Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Ellen Densem was born about 1833 in Torquay, Devon, England.
She emigrated to Victoria, Australia in 1854 on the Phoebe Dunbar and the following year she married William Nathaniel Chambers, a mariner.
They had four children, three who died in infancy before they moved to Otago in the early 1860s.
They had a further four children in Otago and when Ellen signed the suffrage petition she gave her address as Eden St which ran diagonally between Forth St and Harbour Tce in Dunedin.
In 1898 William was discharged from his job at the Hillside Workshops because he was over 65 years of age. 'He is now over 74 years of age, and has a wife to support, but is in destitute circumstances.'
William petitioned for compensation but does not appear to have had any success.
William died at their home in 1907 and Ellen died on 23 June 1916, they are buried together in the Northern 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
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au
Public Record Office Victoria https://prov.vic.gov.au
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