Ottilie Emilie (Voullaire) Cowper (1890 - 1964)

Born 20 Jun 1890 in Batavia, Dutch East Indies

Ancestors

Wife of Percy Sharples Cowper — married 12 Jun 1926 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Descendants

Died 1964 at about age 73 in Victoria

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Biography

Ottilie was born in 1890. She is the daughter of Rudolph Voullaire and Jeanne Dermout. ^[1]

About 1911, at the age of 21, Ottilie went to Holland and was not to return to Australia until September of 1919, having served much of that time as a nurse in a military hospital in The Hague during WW1.^[2]

The Argus, (Melbourne), Thursday 17 June, 1926

MARRIAGES: COWPER - VOULLAIRE - On 12th June, 1926, by Rev. J. R. Bradbury, of Ringwood, Percy Cowper, Norwood, Upper Beaconsfield, to Ottilie Emilie, eldest daughter of R. M. Voullaire, Zeist, Merbein.^[3]

The Register News-Pictorial (Adelaide, SA : 1929 - 1931)
Friday 4 April 1930

Mrs. Cowper At The Exhibition:

THE needlework section of the Australian Exhibition has been judged - and today the judge, Mrs. Ottilie Voullaire Cowper will return to Melbourne.
She has been greatly impressed with some sections of the work, more especially the tapestry which, she thinks, is magnificent.

THREE YEARS COURSE IN HOLLAND: Mrs. Cowper is a woman of vast needlework experience. She is a teacher of art needlework, and is a graduate of the Industrial College, Utrecht, Holland. She was born in Java, of Dutch parents, who are both, however, of French descent. She came to Australia as a tiny girl, with her parents, who settled in Mildura. In 1911 she went to Holland and stayed there for eight years. The war broke out before she completed her art needlework training, and so she was prevented from returning to Australia until 1919. The course through which Mrs. Cowper passed at the Utrecht Industrial College was comprehensive, and to any true lover of the work the first year would have been tedious. In it, were mastered all the various stitches used in plain sewing, darning, knitting, patching, and cutting out by measurement.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ART: The second and' third years were occupied in solving the intricacies of fancy needlework of all kinds, knitting and crochet, drawing and designing, and studying the entire history of needlework, which even necessitated an excursion into the artistic development of the different countries, going back to ancient Egyptian times. Nor was this all. Architecture was even brought into the horizon of study. So was heraldry. This was, firstly, so that the designs used in ecclesiastical embroidery, would be traced in keeping with its surroundings.

Mrs. Cowper brought with her, samples of her own handiwork - which is wonderful and showing extreme versatility, and comprises a large range of Oriental works. She has samples of Spanish, Dutch, Armenian, Turkish, Arabian, Chinese, and Norwegian embroideries in gorgeous colour schemes. Her French whitework, such as Richelieu and Hedebo is a revelation.

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Sources

• Peter Knowles. Click the Changes tab for the details of edits by Peter and others.

• Trove (National Library of Australia)

• Australia Death Index, 1787-1985 ^[4]

References

1. ↑ Entered by Peter Knowles, Sep 18, 2012
2. ↑ "The Mildura Cultivator", Wednesday 17 September, 1919.
3. ↑ The Argus, (Melbourne), Thursday 17 June, 1926 p 1 Family Notices
4. ↑ Ancestry.com.au