Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Lydia Ann Housden was born about 1828 in Essex, England – the daughter of Enoch Housden and Sarah.
She emigrated to Victoria, Australia in 1859 on the Jessie Munn and she married James Black in New Zealand in 1863.
James had been working as a gold buyer at Castlemaine in Victoria where Lydia’s sister Tabitha lived. He came to Otago when the Gabriel’s Gully rush started but it is not known where they married.
They arrived on the West Coast in the mid-1860s where James worked for the Grey River Argus until his death in 1883.
When Lydia signed the suffrage petition she was living in Arney St, Greymouth, she gave her occupation as 'lady'.
Lydia died at her home on 6 June 1899, she is buried with James in the Karoro Cemetery, Greymouth.
In her will she gave a bequest to the Holy Trinity Church in Greymouth for 'obtaining and erection two iron gates and stone pillar to hang the gates upon at the main or principal entrance from Hospital Street to the said Church.'
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
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