Scan of inside cover of a copy of the Arabian Nights awarded to Bessie Cornwell for drawing in 1887 while she was a student at Claremont, 342 Albert Street, East Melbourne. The school ran for ten years between 1881 and 1891. The principal was Mrs W K Muir, the widow of Rev William Kennedy Muir who died in 1869, aged 27, after less than a year in Australia. Mrs Muir was left with a young baby to support.
Bessie was born 2 May 1875 and baptized at St Peter's Eastern Hill on 8 August 1875. She was the daughter of Henry Cornwell, butcher of Lonsdale Street and his wife, Isabelle.