Elizabeth "Nina" Sarah Mazuchelli (29 January 1832 – 14 February 1914)
[Trevor Shaw & Christine Ballinger, ''A Biographical Bibliography'', Založba ZRC, 2020]
p. 207
was an English traveller and travel writer. She published ''The Indian Alps and How We Crossed Them'' in 1876, an account of a two-month expedition into the Himalayas.
Mazuchelli is the subject of a chapter of
Sara Mills's book ''Discourses of Difference: An Analysis of Women's Travel Writing and Colonialism''. Mills points out that Mazuchelli does not fit the "conventional vision of the eccentric British spinster traveller figure" and "is, in many ways, the embodiment of the Victorian discourses of femininity".
Personal life
Mazuchelli was born in 1832. Her birth surname may have been Harris.
She married Francis Mazuchelli (born 1820
or 1821
) in 1853 in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
.
He was born in Milan, emigrated to the United States, and was ordained in the Roman Catholic church before becoming an Anglican clergyman.
Francis joined the army as a chaplain in 1857 and in 1858 the couple travelled to India for him to take up the position of Assistant Chaplain in H.M. Indian Service in Calcutta. In 1869 he was posted to
Darjeeling
Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal, ...
, to which Nina reacted with joy, writing of "Emancipation from the depleting influences of heat almost unbearable, for the bracing and life-giving breezes which blow over regions of eternal ice and snow".
It was from Darjeeling that they made the expedition across the
Singalila Ridge
The Singalila Ridge is a north–south mountain ridge running from northwestern West Bengal through Sikkim in the Indian part of the Himalayas. The district of Ilam in Nepal falls on the western part of this ridge.
The ridge separates mountain r ...
about which she wrote her ''The Indian Alps and How We Crossed Them''.
The couple returned to England in 1875 and Francis became curate of
Wrington
Wrington is a village and a civil and ecclesiastical parish on the north slopes of the Mendip Hills in North Somerset, England. Both include nearby Redhill. Wrington lies in the valley of the Congresbury Yeo river, about east of Weston-super-M ...
in Somerset. They travelled to the
Tatra and
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
, after which she wrote her second book, ''Magyarland''.
He became Vicar of
Felmersham
Felmersham is a small village and civil parish in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England, on the River Great Ouse, about north west of Bedford. As a civil parish, it includes the hamlet of Radwell, and is sometimes known as Felmersham ...
in 1869 and on his retirement in 1895 they moved to
Nantgaredig
Nantgaredig is a village in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is about east of the county town of Carmarthen on the A40 in the parish of Llanegwad.
the Population was around 524 as of the 2011 census.
Notable people
The village is most notable for be ...
in Wales, where Nina died in 1914, Francis having died in 1901. Their grave is in
Church of Holy Trinity, Burrington churchyard, and Nina left £1,000 in her will for charitable purposes in Burrington and the upkeep of their gravestone.
Travels in India
Luree Miller's 1984 book ''On Top of the World: Five Women Explorers in Tibet'' gives a detailed account of Mazuchelli's two-month expedition into the mountains.
She is said to have been the first western woman to see
Mount Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...
, in 1869, and described it as "the dream of my childhood to see this nearest point of Heaven and Earth".
Publications
*
*
References
External links
Full text of ''The Indian Alps and How We Crossed Them'', with illustrationsOnline facsimile of ''Magyarland'' vol. 1Online facsimile of ''Magyarland'' vol. 2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazuchelli, Elizabeth Sarah
1832 births
1914 deaths
Female explorers
English explorers