Biographical information provided by Peter Gerry for the He Tohu exhibition:
Ann was born in 1849 in Auckland, the first child to Thomas and Ann Chamberlain. At the time Thomas was serving in the Imperial Artillery detachment at Fort Britomart in Auckland. Ann and Thomas had arrived in New Zealand aboard the HMS Driver (The first powered Royal Naval ship to visit NZ waters). Ann had stowed away as a ‘Navvo’ and while it kept husband and wife together it cost Thomas his rum ration for the duration of the voyage.
When Ann was a one-year-old her father was posted to Whanganui where he was stationed until he took his discharge in New Zealand in 1860. He continued in the militia and served through much of the Taranaki campaign. This necessitated him leaving Ann senior and family in Putiki and Whanganui fearing the attack of hostiles.
At the age of 16 Ann Jane married Edward Joseph Buckley, a private serving with the 57th Regt (‘The Die Hards'). Together they had six children between 1865 and 1880. In 1889 Ann Buckley was widowed when her husband was drowned in the Whanganui river. Ann remained in Whanganui until her death at the age of 74 in 1923.
Her daughter-in-law Maggie Buckley signed the same sheet of the suffrage petition.
Related images:
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
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