Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Alice Pitman was born in 1859 in Surrey, England – the daughter of John Miles Pitman, a goldbeater, & Elizabeth Skinner.
She married Robert John Watts, a plumber in 1879 & they had 2 children before the family sailed for Invercargill in 1884 on the Arawa.
Their 3rd child was born on board & named Arawa after the ship. The had a further 2 children after their arrival, one who died in infancy, & when Alice signed the suffrage petition the family were living in North East Valley, Dunedin – Robert was then working as a painter.
He later took over the licence of the Portobello Hotel &, later the Shiel Hill Hotel.
Robert died in 1926 & Alice remarried on August 29th 1929, at the Dundas St Methodist Church to Charles Allen.
Charles was the widower of Elsie Allen.
Charles died in 1932 & is buried with Elsie in the family grave in the Northern Cemetery.
Alice died on December 8th 1933, she is buried with Robert & their young daughter, also in the Northern Cemetery.