Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Ann was born in Portsmouth, England about 1835 - she married George de French sometime before 1871 and came to New Zealand.
They do not appear to have had any children.
In 1877 Ann sought a protection order under the Married Women’s Property Protection Act on the grounds of cruelty. She stated that George was a habitual drunkard and the order was granted. George appears to have then gone to the West Coast to start a career in mining, he died in the Hokitika Hospital in 1878.
Later that year Ann married Theodore Arnold, a builder in Christchurch. He was declared insolvent in 1881 and they moved to Dunedin where he became an inspector of works.
When Ann signed the suffrage petition they were living in Black’s Rd, North East Valley.
Ann died at her home on 14 August 1921. Theodore remarried the following year and he died in 1938.
They are both 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
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz