Jane Whiteside (5 February 1855 – 17 January 1875) was a notable

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

tightrope dancer, gymnast and magician. She was born in Tullylish,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in 1855, to John Whiteside (a weaver) and Jane Whiteside. When she was young, her father joined the 65th Regiment and moved the family to New Zealand. They sailed on the ''Lancashire Witch'' on April 17, 1856, eventually landing in Wellington on July 21. The family moved around several times, eventually settling in Otahuhu. Whiteside first studied as an acrobat, tight-wire walker, and trapeze artist, but may have given it up as the result of an accident at age 17. She then turned to magic instead, after seeing the American magician Cora De Lamond (born Ursula Bush) perform. She eventually joined Frank Verten and Harry Seymour's theatre company Oxford Combination Troupe. She used various stage names, including Mademoiselle Estella, Madame Blanche, Blanche Fane, and Miss Blanche Anderson. She eventually married Verten. She died after

drowning Drowning is a type of Asphyxia, suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Submersion injury refers to both drowning and near-miss incidents. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where othe ...

in New Zealand, at the border of

Otago Otago (, ; ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local go ...

and

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

. She is buried at the Old Oamaru Cemetery.

References

People from County Down 1855 births 1875 deaths New Zealand female dancers 19th-century New Zealand artists Irish emigrants to New Zealand 19th-century dancers Deaths by drowning in New Zealand Tightrope walkers Female magicians New Zealand magicians Dancers from Ireland {{NewZealand-bio-stub

See also

References