Jessie Georgina Bell
F, b. 4 June 1843, d. 30 July 1885
| Married Name | Her married name was Lloyd. |
| Birth* | Jessie Georgina Bell was born on 4 June 1843 at Longford Farm, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.1 |
| Marriage* | She married George Alfred Lloyd on 6 September 1866 at Wesleyan Chapel, Glenorchy, Tasmania, Australia.1 |
| Death of Father | Her father Joseph William Bell died on 1 July 1870 at Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.2 |
| Birth of Son | Her son Gilbert Heathfield Lloyd was born circa 1871 at Coonable, New South Wales, Australia.3,4 |
| Occupation* | About 1878 Jessie began writing for Sydney periodicals under the name of 'Silverleaf'. From her earnings she was able to send her two elder children to boarding schools in Sydney. Her book, The Wheel of Life: A Domestic Tale of Life in Australia, was published in Sydney in 1880 and received favourable reviews. By then her short stories, essays and poems were appearing in the Echo and later in the monthly Illustrated Sydney News and the Sydney Mail. 'All Aboard. A Tale for Christmas' was serialized in the Echo in December 1879. In 1881-82 the 'Silverleaf Papers' appeared regularly in the Illustrated Sydney News, covering topics such as 'Glimpses of Station Life', 'Seasons of Drought', 'Town and Country House-keeping', 'Squatters versus Selectors', 'Christmas in the Bush' and 'Natives'. Short stories and poems appeared in the Sydney Mail in 1882-83. Her novel 'Retribution' was serialized in the Illustrated Sydney News in 1884-85 and at her death she left an unfinished story, 'On Turbulent Waters'. Without being very original or revolutionary in her sentiments, 'Silverleaf' was popular as a pleasant and cheerful narrator of outback life. A contemporary described her as a 'graphic and graceful writer, possessing the faculty of presenting her characters in a clear and unmistakeable light … The tone of her novels is always high and moral'.1 |
| Death* | Jessie Georgina Bell died on 30 July 1885 at Terembone Station, Coonamble, New South Wales, Australia, at age 42.1 |
Citations
- [S490] Sally O'Neill, "Lloyd, Jessie Georgina (1843 - 1885)," biography, Australian National University, Australian Dictionary of Biography - Online Edition (http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A050114b.htm : accessed 14 January 2011).
- [S489] "DEATH [Joseph William Bell]," Rockhampton Bulletin and Central Queensland Advertiser, 23 July 1870, p. 3, col. 3; digital images, National Library of Australia, Trove (http://www.trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 14 January 2011).
DEATH.
On the 1st instant, at Hobarton, Tasmania, in
the seventy-eighth year of his age, Joseph William Bell, father of Arthur Bell,
of this town. He was an early Victorian colonist, highly esteemed and respected
by all who knew him; a good husband, father, friend, and most kind and
courteous to all with whom he came in contact. His end was peace, through
faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
- [S417] New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs, marriage certificate 1903000393 (1903), Gilbert Heathfield Lloyd-Florence Elizabeth Gardner; Registrar of Births, Deaths & Marriages, Wellington.
- [S474] New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs, death certificate 1954025434 (1954), Gilbert Heathfield Lloyd; Registrar of Births, Deaths & Marriages, Wellington.