Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Ellen Irvine was born about 1839 in Roxburghshire, Scotland – the daughter of Richard Irvine, an agricultural labourer, and Mary Common.
Her sister Isabella Ternent also signed the petition. (See 83 Isabella Ternent)
Ellen emigrated to Otago in the early 1860’s with her family and she married Alfred Canning, a farmer, in 1870.
They had four children before Alfred died suddenly in 1876 - he was walking beside a dray near their home in Green Island when he had a heart attack.
Ellen was still living in Green Island when she signed the suffrage petition.
She later went to live with family in Belleknowes, Dunedin.
She died there on 10 August 1899 and she is buried with Alfred in the Green Island 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
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