Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Pleasant Wilby was born in 1869 in Northamptonshire, England, the daughter of Thomas Wilby, an agricultural labourer, and Georgina Blundell, a lacemaker.
She emigrated to Otago on the Scimitar in 1874 with her family and they settled in Caversham, Dunedin.
When she signed the suffrage petition, Pleasant was living with her family in Smith St, Caversham working as a tailoress. Her mother Georgina and sister Alice also signed the petition.
Pleasant married Edward Harris in 1896 and they had five children.
The family moved to Christchurch in the 1900s where Pleasant died on 14 July 1942. Edward died in 1942 and they are buried together in the Bromley Cemetery, Christchurch.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
NZ Yesteryears http://www.yesteryears.co.nz
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Christchurch City Council http://heritage.christchurchcitylibraries.com
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
Community contributions