Katherine Jane "Janie" Ellice (née Balfour; 1813 – 13 April 1864) was a British diarist and artist. She is most remembered for her chronicle and
watercolour
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...
s of a trip to Canada, in 1838, where she and her sister were taken prisoner during the
Battle of Beauharnois
The Battle of Beauharnois was fought on November 10, 1838, between Lower Canada loyalists and Patriote rebels, after 500 armed men had converged on Beauharnois, on November 3–4, overtaking the seigneurial manor.
The seigneury of Beauharnois b ...
.
Life
She was born in 1813, the second daughter of eight children of Eglantyne Katherine Fordyce (1789–1851) and
Sir Robert Balfour. "She spoke Italian and French, was an accomplished sketcher and watercolourist, and played the piano and guitar." She married
Edward Ellice on 15 July 1834.
[K. D. Reynolds, "Ellice, Katherine Jane anie(1813–1864)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200]
accessed 3 April 2018.
/ref>
On 24 April 1838, she boarded HMS ''Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
'' and accompanied her husband, Edward Ellice to Canada in his capacity as private secretary to his cousin (by marriage), John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham
John George Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, (12 April 1792 – 28 July 1840), also known as "Radical Jack" and commonly referred to in Canadian history texts simply as Lord Durham, was a British Whig statesman, colonial administrator, Governor G ...
, who was en route to his appointments as Governor General of the Province of Canada
The Governor General of the Province of Canada was the viceregal post of the pre-Confederation Province of Canada that existed from 1840 to Canadian Confederation in 1867.
The post replaced the Governor General of New France and later Governor Gen ...
and Lieutenant-Governor of Lower Canada
The lieutenant governor of Quebec (; French language, French (masculine): ''Lieutenant-gouverneur du Québec'', or (feminine): ''Lieutenante-gouverneure du Québec'') is the Viceroy, viceregal representative in Quebec of the , who Monarchy in Que ...
.[
]
Captivity during Battle of Beauharnois
During the Battle of Beauharnois
The Battle of Beauharnois was fought on November 10, 1838, between Lower Canada loyalists and Patriote rebels, after 500 armed men had converged on Beauharnois, on November 3–4, overtaking the seigneurial manor.
The seigneury of Beauharnois b ...
, she, her husband, and her sister – along with the general household – were taken by surprise during a nighttime siege led by François-Marie-Thomas Chevalier de Lorimier, then held as prisoners. Her husband was held separately. She negotiated with the rebels, and they were allowed to remove to the home of the Catholic priest, then allowed to obtain meat and milk from the Ellice's livestock, to sustain the, eventually, 62 people sequestered together in what she described as the Ellice house "converted into a regular prison."
That day, 10 November 1838, the British won the battle, rebel leaders were taken prisoner, and the Loyalist
Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...
prisoners were freed. Mrs. Ellice had written a diary and made sketches of the "picturesque ruffians." Lord Durham had resigned 9 October 1838, and returned to England, which the Ellice household had been scheduled to do on 9 November, but were then captives. They then returned to England on 26 December 1838.[
]
Artistry
Katherine Ellice studied drawing with Lord Durham's drawing master, Coke Smyth, who gave lessons to Katherine and Lady Durham in Canada.[John Richard Coke Smyth (1808-82)]
Coke-Smyth.com, Retrieved 20 June 2016.
Her self-portrait at sea aboard – the ship the Ellices had arrived to Canada aboard on 27 May 1838 – is shown on this page.
Ellice's watercolour
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...
depictions of aspects of the 1837 Rebellion, painted while residing in Beauharnois, as well as other works representing Quebec, are included in her art album which is now held at the Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...
. A copy of her diary is also housed at the Library and Archives Canada.
Later life
Her father-in-law, Edward Ellice – who had furnished her with the diary and the task of filling it on her journey abroad – was a frequent host to notable visitors to Scotland, thought highly of "Janie" and so enlisted her, in 1859, as hostess, when the artist Richard Doyle visited; she was given an illustrated diary of a journey to the islands of Rona and Skye
The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated b ...
.The Log of the Ladye
Scan.org, Retrieved 20 June 2017
In 1853, her sister, Eglantyne "Tina", married the cousin of her husband, Robert Ellice (1816–1858), son of General Robert Ellice
General Robert Ellice (13 October 1784 – 18 June 1856) was a British Army officer.
Military career
Born the son of Scottish merchant and fur trader Alexander Ellice and brother of Edward Ellice and Alexander Ellice, Ellice was commissioned ...
.
Following her death, in 1864, Edward Ellice remarried.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellice, Katherine
1813 births
1864 deaths
19th-century diarists
19th-century Scottish women writers
19th-century Scottish women artists
British diarists
Clan Balfour
Lower Canada Rebellion people
Scottish watercolourists
Women diarists
Women in war in Canada
Victorian women writers
Women watercolorists
Ellice family