Mary Allen Reibey's Needlework Sampler, Ellinthorp Hall 1827

A needlework sampler by Mary Allen Reibey, Ellinthorp Hall Van Diemen's Land, dated 1827, 50 x 46 cm. Note: George Carr Clark (1789-1863), settler, was born on 18 February 1789, the fourth son and seventh child of Thomas Clark (1750-1832) and his wife Ann, nee Carr (1753?-1836), of Ellinthorp Hall, Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, England. He was the great-nephew of the architect John Carr (1723-1807) from whom the Clark family derived much benefit., Before marriage, both Clark and his wife had received 2000-acre (809 ha) grants near the Isis and these became the nucleus of the Ellinthorp Hall estate. On 16 December 1826 the homestead's foundation was laid and next September the school reopened there to suit Mrs Clark's delicate health. Tied by his wife's profession, Clark afterwards regretted his change from business to grazing, but Ellinthorp became the most fashionable girls' school in the colony. High fees enabled her to select about forty pupils, and to support some gratuitously or at reduced rates. Lieutenant-Governor (Sir) George Arthur often visited the school and other notables such as James Backhouse and George Washington Walker reported favourably on her methods. Mrs Clark's dedication is the more remarkable because she was the wife of a rich man, and while headmistress gave birth to six children. The school closed in December 1840, but her methods lived on at Carr Villa, near Launceston, run by her protegee and kinswoman, Susannah Darke Purbrick (Mrs John Knight), from 1848 until 1866. In March 1841 Mrs Clark went to England to finish the education of her own children. She died at Wigmore Street, London, on 31 December 1847, and was buried in Lee churchyard, Blackheath, Kent.