Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Henrietta Bell was born in 1842 in Yorkshire, England – the daughter of George Bell, a commercial agent, and Abigail Taylor.
The family emigrated to Victoria, Australia in 1852 then to Otago in the early 1860’s.
Henrietta taught music and “frequently came before the public at concerts for charitable and public causes”.
She married Edward McGlashan on 10 March 1880 in Dunedin. Edward was a widower with nine children who had worked as a farmer and miller.
Soon after their marriage Henrietta and Edward “visited the Old Country, making an extended tour of England and the South of Europe”.
On their return they farmed at Timaru for three years before they returned to Dunedin.
Edward was declared bankrupt in 1887, he died in 1889.
When Henrietta signed the suffrage petition she was living in Edward St, St Clair.
She died on 22 May 1916 – they are buried in the family grave in the Northern Cemetery.
Sources:
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/