painter, was born at Oldbury, Sutton Forest, New South Wales, on 22 July 1828, eldest child of James Atkinson and his wife Charlotte . Both her parents were writers and her mother was also an accomplished watercolour painter and amateur naturalist. Her sister Caroline Louisa Atkinson , known as Louisa, became well known as a botanist, writer and artist. At first Charlotte Elizabeth was educated mainly by her mother, then for some time attended the Sydney College High School where she won 'the first medal for young ladies’ in drawing and other prizes (including a first and a second for ornamental needlework) in 1842. Attributed to her are four rather crude watercolour profile portraits of the members of her family at about this time (ML): her mother, her brother John, and her sisters Emily and Louisa.
In 1847 Charlotte Elizabeth eloped with an illiterate Irish Catholic coachman who worked on the estate, Thomas McNeilly. Although disapproving of the match, her mother insisted they return and be properly married at Oldbury, which was done on 22 July by the Berrima Catholic priest. The McNeillys continued to live at Oldbury until Mrs Atkinson (then Mrs Charlotte Barton ) died. Then they moved to Orange (NSW), where for a time Charlotte operated a private school. According to her daughter, Flora Garlick, Charlotte was also a regular contributor to various journals and newspapers. She and Thomas had 11 children – the last born in 1867 after Flora was married – although when Charlotte Elizabeth died, on 17 March 1911, only three were still living.
McNeilly’s watercolour sketch Cockatoo Island from Balmain near the Coal Mine (ML) was painted in 1864. Its bright smooth washes and precise outlines resemble Louisa’s style of landscape painting except that it lacks Louisa’s topographical accuracy. (Charlotte may have copied it from an illustration.) Her scene of the Canobolas Mountains near Orange (p.c.) is similar in style to (her mother’s reputed drawing master) John Glover 's English work. Church of England and Parsonage. Orange. 1868. Opened January 3rd, 1858. Revd R.H. Mayne, Minister (p.c.), a watercolour annotated 'Drawn by C.E. McNeilly’, is the most attractive and detailed of her few known works. Obviously drawn from nature, it shows the original Holy Trinity Church at Orange, now called the Bluestone Hall and owned by the National Trust (NSW). Other drawings she is known to have made during her years at Orange have not been located.
- Writers:
- Kerr, Joan
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
