Steel, A (2009). Painful in Daily Doses: An Anecdotal Memoir. South Australia: Wakefield Press. p141.
The Twickenham Museum. (N/A). Edward Harris Donnithorne. Available: http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.asp?ContentID=417. Last accessed 9th Jan 2015.
J. S. Ryan, 'Donnithorne, Eliza Emily (1826–1886)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/donnithorne-eliza-emily-3426/text5211, published first in hardcopy 1972, accessed online 20 February 2015.
Yatman, B. (2015). Sydney Eccentric: Eliza Emily Donnithorne. Available: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-eccentric-eliza-emily-donnithorne-20150105-125oqs.html. Last accessed January 9th 2015.
One area of interest in regards to the character of Miss Havisham is her close connection to that of a real woman during the mid 19th century, Eliza Emily Donnithorne. Steel states that the figure of Eliza Donnithorne was a key influence to the creation of Miss Havisham out of all three of the ladies that the character is arguably based upon.
Eliza Emily Donnithorne born in 1827 was renowned for living out roughly 38 years of her life in complete solitude at the Cambridge Hall, New South Wales, Australia. Born in 1826 she was the youngest of three daughters of James Donnithorne, an official for the East India Trading Co during the early Victorian period, upon his death Eliza inherited a great deal of his fortune including the Cambridge Hall. Several years later she became engaged to the man that would create the inspirational disaster of Miss Havisham's character. An article from 1927 described how the house was perfectly laid out, including the banquet hall ready for the wedding ceremony and celebrations to begin however, the groom never arrived. Eliza was left with departing guests from a wedding that never was causing her to fall into a deep state of mental imbalance and never leaving the house again. The only guests were that of her servants, doctor and solicitor. According to witnesses the door was always left slightly open but Eliza herself never appeared to leave or re enter the home. The Twickenham Museum reports that the husband to be was that of Stuart Donaldson, an aspiring politician from Sydney. Allegedly he had a mistress at the time of the wedding and had also fathered a son in the city - all of this information was apparently kept from Eliza by her own father and he remained unable to tell her the truth before his death in 1852. As a result she lived in isolating solitude for the remaining 38 years of her life before dying at age 61. According to the Donnithorne family archives Eliza was allegedly also carrying her husband to be's child at the time she was jilted, when born the infant was taken away and given to a servant girl of the house to raise. Eliza remained unaware of the child's survival believing that it had died upon birth. This is a concept however that is regarded a myth by many locals. Regardless a fact that remains true about the legend that is Eliza Emily Donnithorne is that of her mentality towards being the jilted spinster, according to Evelyn Juers "She was believed to have developed an extreme form of obsessive love that developed into a sickness. Keeping her wedding dress on until the day of her death".
Some critics have argued that Eliza's behaviour may have been influenced by Dickens's novel and the creation of Miss Havisham rather than him of hers. However the chances of this being accurate are slim as the novel was split into 3 episodes written from 1861 onwards before its final publication in Britain, of which time Eliza would have already been a recluse for roughly 25 years and without any access to the outside world, living in her own timeframe, the chances of her seeing his work were small. That being said Dickens had met the Donnithorne family in 1838, 8 years before their leaving England for Australia, it is likely that Charles Dickens would have followed the events of the family leading to his inspiration for the charpt however that is regarded a myth by many locals. Regardless a fact that remains true about the legend that is Eliza Emily Donnithorne is that of her mentality towards being the jilted spinster, according to Evelyn Juers "She was believed to have developed an extreme form of obsessive love that developed into a sickness. Keeping her wedding dress on until the day of her death".
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