Blanche Warre-Cornish née Ritchie (widely known as Mrs Cornish, 5 July 1848 – 9 August 1922) was an English writer and conversationalist, celebrated for the "pregnant and startling irrelevancies" of her discourse. She edited some reminiscences of her cousin, the novelist

William Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel '' Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...

Family

Blanche was born in Calcutta, India. Her father was William Ritchie, Advocate-General of Bengal, and her brother Sir Richmond Ritchie, who spent most of his working life in the

Indian Office The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and ...

. In 1866, aged 18, she married

Francis Warre-Cornish Francis Warre Warre-Cornish (8 May 1839 – 28 August 1916) was a British schoolmaster, scholar and writer. Life He was the son of Hubert Kestell Cornish, vicar of Bakewell, and his wife Louisa Warre, daughter of Francis Warre (1775–1854), and ...

, a master at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and ultimately Vice-Provost of the school. Their several children included the writer

Mary MacCarthy Mary, Lady MacCarthy (August 1882 – 29 December 1953) was a British writer; known for her involvement in the "Bloomsbury Group", and commonly called Molly. She was born Mary Warre-Cornish in Lynton, Devon; the daughter of schoolmaster and m ...

and Cecilia Fisher, who married

William Wordsworth Fisher Admiral Sir William Wordsworth Fisher (26 March 1875 – 24 June 1937) was a Royal Navy officer who captained a battleship at the Battle of Jutland and became Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet. Arthur Marder wrote that he was "the ...

, later an admiral. Blanche Warre-Cornish died in Kensington, London.

Works

Warre-Cornish's published works included the novels ''Alcestis'' (1873) and ''Northam Cloisters'' (1882, sometimes misattributed to William Hamilton Maxwell). She also wrote a memoir of

Robert Hugh Benson Robert Hugh Benson AFSC KC*SG KGCHS (18 November 1871 – 19 October 1914) was an English Catholic priest and writer. First an Anglican priest, he was received into the Catholic Church in 1903 and ordained therein the next year. He wa ...

and edited some biographical reminiscences of her cousin,

. However, she was noted most of all for her conversation, which engaged and occasionally alarmed generations of Eton schoolboys. Some of her remarks were collected by

Logan Pearsall Smith Logan Pearsall Smith (18 October 1865 – 2 March 1946) was an American-born British essayist and critic. Harvard and Oxford educated, he was known for his aphorisms and epigrams, and was an expert on 17th Century divines. His ''Words and Idioms' ...

and printed privately in 1935 as ''Cornishiana''. A second edition was printed in Cairo by the Press of the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale in 1947 and reprinted in 1999 by Stone Trough Books. Warre-Cornish once gave the following advice to an assistant: "In all disagreeable circumstances remember the three things which I always say to myself: 'I am an Englishwoman;' 'I was born in wedlock;' 'I am on dry land.'"''Bensoniana & Cornishiana'' (Stone Trough Books, Settrington, 1999), pp. 51–52.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warre-Cornish, Blanche 1848 births 1922 deaths English women novelists 19th-century English novelists 20th-century English novelists 19th-century English women writers 20th-century English women writers English biographers Eton College English women non-fiction writers British women biographers Conversationalists