Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Mary Ann Scully was born about 1846 in Tipperary, Ireland, the daughter of Richard Scully and Catherine Doyle.
She emigrated to Victoria, Australia with her family in 1854 on the Almora and she married Timothy Edward Ryan in 1865.
They had 3 children before Timothy died in 1874.
Mary remarried in 1884 to Robert Cockerell, a blacksmith and widower with 6 children.
Soon after their marriage they moved to New Zealand and settled in Invercargill where they had 3 children.
When Mary signed the suffrage petition they were living in Palmerston. A few years later they moved to Dunedin where Robert died in 1902. He is buried in the Southern Cemetery.
After Robert’s death Mary went to live with her daughter at Gladstone Siding near Greymouth.
She died there on December 21st 1932 and is buried in the Karoro Cemetery, Greymouth.
Her obituary described her as “a very estimable pioneer colonist”.
Sources
Waitaki District Council Cemeteries
