Rosa Bird

Rosa Bird, born Josephine Sarah Jacombs (11 December 1866 – 1 February 1927), was an Australian soprano who lived in London for most of her adult life.

History

Jacombs, was a daughter of Josephine Jacombs née Lane ( – 8 October 1918), and William Thompson Jacombs (1830 – 27 April 1920) who, for over 40 years was head bookkeeper for Tooth's Brewery, Sydney. Their home for much of this time was at Forest Lodge Estate, Glebe, and sometime before 1906 retired to a cottage on the Kameruka estate, owned by Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth.^[1] In mid-1917 the couple left Kameruka. Mrs Jacombs died at North Sydney, where they were boarding privately,^[2] in 1918 and her husband died at their daughter's home in Goulburn, in 1820.

Their family also included

• Anne Emily Jacombs (8 April 1870 ) married Henry James Brook, B.A. on 10 April 1901, lived at Warren, New South Wales
• Martha Newark Jacombs (21 April 1872 – 1944), married Walter Cullen of Laggan and Goulburn,^[3]
• William Mortimer Jacombs (17 January 1874 – 5 January 1943) married Susan Henrietta Macmahon on 22 October 1896
• Louisa Fanny Jacombs (20 June 1878 – 2 December 1899) married William Charles Grey (27 March 1875 – 12 March 1930) of Balaklava, South Australia^[4] and lived in Boulder, Western Australia.
• David Matthew Jacombs (26 June 1881 – 17 September 1915), who was born in Bungendore, enlisted for The Great War with the 7th Light Horse Brigade and was killed in action.^[5]

Jacombs grew up in Glebe, Sydney. She studied piano and singing under Henri Kowalski,^[6]

On 18 April 1888 she married Arthur Henry Popplewell.^[7] They had two children in the following three years.

Arthur H. Popplewell was the only son of Benjamin Popplewell (c. 1828 – 11 March 1864) confectioner of Glebe, and his wife Elizabeth Popplewell (died 6 May 1899). He was for many years accountant for the Sydney Permanent Building Society,^[8] but possibly better known for organising church and charity concerts.^[9][10]

In 1894 she made her first major public appearances, charity concerts at Petersham Town Hall on 15 January, and at the Sydney Town Hall on 2 February, on that occasion singing Ombre légère, the aria from Dinorah,^[11] for which an encore was called.^[12] On both occasions Kowalski served as her accompanist.

On 13 August 1894 her husband died at Cobran station,^[13] where his sister Mary Jane (c. 1853–1924)^[14] lived, married^[15] to Hiram Popplewell (c. 1852–1924),^[16] station manager.^[17] Popperwell's mother Elizabeth also died at the residence of Hiram Popperwell, her son-in-law, no longer at Cobran but Wollahra station; both on the Culgoa River.^[8]

On 12 March 1895 Jacombs appeared at a farewell concert at the YMCA, and on 3 March left by RMS Ophir^[18] for London, where she studied under Henry Blower, of the Royal College of Music,^[19] then briefly with Madame Marchesi.^[6] Around this time she adopted her stage name, "Rosa Bird".^[20]

She made her London stage debut in a reception at the Albert Hall, for Lord Kitchener, on his return from the South African War.^[6]

After an absence of twelve years, she returned to Sydney on 20 January 1908, visiting her parents and her son^[6] at Kameruka estate. While in Sydney she heard the young pianist Winifred Purnell, and was so impressed that she brought her back to Hanover,^[21] and London, persuading Sir Robert and Lady Lucas Tooth to sponsor her European studies.

In 1910 she had a residence "Lewgars" at Kingsbury, London^[22]

In addition to concert appearances, often for charities, she took students.^[23]

She was a favorite of London society, entertaining guests at her house in Hyde Park and her river house on the Thames.^[6] She was seen in the company of novelists Maxwell Gray and Mary Elizabeth Braddon.^[23] She counted among her friends Princess Henry of Battenberg and the Infanta of Spain.^[24]

During the Great War, Bird turned her home at 1 Moreton Gardens, once owned by Jenny Lind, into a hospital for Australian officers, and established an Australian Voluntary Hospital, in Wimereux, France, with assistance from Lady Dudley, and largely financed by Sir Robert Lucas Tooth, who gave £10,000 to start it off. Contributions from the Australian public kept it going until all hospitals were taken over by the War Office. Bird served as commandant, (elsewhere described as "secretary")^[25] aided by her daughter Violet, with a matron and two nursing sisters in charge of V.A.D. nursing staff.^[26] For her services she was awarded the Croix de Guerre.^[24]

She died at Oriel Lawn, Hampton Court, on 1 February 1927.^[24]

Family

On 18 April 1888 she married Arthur Henry Popplewell (23 April 1861 – 13 August 1894) at Petersham, New South Wales. They had two children:

• Violet May Popplewell OBE (27 January 1889^[27] – 14 December 1959), married Queensland grazier, James Richmond in April 1929.^[28] He owned Navena station near Blackall; Violet, who was also known as a portrait painter, was made an OBE for her patriotic and charitable work in the Great War.^[29]
• Benjamin Thompson Popplewell (11 December 1890 – 29 May 1954)^[30] served with AAOC and AEME (promoted to Captain in 1942).^[31] He married Violet Colquhoun^[32] and (2) Margaret Moreau Palmer in 1950.^[a]

Notes

1. He is not the author of the songs "The RAAF Is There" (1944) "Hostess of the Air" (1946), and "Just Behind that Little Cloud" (1946) sometimes attributed to "Ben T. Popplewell", but the work of one Joseph Benjamin Popplewell (born 20 August 1914),^[33] whose Attestation Form was lodged at Forest Lodge.