Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Elizabeth Wilson was born about 1847 in Ayrshire, Scotland.
She came to New Zealand about 1865 and she married 27-year-old James Loudon on 30 March 1866 in Dunedin.
James was a partner, with his brother, in the Lanarkshire Coal Company at Green Island then later, on his own, he ran the Walton Park Coal and Pottery Company.
He also ran a store at Walton Park, presumably for the workers at the mine.
Elizabeth and James had 12 daughters and one child who died aged two days.
When Elizabeth signed the suffrage petition the family were living at Walton Park near Fairfield.
James died at their home in Fairfield in 1903.
In 1922 Elizabeth and some of her daughters moved to Roslyn where she died shortly after on 29 May – she is buried with James in the Green Island Cemetery.
Her obituary said 'for over 50 years the Loudon family were the soul of the district, being foremost in religious, educational, and other works'.
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
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
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