Camille Cornwell, The Sunday Sun, 16 May 1909

I wondered if Madame Camille Cornwell had any descendants who may have been interested in the transcription of Jessie Van Cooten’s journal of her lessons with Madame.  Quite a comprehensive picture of her adult life can be pieced together from Trove, although parts of it are quite enigmatic.

An initial search of Ancestry for “Camille Cornwell” revealed two residences in Queensland, and a marriage to Thomas Charles Jones in Brisbane on 17 March 1926, but no family tree connections. A search for “Camille Jones” lists a death in Brisbane on 30 Aug 1961, and shows parents as Alexander James Mitchell and Christina Cameron, but again no family tree connections. A search for “Camille Mitchell” revealed a marriage to Percy J Cornwell at Rockdale (New South Wales) in 1898, and 15 family tree connections, so it appears that she was born Camille Mitchell, and married twice. Inspection of these trees suggests that she doesn’t appear to have any direct descendants.

I contacted one user, who indicated she was researching the previous owner of a house in Maryborough, but had no familial connection. Other Ancestry members failed to respond to inquiries.

A Trove search yields a marriage notice, and suggests a US connection:

CORNWELL—MITCHELL.—June 19, 1898, at St. David’s Church, Arncliffe, by the Rev. Charles Byng, Percy John, eldest son of John Cornwell, Esq., of Sydney, to Camille May, only daughter of the late Alexander Mitchell, Esq., of Tuxon, (U.S.). No cards.¹

I can’t find conclusive evidence of a presence in Australia before her marriage in 1898, but it is possible that she appears in a performance in Dapto in 1896 as Miss C. Mitchell.² Nor can I find any definitive immigration evidence.

The first convincing mention of Camille Cornwell performing is with the Sydney Amateur Orchestral Society on 26 November 1902³. She is then noted as singing in a Sydney Town Hall Organ recital on 13 June 1903⁴, a Sydney recital on 27 July 1903 by Miss Muriel Stanley-Hall⁵, a Chamber Music concert of 26 August 1903⁶, a benefit concert in the Rockdale Town Hall on 17 May 1904⁷, and numerous other similar concerts in the Sydney area through to mid 1908. She performed in first season of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s⁸  initial incarnation⁹ where she is first noted as being a pupil of musician and artist Signor Arturo Steffani. At this time she starts advertising as a singing teacher¹⁰. From September to October 1908 she goes on a singing tour to Townsville and Charters Towers^{11, 12, 13}.

From May 1909¹⁴ to June 1909¹⁵ she toured New Zealand with a vaudeville company of  entertainers, under Mr. Harry Rickards’s direction. This company was headed by the magician Chung Ling Soo.

Returning to Australia, Camille performed in several concerts in Newcastle, N.S.W., and also advertised tuition in Inverell¹⁶. In the first half of 1910 she performed in several Sydney concerts, and then toured with the Harry Rickards company at the Adelaide Tivoli¹⁷ at the end of 1910, and then through until mid 1912¹⁸. She then disappeared from Trove newspapers until March 1915 when she appeared as a silent movie cinema accompanist in Bundaberg, Queensland.¹⁹.

An article introducing Camille Cornwell to the Bundaberg public says:

… in the person of Madame Camille Cornwell, we have a most gifted and experienced instructress in the divine art of song, who has appeared in classical opera and on the concert platform with over-whelming success in America as well as in Australia, and who possesses the very highest testimonials both as singer as as teacher²⁰

She stayed in Bundaberg until October 1916, until ill health caused her to return to Sydney²¹.

Her husband, Percy, died suddenly in 1920:

The death occurred at the hospital at Bowral on Friday evening last of Mr Percy John Cornwell, a visitor to the town, who look ill suddenly at the railway station that morning, and was unconscious all day. He was 43 years of age, and was a married man without family. The remains were conveyed to Sydney for interment, Messrs J Beavan and Son having charge of the funeral arrangements at this end.²²

In July 1920 Camille arrived in Maryborough, Queensland²³ accompanied by her mother, Mrs. Richards. An article introducing her to the Maryborough community says:

Madame Cornwell has studied with many teachers of note, principally the renowned Signor Arturo Steffani, of whom she was the favourite pupil, and the only one to obtain the much coveted diploma of merit to teach. Madame Cornwell has appeared with marked success all over the Commonwealth and New Zealand and previous to the great war she fulfilled a two-years’ contract to sing in America, which was a great success and she returned to Australia in 1914.²⁴

The detail of her contract in America explains the absence from the Australian newspapers. I’ve yet to locate any US newspaper reports of her tour. The Maryborough period is described in Jessie’s journal. She gave a number of public performances, as well as teaching. She left Maryborough for Brisbane after her farewell concert in November 1922²⁵, and she appeared to be teaching in Brisbane in 1923²⁶.

Camille married Thomas Charles Jones in Brisbane on 17 March 1926^{27, 28}. Her husband, nicknamed “Coffey”, appears to have been a rugby player of note²⁹, and possibly worked in the Stores Section of the Brisbane City Council³⁰. Named as Madame Camille Jones, Camille is promoted as demonstrating Beale Ampico reproducing pianos³¹ – see http://www.pianola.org/reproducing/reproducing_ampico.cfm. She disappears from Trove articles in mid-1926.

Her husband Thomas died in Brisbane on 27 March 1938³², and Camille died in Brisbane in 1961³³. Camille’s mother Christina Richardson died in Brisbane in 1945³⁴.

The photo in this article is the only one that I have found, and accompanied an article advising of Camille’s New Zealand tour in 1909.³⁵