years by his bad temper and bullying disposition”. The defence said he was 'a steady hardworking man. The sergeant had known him for over 12 years, and never saw him the worse of drink'. The case was dismissed and Simon moved out of the family home after this.
Simon died in 1912 in Dunedin and Letitia died at her daughter’s home in Wellington on 29 November 1913. They are buried in the family grave in the Southern Cemetery.