Barnicoat, Constance Alice (1872–1922)

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Barnicoat, Constance Alice (1872–1922)

New Zealand secretary, interpreter, mountaineer, and journalist. Name variations: Constance Alice Grande. Born Constance Alice Barnicoat, Nov 27, 1872, in Richmond, Nelson, New Zealand; died Sept 16, 1922, in Geneva, Switzerland; dau. of John Wallis Barnicoat (politician) and Rebecca Lee (Hodgson) Barnicoat; Canterbury College, BA, 1895; m. Israel Julian Grande (journalist and lecturer), 1911.

Versed in several languages, became New Zealand's 1st official woman shorthand reporter (1896); worked as translator for Review of Reviews (1898) and joined reviewing staff (early 1900s); served as secretary and interpreter at Hague Peace Conference (1899); actively pursued mountaineering, participating in expeditions throughout Europe (1905–11); with husband, edited multilingual monthly journal to counter German propaganda during WWI. Mt. Barnicoat in Southern Alps named in her honor.

See also Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (Vol. 3).

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