Jennings Carmichael
Jennings Carmichael | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Grace Elizabeth Jennings Carmichael 24 February 1868 |
| Died | 9 February 1904 (aged 35) |
| Occupation | writer |
| Writing career | |
| Language | English |
| Years active | 1886-1904 |
Grace Carmichael Mullis (24 February 1867 – 9 February 1904), known by her pen name Jennings Carmichael, was an Australian poet and nurse.
Early life and education
Grace Elizabeth Jennings Carmichael was born on 24 February 1867 at Ballarat, Victoria.[1][2] She was the daughter of Archibald Carmichael,[2] a Scottish miner,[1] and Margaret Jennings, née Clark, originally from Cornwall.[1] Her father died when she was 8 and her mother remarried Charles Henderson.[1][3]
Carmichael attended school in Melbourne before the family moved to a pastoral station at Orbost, Victoria.[2] An early story of hers was published in the Bairnsdale Advertiser.[1] In 1888, Carmichael returned to Melbourne to train as a nurse at the Royal Children's Hospital.[2]
Career
Carmichael qualified in 1890[3] and got a job near Geelong.[2] Carmichael joined the Buonarottii Club sometime before 1887.[4] In 1891, she published a book of stories entitled Hospital Children. Carmichael was a member of the Austral Salon in the 1890s.
In September 1895, she gave a public lecture on "The Spirit of the Bush" at the Masonic Hall in Melbourne with Alfred Deakin as chairman.[5] The same year, Carmichael published another volume of poems.[2]
Personal life and death
Carmichael married architect Henry Francis Mullis[3] on 1 April 1895 in Fitzroy.[1][6] Carmichael had four sons and a daughter.[1][3]
The family moved to England[1] where her husband deserted the family[3] and Carmichael died in 1904.[2] She was only 36. She was survived by three sons.[1] Money was raised to repatriate the boys, who were in a workhouse, back to Australia.[3] Carmichael was buried in London's Woodgrange Park Cemetery.[1][3]
A selection of her poetry was published in 1910.[2] In 1937, a memorial plaque was unveiled in her honour at Orbost.[2] In 1938, another plaque was erected at the public library in Ballarat.[2]
Works
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Gardiner, Lyndsay, "Carmichael, Grace Elizabeth Jennings (1867–1904)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 17 January 2020
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Serle, Percival (1949). "Carmichael, Grace Elizabeth Jennings, Mrs Francis Mullis (1868-1904), known as Jennings Carmichael, poet,". Dictionary of Australian Biography, Ca-Ch. Angus and Robertson.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Jennings Carmichael". Snowy River Mail. Orbost, Victoria. 3 February 1937. p. 1.
- ↑ Lawson, L. T. (10 August 1929). "The Argus Camera Supplement: The Buonarotti Club, Bohemians of the 'Eighties. Memories of Noted Artists". The Argus. p. 3. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
- ↑ "The Spirit of the Bush". Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). 19 September 1895. p. 6. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
- ↑ "Marriage Certificate for Hy Francis Mullis and Grace Elizth Jenning Carmichael" (1895). Marriages, ID: 3174/1895. Births, Deaths, and Marriages Victoria (Melbourne).
- ↑ "Our Women's Page". Worker (Wagga, NSW : 1892 - 1913). 19 May 1910. p. 7. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
Primary sources
- ↑ Carmichael, Jennings (1891). Hospital children: sketches of life and character in the Childrens Hospital, Melbourne. G. Robertson.
- ↑ Carmichael, Jennings (1895), Poems, Melbourne: Longmans, Green and Co., retrieved 17 January 2020
- ↑ Carmichael, Jennings; Society, Lindsay Gordon Lovers' (1800). For some one's sake : a poem. Melbourne: Lindsay Gordon Lovers Society.