Maker: Barbara Scholes

Panel number: 368

Petition sheet number: 438

People honouring: Margaret McKay and Mrs James King

Relationship to maker: Siblings of my grandfather

Margaret McKay and her sister, Christina (Mrs James King), signed the petition on sheet 438, both listing their address as Dickens Street, Napier.

Their father, Thomas McKay, emigrated from Scotland to New Zealand with his wife and three children in the 1840s. 

Both Margaret and Christina were born in New Zealand. They embraced their Scottish heritage and could be seen out walking in full Highland regalia on most Sundays. Margaret never married and remained at home to care for her father who died a few months short of his 100th birthday.

Christina spent most of her early life in the Hutt, and Hampden, where other members of the family lived, before she and her husband James King, a stonemason, moved to Napier in 1885. It is likely that Margaret was staying with Christina when they signed the petition.

Panel materials: Cotton fabric, interfacing, and woollen tartan – and a pigma fabric pen – all in my stash.