Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Sarah Hannah Holt was born in Victoria, Australia in 1861 – the daughter of Thomas Holt, a fellmonger, and Hannah Attwood.
She came to Otago with her parents as an infant and she grew up in Milton and Oamaru.
Sarah married Charles King, a tinsmith and widower with two children, on 15 November 1882 at her family home in Oamaru.
Sarah and Charles had seven children and when Sarah signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Milton.
During the 1910s Sarah served as Mayoress of Milton, supporting Charles who was Mayor, and during 'the Great War', she was president of the South Otago Red Cross and Patriotic Society. She also served as organist and Sunday School teacher at the Milton Methodist Church.
In 1919 Sarah was awarded an MBE for her services to the community.
Charles died in 1921 – after his death Sarah moved to Dunedin where she was a member of the Dunedin Central Mission and their Ladies’ Guild.
Sarah died on 24 October 1939 in Dunedin, she is buried with Charles in the Fairfax Cemetery, Milton.
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
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au
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