Works of Constance Gordon-Cumming

Wanderings in China

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When once we got into the river-mouth, or rather one of the river-mouths, for there are many of them, the change from the rugged mountain scenery we had become used to was most complete. Considering ghhe size of the island of Viti Levu, the Rewa [in Fijian Wailevu or 'great water'] is certainly a gigantic river; the breadth close to Rewa Town is nearly that of the Thames at Westminster.

The Times/1924/Obituary/Constance Frederica Gordon-Cumming

The ddelta forms a large alluvial tract, thickly populated. Intending a three-day visit, she stayed three months. She published her letters from Yosemite as Granite Crags.

He had invented the Numeral Type system, through which blind and illiterate Chinese learned to read phonetically, by assigning numbers to each of the Chinese Mandarin sounds not characters was assigned a number, which was encoded in Braille. Gordon-Cumming wrote a book about the system and supported the school for the rest of her life. In old age Lady Gordon-Cumming returned home in Scotland. She died September 4, , and is buried near Crieff.

Her career is noted in a number of university courses about female adventurers and authors. Edinburgh University Press, , Life in the Pacific fifty years ago. They give a wonderful account of her time in Fiji, and the circumstances under which her paintings were made. Maudslay's catty remarks about C.

C's paintings and her writing are difficult to understand, particularly following his assessment of her kindness and even temper. I think they can only be ascribed to the sort of disapproval Victorian males felt for any women who were independent and successful in their own right, rather than as ornaments of men. Even his jocular comment that "we all tease the poor woman a good deal" gives one pause, as it suggests a level of license and familiarity that would not normally be presumed by men of that era toward women who were not members of their own family, particularly those of the undeniable social status that she had.

Perhaps her alleged lack of tact was sufficiently abrasive to counter her good qualities in his assessment of her.

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He wrote in particular of her "perfectly good sound sense and tact," and noted that "we have been together a great deal, and have always been the best of friends. It sounds, though, as though he approved of this as an appropriate lady's accomplishment, rather than an inappropriate money-making career.

It fitted Maudslay's description. The bed on which I was required to try and sleep had a thin ticking mattress on a slat base from which a couple ofthe central slats had been broken out by an enthusiastic previous occupant. Finally in desparation I pried a couple of the remaining slats loose from less critical places and placed them over the gaps. Actually, most of her travel books are very much like letters home, journals, and what we'd call today, blogs. That is to say, despite having written and published some twenty-five books and articles, she was a much better artist than she was a writer.

File:Temporary Chimneys and Fire Fountains of Kīlauea by Constance Gordon-Cumming.jpg

Even at that, her only instruction as an artist came from the English horse and dog painter, Sir Edwin Landseer, a friend of her father's. Had the camera been a mandatory traveling accoutrement at the time, Constance Cumming might never have become an artist a noted photographer, maybe.

From there she moved on to other British colonies, Australia, then to Hong Kong. The British Empire pretty much wrapped itself clear around the world during this era. Minus a camera, she painted a watercolor of it.

Constance Gordon-Cumming - Wikiwand

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