Mancell Flo Kirby (24 January 1897 – 29 February 1996) was an Australian harpsichordist, accompanist and music educator.

Mancell Kirby
Kirby in 1938
Background information
Birth nameMancell Flo Kirby
Born(1897-01-24)24 January 1897
Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
Died29 February 1996(1996-02-29) (aged 99)
Kew, Victoria, Australia
Occupation(s)Music educator, accompanist
Instrumentharpsichord

Early life and education

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Mancell Flo Kirby was born in Ballarat, Victoria on 24 January 1897 to Thomas Henry and Christiana Harriett Kirby (née Sinclair),[1] who had married a year earlier.[2] Her sister, Ellen Norine, was born three years later. The family moved to Melbourne, where her father, a commercial traveller, died late in 1900, leaving his widow £297.[3][4] In 1908 Christiana married George Leighton Barrow,[5] who brought up his two step-daughters after Christiana's death in 1911.[1]

Kirby attended Canterbury State School and from 1912 to 1914 Fintona Presbyterian Girls' Grammar School in Camberwell. Her step-father married Mitta Nicholls.[6] He died in 1922, leaving Mitta, a son Leighton and his two step-daughters Mancell and Norine.[7]

Career

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On graduating from the Albert Street Conservatorium, East Melbourne with a Diploma in Music (1918), she was employed at Frensham, Mittagong as a piano teacher from 1919 to 1923.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Duke, Patricia, "Kirby, Mancell Flo (1897–1996)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 26 July 2021
  2. ^ "Family Notices". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 15, 485. Victoria, Australia. 15 February 1896. p. 1. Retrieved 26 July 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "Advertising". The Age. No. 14, 280. Victoria, Australia. 11 December 1900. p. 8. Retrieved 26 July 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "Probate and Letters of Administration". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 17, 007. Victoria, Australia. 11 January 1901. p. 7. Retrieved 26 July 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "Family Notices". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 19, 336. Victoria, Australia. 9 July 1908. p. 1. Retrieved 26 July 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "Family Notices". Table Talk. No. 1478. Victoria, Australia. 20 November 1913. p. 8. Retrieved 2 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "Family Notices". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 23, 784. Victoria, Australia. 27 October 1922. p. 1. Retrieved 2 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.