Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Elizabeth McDiarmid was born in 1861 at Woodside Farm, West Taieri – the daughter of Francis McDiarmid, a farmer, and Janet Milne.
Her parents arrived on the Philip Laing in 1848 and soon after they settled at Woodside, which Elizabeth’s father named.
Elizabeth was born in a 'little wattle-and-daub hut in which the family lived for many years...The main road to the gold diggings passed near her home, and she remembered well the great activity of that time.
Elizabeth did not marry and when she signed the suffrage petition she was still living in Woodside.
'An enthusiastic worker in the temperance cause...[Elizabeth] lectured in many centres. She cycled all over Central Otago, and even to the West Coast in the interests of the cause she had so much at heart'.
Elizabeth died on 19 February 1937 at her residence 'Busholme', Woodside and she is buried in the family grave in the West Taieri 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
Going Abroad http://www.ngaiopress.com/drhocken.htm
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