Lydia Ellen Tritton
Lydia "Nellé" Tritton (Russian: Лидия Тереза ("Нелль") Керенская (Триттон), 19 September 1899[1] – 10 April 1946) was an Australian journalist, poet, and self-declared "public elocutionist".[2]
Early life and education
[edit]Tritton was born in Brisbane on 19 September 1899.[3] Her parents, Fred Tritton, was a prominent Brisbane furniture warehouseman.[2][4][5] In her mid-20s, she sailed to London and toured Europe, gaining a reputation for knowledge of international affairs, which brought her into contact with the Russian expatriates then living in Paris.[2]
Personal life
[edit]In 1928, Tritton married a former officer of Russia's White Army, Nicholas Alexander Nadejine, then 43-years-old, at the marriage registry office in Kensington, England. Nadejine was a professional singer, but was unsuccessful in joining the Covent Garden Opera Company and reportedly had affairs with various wealthy Englishwomen.[2] The couple divorced after eight years of marriage in 1936.
Three years later, in 1939, Tritton married exiled Russian prime minister Alexander Kerensky in Martins Creek, Pennsylvania, and they lived in exile in Pennsylvania and then in Paris and New York City.[6][7][5]
Death and legacy
[edit]In February 1946, while visiting her parents in Brisbane, Tritton had a stroke and died of chronic nephritis on 10 April.[5]
In 2016, the story of Tritton's life was adapted into a play, Motherland, by playwright Katherine Lyall-Watson.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ "Lydia Ellen ("Nell") Kerensky". geni_family_tree. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
- ^ a b c d Armstrong, Judith. "Tritton, Lydia Ellen (Nell) (1899–1946)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
- ^ "Obituary - Lydia Ellen (Nell) Tritton - Obituaries Australia".
- ^ Howells, Mary (19 December 2023). "Tritton's Legacy". State Library Of Queensland. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
- ^ a b c Howells, Mary. "From Austerity to Prosperity: Trittons in the 1940s". State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
- ^ Armstrong, Judith. "Tritton, Lydia Ellen (Nell) (1899–1946)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
- ^ Whitman, Alden (12 June 1970). "Alexander Kerensky Dies Here at 89". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
- ^ Elliot, Ellen-Maree (7 May 2016). "Motherland at Redland Performing Arts Centre: A gripping tale of Brisbane, Russia and the Nazis". Couriel-Mail. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
Further reading
[edit]- Kesteven, Sophie; Whitfeld, Anna (22 July 2020). "The extraordinary life of Nell Tritton, an Australian heiress who saved her husband from assassins". Late Night Live. ABC Radio National. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
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