Blanche Nicholson Mitchell (1843 - 1869)

Born 4 Jan 1843 in Darling Point, New South Wales, Australia

Ancestors

Died 17 Sep 1869 at age 26 in Concord, New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

Blanche Nicholson Mitchell was born on 4 January 1843, and christened "Blanch Nicholson" on 12 June 1843 at St. James church, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The baptismal register had the notation that her parents were Thomas Livingstone & Mary Thomson Mitchell, of Lindsay, Darling Point, Surveyor General.^[1]

Blanche's early notebook of 1850 compiled when she was a child living in Darling Point, contains a sonnet relating to the wild Christmas Bush which grew in profusion along Darling Point Road:
Sonnet of Darling Pt, 25 Dec 1850

Pluck the red Christian bush

Preposterous man,

At theft it needs must blush

You never can -

For him who died upon the blessed cross

It bleeds not, - At this birth

The morning stars did sing

"Joy to the Earth"

Then every tree

Declared this glory

Well may this blush for thee.

Because her father had left a considerable amount of debt when he died in 1855, Lady Mitchell and her children were forced to move out of their house "Carthona" on Darling Point, to a much smaller residence in Craigend Terrace, Woolloomooloo. Blanche Mitchell disliked the new accommodation and reminisced about her previous life at Carthona in her diary:

"Oh! for one breath of cool Carthona air, which used so to refresh us after having taken a run round the green, or when at night after one of these hot windy days, tired and wearied out, we used all to sit at the dining room window, waiting for the Southerly wind to blow, then what a rush, what a scramble to get out, and what a glorious run we would have chasing each other round! Ah, then we were happy, at least I was, always looking forward into a bright future every day I thought would bring us more happiness".^[2]

Blanche and her elder sister Alice (Alicia), were pupils of Maria Logan in Upper William Street, studying piano, singing, and music theory.^[3]

Her diary can be viewed online.

Death: Blanche Mitchell died of consumption in 1869, aged twenty-six years old. Funeral Notice, Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 18 September 1869, page 12: "THE Funeral of Miss BLANCHE MITCHELL will leave Burwood THIS DAY, at half-past 2 o'clock, for the Cemetery at Camperdown, JAMES CURTIS, Undertaker, Hunter-street."^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ Registers of St James church Sydney SAG Reel 61, State Library, Sydney
2. ↑ Wikipedia contributors. (2021, June 6). Carthona, Darling Point. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 10:22, November 24, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carthona,_Darling_Point&oldid=1027245473
3. ↑ A biographical register of Australian colonial musical personnel by Dr GRAEME SKINNER, which cites State Library of New South Wales, ML MSS 1611: papers of Blanche Mitchell, a Notebook, 1850, containing poems and cuttings b. Diary, 28 Jan. 1858-7 Nov. 1859, 5 June 1860- 27 Feb. 1861, mostly written at Craigend Terrace, Woolloomooloo, N.S.W., describing her social life, https://www.sydney.edu.au/paradisec/australharmony/register-M-2.php
4. ↑ Family Notices (1869, September 18). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 12. Retrieved November 24, 2021, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13183326

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 11 August 2018, 02:00), entry for Blanch Nicholson Mitchell(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:MPMP-V9R); contributed by various users.
• NSW BDM online index Death 2284/1869 MITCHELL BLANCHE N 2284/1869 THOMAS MARY CONCORD
• "Looking east: Darling Point and beyond : Blanche Mitchell" https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/looking-east-darling-point-and-beyond/blanche-mitchell
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/30807931/blanche-nicholson-mitchell : accessed 24 November 2021), memorial page for Blanche Nicholson Mitchell (1844–17 Sep 1869), Find a Grave Memorial ID 30807931, citing Camperdown Cemetery, Newtown, City of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia ; Maintained by Noeleen (contributor 46846346) .