Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Naomi Eldridge was born in 1842 in Middlesex, England – the daughter of James Eldridge, an agricultural labourer, and Margaret Hayes.
She married William James Wakelin, a carpenter and painter, in 1862. The following year they emigrated to Canterbury, New Zealand on the Huntress.
Naomi & William had 10 children. The family moved from Lyttleton to Dunedin about 1875 and they settled in Kaikorai.
In July 1884 William went missing from his home, he had had a stroke 18 months before and had 'been despondent of late'.
His body was found in Flagstaff Creek a few days later, the inquest found that he had 'committed suicide while in a state of temporary insanity'.
Their youngest child was only a year old at the time of William’s death.
When Naomi signed the suffrage petition she was living in Broughton St, Kaikorai with her children.
She died at her home on 9 November 1905 'after a long and painful illness, borne with Christian fortitude' and is buried with William 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
Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
PapersPast https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz