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Gwen Richardson
A white woman standing in profile, one arm on hip, other arm outstretched and holding a pistol. She is wearing a hat with a wide brim, a white blouse with sleeves rolled up, and a knee-length skirt with dark tights or boots.
Gwen Richardson's author photo from On the Diamond Trail in British Guiana (1925)
Born
Gwendoline Whyte Richardson

5 June 1894 (1894-06-05)
Kew, Victoria, Australia
Died27 November 1944(1944-11-27) (aged 50)
Surrey, England
Other namesGwendoline W. Blake (after marriage in 1925)
Occupation(s)Actress, explorer, travel writer
Notable workOn the Diamond Trail in British Guiana (1925)
RelativesHenry Arthur Blake (father-in-law); Edith Blake (mother-in-law)

Gwendoline "Gwen" Whyte Richardson (5 June 1894[1] – 27 November 1944) was an Australian actress and travel writer, author of On the Diamond Trail in British Guiana (1925).

Early life

[edit]

Gwendoline Whyte Richardson was born in Kew, and raised in Ballarat, Victoria,[2] the daughter of Margaret Whyte Richardson and Laurence Richardson. Her father was an organist and music teacher.[3] Her grandfather was a Scottish clergyman.[4] Richardson performed on stage in Australia before and during World War I;[5] she moved to England in 1916.[6]

Career

[edit]

Richardson acted in Shakepearean plays[7] at the Memorial Theatre in Stratford-on-Avon, hosted and coached by Ellen Terry.[8][9] She entertained troops in London during World War I.[10] She gave a lecture at the British Drama League's meeting in 1919,[11] and toured in South America with a British theatrical company.[12] She performed in Shaw's Misalliance at Boston's Copley Theatre in 1923.[13]

In 1922, Richardson hired a boat and crew to travel along the Mazaruni River and Essequibo River in British Guiana[14] and wrote about her journey in On the Diamond Trail in British Guiana (1925),[4] a book described as "brimming with anecdote" and "flashes of wit" in the New York Times review.[15] Coulson Kernahan noted that "Miss Richardson tells her story with modest reticence and with entire absence of exaggeration. She tells it with art, with vividness, and in simple English, in the writing of which she often attains distinction and beauty."[16] Excerpts from the book were reprinted in American and Canadian newspapers, under sensational headlines and with maps and photos of Richardson handling snakes, scorpions, and guns.[17] She was described alongside other white women adventurers of her time, including Rosita Forbes and Osa Helen Johnson.[18]

Richardson donated two caecilian specimens from her expedition to the American Museum of Natural History.[19] She made further travels in British Guiana with her husband in 1930,[20][21] and spoke about British Guiana on BBC Radio in 1939.[22]

Personal life and legacy

[edit]

Richardson married barrister and pilot Maurice Bernal Blake (1878–1934) at the British consulate on Corsica in 1925. They met on her first trip to British Guiana, when he accompanied her river expedition.[16] His father was British colonial official Henry Arthur Blake, and his mother was botanical illustrator Edith Blake.[23][24] She lived in the Italian spa town Sirmione in her later years, and was a friend of British actresses Naomi Jacob and Mrs. Patrick Campbell there.[25] She died in 1944 in Surrey, aged 50 years.

Richardson's description of handling scorpions was included in the 1994 collection Unsuitable for Ladies: An Anthology of Women Travellers, edited by Jane Robinson.[26] She is mentioned in the novel When the Singing Stops (2012) by Australian writer Di Morrissey,[27] when the main character is inspired by Richardson's book to embark upon similar adventures.[28]

References

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  1. ^ "Family Notices". Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954). 14 June 1894. p. 1. Retrieved 24 March 2021 – via Trove.
  2. ^ Robinson, Jane (1991). Wayward women: A guide to women travellers. Internet Archive. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 74–75. ISBN 978-0-19-282822-4.
  3. ^ "Mr. Laurence Richardson's Students". Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 - 1924). 20 December 1902. p. 1. Retrieved 24 March 2021 – via Trove.
  4. ^ a b Richardson, Gwen (1925). On the diamond trail in British Guiana. New York: Brentano's Publishers. hdl:2027/uc1.$b722104 – via HathiTrust.
  5. ^ "Ballarat Pierrot Concert for the Red Cross". Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1929). 8 February 1916. p. 3. Retrieved 24 March 2021 – via Trove.
  6. ^ "The Christmas Carolers". Evening Echo (Ballarat, Vic. : 1914 - 1918). 18 February 1916. p. 2. Retrieved 24 March 2021 – via Trove.
  7. ^ Darlington, William Aubrey (1922). Through the fourth wall. Robarts - University of Toronto. London Chapman and Hall ltd. pp. 61–62.
  8. ^ "PERSONAL NOTES FROM ENGLAND". Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 - 1924). 16 July 1921. p. 8. Retrieved 24 March 2021 – via Trove.
  9. ^ Franziska (12 November 1921). "Mainly About People". Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1950). p. 6. Retrieved 24 March 2021 – via Trove.
  10. ^ "PERSONAL". Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 - 1924). 23 March 1918. p. 1. Retrieved 24 March 2021 – via Trove.
  11. ^ "SHAKESPEARIAN FESTIVAL". Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 - 1924). 27 December 1919. p. 7. Retrieved 24 March 2021 – via Trove.
  12. ^ Church, Hayden (17 December 1922). "Girl is Going Diamond Hunting in Wilds of British Guiana". Asheville Citizen-Times. p. 12. Retrieved 24 March 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Personal". Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 - 1924). 10 November 1923. p. 1. Retrieved 24 March 2021 – via Trove.
  14. ^ "Her Way of Securing a Diamond Necklace". Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954). 2 November 1922. p. 8. Retrieved 24 March 2021 – via Trove.
  15. ^ "Brief Reviews". The New York Times. 5 December 1926. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  16. ^ a b Kernahan, Coulson (December 1925). "'A Character Out of a Book, Perhaps by Joseph Conrad'". The Bookman. 69: 172–175 – via Internet Archive.
  17. ^ Richardson, Gwen (1 June 1924). "How I Fought with Death for Blue Diamonds". Zanesville Times Signal. p. 26. Retrieved 24 March 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "A Witch-Guarded Treasure Waiting for Some Beauty?". The Spokesman-Review. 7 December 1924. p. 64. Retrieved 24 March 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ American Museum of Natural History (1923). Annual Report; Gifts to the Department of Herpetology. p. 155.
  20. ^ "Aus. Woman's Venture". Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954). 8 April 1930. p. 3. Retrieved 24 March 2021 – via Trove.
  21. ^ "ADVENTURERS RETURN". Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1878 - 1954). 15 September 1930. p. 9. Retrieved 24 March 2021 – via Trove.
  22. ^ "Keeping House in the Jungle". The Radio Times. No. 829. 18 August 1939. p. 28. ISSN 0033-8060. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  23. ^ "A Romance of the Diamond Fields". The Gleaner. 9 December 1925. p. 3. Retrieved 24 March 2021 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  24. ^ Mannion, Nathan. "Lady Edith Blake, Irish polyglot, botanical artist and travel writer". The Irish Times. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  25. ^ Margot Peters (1984). Mrs. Pat. Internet Archive. Knopf. pp. 500–501. ISBN 978-0-394-52189-3.
  26. ^ Robinson, Jane (19 May 1994). Unsuitable for Ladies: An Anthology of Women Travellers. OUP Oxford. pp. 426–427. ISBN 978-0-19-153874-2.
  27. ^ Williams, Sue (30 January 2020). "My travel life: Di Morrissey". Traveller. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  28. ^ Morrissey, Di (6 January 2012). When the Singing Stops. Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4668-1030-3.
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