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

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

tightrope dancer, gymnast and magician. She was born in

Tullylish Tullylish ()PlaceNamesNI - 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 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

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 suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where others present are either unaware of the victim's situation or unable to offer a ...

in New Zealand, at the border of

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

and

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

. 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 Deaths in the Colony of New Zealand Tightrope walkers Female magicians New Zealand magicians Dancers from Ireland {{NewZealand-bio-stub