Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Isabella Hitchcock was born in 1867 in Bury St Edmonds, Suffolk, England – the daughter of Clarke Duchesne Hitchcock, an agent to a tanner, & Sarah Fieldwick.
Isabella’s family emigrated to New Zealand about 1875 & settled in Dunedin.
She attended the “Normal School” in Dunedin &, in 1882, she was appointed as a pupil teacher at George St School.
In 1888 she became a fully qualified teacher, she also gained qualifications from the St Johns Ambulance Association.
On 5 March 5 1916 Isabella disappeared while going from her brother’s house in Dundas St, Dunedin to her sister’s house in the same street. A search was promptly carried out due to the fact that she had been recently discharged from a “mental hospital”.
Her body was discovered in the upper basin of the city reservoir.
Isabella is buried in the family grave in the Northern Cemetery.
Sources :
DCC Cemetery Records: http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Free BDM: https://www.freebmd.org.uk
GRO England: https://www.gro.gov.uk
Otago Nominal Index: http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
PapersPast: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz