Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Susannah Copp was born about 1835 in Surrey, England – the daughter of William Copp and Frances Fordham.
Mary married Alfred Jacob Lumley, a journeyman goldsmith, in London in 1865.
They had five children, one who died in infancy, before the family emigrated to Otago in the early 1870s.
They settled in Dunedin for a short time before moving to Melbourne where Alfred worked a foreman at a large jewellery factory.
Their son Alfred was born in Melbourne – he died aged nine months.
The family returned to Dunedin in 1878 and when Mary signed the suffrage petition they were living in Henry St, Maori Hill.
Mary died on 27 September 1901 and Alfred died in 1928 – they are buried in the family grave in the Northern Cemetery.
Sources
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
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au