Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Margaret Brown was born about 1851 in Scotland – the daughter of George Brown and Marion Somerville.
She came to New Zealand with her family in the 1860s and they settled in Southland.
Margaret married James Phillips, a miner, in 1875 and they had 11 children.
When Margaret signed the suffrage petition they were living in Colac Bay.
She died shortly after on 8 August 1893, apparently very soon after the birth of their youngest child as the result of measles.
James died in 1926, they are buried together in the Riverton Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz