The other day I researched, wrote up and submitted a short biographical article to Wikipedia. It was about Dorothy Darnell, the founder of The Jane Austen Society, among other things. My submission was rejected.
That’s all perfectly fine. The reasons were valid and I feel it proves how rigorous the Wikipedia system of review can be.
One major reason for rejection was that she just wasn’t notable enough. That’s a bit sad for poor Dorothy. So, in order to give her at least a small bit of recognition, I’ve included my submission in this post.
For clarity I’ve removed the citations but include a short bibliography at the bottom. And, I have to admit, because I wrote it for Wikipedia, it’s not in my usual chaotic style.
[2023 UPDATE: The Wiki entry is now up and has been for a while. It is here.]
Dorothy Gwynnyd Darnell
Dorothy Gwynnyd Darnell was born in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland on 21 April 1876. She was the daughter of the Reverend Daniel Charles West Darnell (1841-1903), Vicar of Portsmouth from 1899 until his death from typhoid and pneumonia in 1903 and Elizabeth Darnell (nee Fisher) (1844-1927).
She studied art under Sir William Nicholson and exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, London in 1904 (Daphne), 1906 (Sweet and Twenty), 1907 (“Much study is a weariness of the flesh“), 1908 (“Oh, mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), 1910 (“Poor and content is rich, and rich enough“), 1912 (A maid of Antwerp) and 1914 (Lysbett).
Her career as an artist was from 1904-1922. She lived at 25 Campden House Road, Kensington, London, during this time. She specialised in portrait painting, her most notable being one of English musician, Emily Daymond painted before 1922.
Sometime before 1939, Dorothy Darnell moved to Alton, Hampshire where she lived with her sister, Amy Beatrix Darnell (1873-1970).
Dorothy Darnell was the inspiration behind the creation of the Jane Austen Society which she founded in 1940. The main purpose behind the creation of the society was in order to purchase Chawton Cottage, the house where Jane Austen lived from 1809-1817. Dorothy Darnell served as secretary of the society, a role shared with the novelist Elizabeth Jenkins. Her sister, Amy Beatrix Darnell served as the Treasurer of the society.
Dorothy died at home, at Brook Cottage, Lenten Street, Alton on 12 October 1953.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- “1939 England and Wales Register for Dorothy G Darnell”.
- “History In Portsmouth”. historyinportsmouth.co.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- “A History of Lomond Park : 1905 – 2005” (PDF).
- “The exhibition of the Royal Academy, 1904. The 136th. | Exhibition Catalogues | RA Collection | Royal Academy of Arts”. www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- “The exhibition of the Royal Academy, 1906. The 138th. | Exhibition Catalogues | RA Collection | Royal Academy of Arts”. www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- “The exhibition of the Royal Academy, 1907. The 139th. | Exhibition Catalogues | RA Collection | Royal Academy of Arts”. www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- “The exhibition of the Royal Academy, 1908. The 140th. | Exhibition Catalogues | RA Collection | Royal Academy of Arts”. www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- “The exhibition of the Royal Academy, 1910. The 142nd. | Exhibition Catalogues | RA Collection | Royal Academy of Arts”. www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- “The exhibition of the Royal Academy, 1912. The 144th. | Exhibition Catalogues | RA Collection | Royal Academy of Arts”. www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- “The exhibition of the Royal Academy, 1914. The 146th. | Exhibition Catalogues | RA Collection | Royal Academy of Arts”. www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- “Emily Daymond (1866–1949) | Art UK”. artuk.org. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- Society, Jane Austen (1967). Collected reports of the Jane Austen Society, 1949-1965. Dawson.
- “England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995”. www.ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
I came across the name Beatrix Darnell as a council member of the Society off Women Musicians at its inaugural meeting in 1911:-
https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-music/articles/the-society-of-women-musicians
No dates were given for her.
There is further information on the SWC at:-
https://1library.net/article/society-women-musicians-instrumental-british-women-composers-early.9yn9lpkq
Wikipedia gives a fellowship at the Royal College of Music to Beatrix Darnell in 1964
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fellows_of_the_Royal_College_of_Music
Given the portrait by Dorothy Darnell if Emily Daymond is of a musician with associations with the RCM, Inam wondering if Beatrix Darnell is Dorothy’s older sister AmybBeatrx/Beatrice Darnell, 1873-1970.
The two sisters and their parents are all at the same address in Portsmouth in the 1901 England Census. By the 1911 census, their father is dead but I can only find their older sister as a boarder and neither Amy, Dorothy nor their mother.
In ‘Journeying Boy: The Diaries of the Young Benjamin Britten 1928-1938’ p 68 for 30 March 1931, Benjamin Britten vistas Miss Darnell, Lady Superindendant, about an oculist:-
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GDm5pSp-YMYC&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=students+at+rcm+darnell&source=bl&ots=rJ2dZlDAWI&sig=ACfU3U0TMJN3FGtaYcRY1Uki5oOSibBCiQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjk7YeyprP5AhWlQkEAHXfDAYEQ6AF6BAgnEAI#v=onepage&q=students%20at%20rcm%20darnell&f=false
In the index of persons in this book, p 517, Amy Beatrix Darnell (1873-1970) is described as Lady Superindendant at RCM 1919-1939 responsible for the general welfare of College students.
She has a Kensington Address in the 1920s and 1930s (40 Pembroke Road) but in 1939 is in Alton ( Jordan’s ) with her two sisters, matching a retirement fro RCM in 1939 aged about 65.
I have not yet established, in this bit of research late on a Saturday night (!), whether Beatrix, or indeed Dorothy, might themselves have studied at RCM but it seems quite possible.
So perhaps this biog can be a footnote to, what wiki obviously took to be, a footnote!