TORLESSE, Emily
Emily Torlesse was born at sea on the 'True Briton' on 18 September 1862, third child of Charles Obins Torlesse (2 May 1825-14 November 1866), a merchant & commission agent, and his wife Alicia née Townsend (12 October 1827-18 May 1909), who married at Lyttleton, New Zealand on 27 December 1851, Emily was the grand-daughter of Revd Charles Martin Torlesse (1795-1881) of Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk. In 1881, Emily's mother Alicia, described as a landowner in New Zealand, together with her daughters Catherine 22, born at Rangiora, New Zealand on 9 June 1858, and 18-year-old Emily born 'at sea', were staying at Stoke by Nayland Vicarage in Suffolk. Emily exhibited at the Ipswich Fine Art Club in the U.K. from Stoke-by-Nayland in 1883, 'Nest of the Long Tailed Tit' and in 1884, 'A Study of Apples' and in 1891 she exhibited at the Canterbury Society of Arts at Christchurch, New Zealand. She married at St Pauls, Wellington on 30 April 1894 her cousin, Charles Henry Hamilton (9 July 1865-5 June 1928) and they settled at Palmerston North, Wellington and had a daughter, Frances Theodora Alicia Hamilton. Whilst returning to England to visit her ailing mother on the Isle of Wight, Emily Hamilton died 'at sea a few days out of Wellington' on 29 March 1904, aged 41 and buried at sea. Her sister Catherine, known as Kate, also exhibited at the Canterbury Society of Arts at Christchurch, New Zealand 1891-1893.