Palmerston North Suffrage Signatories

This collection features photographs of some of the approximately 523 Palmerston North women who signed the Suffrage petition. The petition was submitted to Parliament in 1893.

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Mrs Mary Emma Mowlem (nee Ward)

Mrs Mary Mowlem was wife to Fred Mowlem a commission and estate land agent, in partnership with James Linton in about 1892 and later with James Mowlem. In 1920, Fred was a JP and had retired from Mowlem & Mowlem.

Mary Mowlem was one of approxi...

Creator:      Unknown
Place:          Manawatū
Date:          circa 1900

Nora Linton

Daughter of James and Sarah Ann Linton. Nora was one of approximately 523 Palmerston North women who signed the Suffrage petition, submitted to Parliament in 1893.

Creator:      Johnson, Wellington
Place:          Manawatu
Date:          circa 1905

Susan Woolcock

Susan Woolcock was the wife of William Albert Woolcock. She is pictured with her daughters, Amelia and Maude. Susan was one of approximately 523 Palmerston North women who signed the Suffrage petition, submitted to Parliament in 1893.

Creator:      Unknown
Place:          Palmerston North
Date:          circa 1880 to circa 1890

Jane Linton

Jane was the eldest daughter of James (second Mayor of Palmerston North) and Sarah Ann Linton. She arrived in Palmerston North with her parents in 1871.

Jane was one of approximately 523 Palmerston North women who signed the Suffrage petition, su...

Creator:      Nairns
Place:          Palmerston North
Date:          circa 1905

Agnes Hankins (née Dalrymple)

Agnes married John Herbert Hankins 26 October, 1872 in Hokitika. They moved to Palmerston North in 1882, where John set up practice as a barrister and solicitor. They lived at Stoney Creek.

Agnes was one of approximately 523 Palmerston North wome...

Creator:      Unknown
Place:          Manawatū
Date:          unknown

George Matthew and Louisa Matilda Snelson

George Matthew Snelson and wife Louisa Matilda Snelson are shown here in the garden of their Fitzherbert Street home. George was the first mayor of Palmerston North and he and his wife are known as "the mother and father of Palmerston North."

Lou...

Creator:      Unknown
Place:          Unknown
Date:          circa 1885

Rebecca Dawick

Rebecca was the wife of Samuel Dawick, proprietor of Dawick's Buffet, the temperance hotel and restaurant in Rangitikei Street. The Dawicks were amongst the first ratepayers of the Borough of Palmerston North in 1877. They had two sons, William an...

Creator:      Unknown
Place:          Palmerston North
Date:          1879 to 1881

Clara Shailer in Glasshouse, Scandia (Albert) Street

Clara Shailer is photographed here in her fathers glasshouse. Clara (1870-1951) married George Woodroofe and they lived in Foxton. Her father George Shailer was a well known photographer in the Manawatū District.

Clara was one of approximately 52...

Creator:      George W Shailer
Place:          Rangitikei Region
Date:          unknown

George and Septuagesima Shailer

A portrait of George (c1846-1918) and Septuagesima Shailer, thought to have been taken in February 1874 before departure to New Zealand, from Brentford, Middlesex, England. They travelled aboard the "Ocean Mail", which sailed from Gravesend, Engla...

Creator:      Unknown
Place:          Palmerston North
Date:          circa 1874

Matilda Perrin and daughters, Rachel and Ada

Matilda Perrin (nee Montgomery), (1854-1914) was the adopted daughter of the Snelson family. She married John Perrin (1844-1914) in 1874 in Palmerston North, where they raised nine children. John Perrin and others established the first constructio...

Creator:      Unknown
Place:          Palmerston North
Date:          circa 1882

Emma Belk, signatory to 1893 suffrage petition

Emma Belk was one of the working class signatories to the 1893 women's suffrage petition. Aged 73 at the time,  she was living in Main Street Palmerston North. She and her husband James Duncan Belk were among the first group of settlers in...

Creator:      Unknown
Place:          Palmerston North
Date:          1880s

Ihle family

Anders Hans Ihle emigrated with his family from Norway and worked as a Contractor in the Manawatū region. Ihle was the Foreman of workers installing the tram line between Palmerston North and Foxton, and was also involved with building the first F...

Creator:      Bunting Studio
Place:          Palmerston North
Date:          circa 1900

Louisa Snelson - Palmerston North's first Mayoress

Louisa Snelson was born in 1844 and married George Snelson in 1865. George Snelson was a pioneer storekeeper (he opened the first shop on the Square) and was the first Mayor of he newly created Borough of Palmerston North in 1877, making Louisa th...

Creator:      Unknown
Place:          Palmerston North
Date:          circa 1890 to circa 1899

Karen Bergersen

Karen Martea Bergersen (née Andreasdatter) married Carl Bergersen at age 25 in Norway and arrived in New Zealand on-board the "Celaeno" with their young son Oscar B. The family were allotted a section on the Karere Scandinavian Block. Carl worked ...

Creator:      George W Shailer
Place:          Palmerston North
Date:          circa 1880 to circa 1889

Rockstrow family

The Rockstrows were an early Manawatū family of German extraction. Johann Friedrich Rockstroh (1834-1913) was a Prussian born in Erfurt, Germany. As a young man he migrated to New Zealand, where he practiced medicine in the goldfields of Otago and...

Creator:      Unknown
Place:          Palmerston North
Date:          circa 1892 to circa 1896