POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Notes

The cup is illustrated in 'The Illustrated Kennel News' (UK) of December 1907 with two pages of text regarding Mrs Wood's Australian Terriers now in England. One page is devoted to pictures, the other to a letter-press of terriers. Photographs are given of Mrs Wood and her terriers to include Woodstock Duke, Woodstock Wahn on the eve of their departure from Sydney in 1907 alonside the 30-pound trophy presented to the Kennel Club of NSW for the best Australian terrier exhibited at its shows. Woodstock Duke and Woodstock Wahn backed by a brewing fortune of Elizabeth's husband John Robert Wood from Newcastle NSW were introduced to the world in 1907 when the family left for Scotland. The cup was sold at Lawsons (Sydney) auction in 1992 to an unidentified purchaser. It reappeared in 2011 in Tasmania when it was acquired by the antiques dealer John Hawkins. Elizabeth Esther Ellen Jennings (1864 -1920) 'Essie' was born in Brisbane on 5 October 1864, the second child of Charles Jennings, chemist, and his wife Emily, née Morse (Moss). Her father died in 1871 and in 1877 her mother went on the stage as 'Kate Arden' marrying William James Holloway her actor-manager. As Essie Jenyns, Elizabeth had her first speaking role in 1879 at the Theatre Royal, Hobart. In 1884 'Essie' visited Europe with her mother and Holloway. She saw Sarah Bernhardt act, watched the foremost French directors instruct students at the Paris Conservatoire, and in London saw the actress, Mary Anderson, in whose roles she was also to excel. With his own 'Shakespeare Company' ,Holloway opened in Sydney in September 1886, claiming that Essie, who had not acted overseas, had been 'pronounced by eminent critics to be the foremost actress in Australia', she was praised for her 'pleasing' performance and voice in the melodrama; overnight she became the star Holloway had advertised. After fourteen weeks at the Opera House and sixteen at the Criterion in Sydney, she played for twenty weeks at the major theatres in Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart and Brisbane. She excelled in such roles as Rosalind and Portia. One reviewer observed that audiences were so mesmerized by her great beauty that they were unable to judge her acting. Although she showed little original interpretation, smitten admirers claimed that she had 'infinitely more soul' than any contemporary comic actress, and she was a native-born Australian. At the height of her success on 5 December 1888 Essie married John Robert Wood, a prominent cricketer and the son of a wealthy Newcastle brewer. Holloway had plans for her to try her luck in London but she saw marriage as an excuse to retire from the stage. Her early retirement into respectable and wealthy domesticity made her the heroine of women's magazines. The honeymoon was spent in Europe in part on the yacht 'Imogen' which was launched in August 1890 from Fleming & Ferguson's Yard on the Clyde, commissioned by Essie's husband John Wood as her wedding present. After a three year voyage around the Mediterranean, the vessel was sold in 1893 and the Woods returned to 'Jesmond House', their magnificent home in Newcastle, New South Wales. The Woods later lived at Putney Hill, London. Essie died at Killara, Sydney, on 6 August 1920 and was buried by an Anglican minister in the Presbyterian section of the Sandgate (Newcastle) cemetery. She was survived by her husband, son John and daughter Lyal. Her estate was valued at £1,697. She left her presentation copy of Shakespeare (1623) to the National Art Gallery of New South Wales as a gesture to the people of Sydney "for their loyalty to me". In 1922 her remains were disinterred, cremated and buried in Waverley cemetery. Edited extract from article: J.Hawkins, 'Essie Jenyns and her Australian terriers', 'Australiana 'November 2011, pp 16-19.