Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Sarah Ann Kirkwood was born about 1865 in Ireland.
She emigrated to New Zealand where she married, clerk, Thomas Stout in 1884.
Thomas was declared bankrupt in 1888 owing £151 18s 3½ p, he had apparently been in debt when he married.
They had seven children and when Sarah signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Kelvin Grove, North East Valley in Dunedin.
Thomas appears to have had a drinking problem – Sarah applied for prohibition orders against him in 1892 and again in 1895 “forbidding all licenced houses in Dunedin and the surrounding districts to supply her husband”.
Thomas died at their home in 1924 and Sarah died on 3 June 1955 – they are buried in the family grave in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.
Sources:
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz