Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/39

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Novello
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Nunn

specially for her to take the soprano part in his just completed 'Stabat Mater.' Owing to the mismanagement of agents, she was announced to sing at two places — at Rome and Genoa — during the carnival of 1843; the Roman authorities refused a permit to leave the territory and detained her under arrest at Fermo, On her appealing as a British subject to Lord Aberdeen, then English foreign secretary, the matter was arranged by arbitration. Count Gigliucci, the governor of Fermo, fell in love with his prisoner; she agreed to marry him as soon as professional engagements permitted. At Clara Novello's last appearance in Rome she was recalled twenty-nine times; there was some disturbance at Genoa.

In March she returned to England, and appeared in English opera at Drury Lane; also in Handel's 'Acis and Galatea,' and at the Sacred Harmonic Society and other concerts. On 22 Nov. she was married to Count Gigliucci at Paddington parish church, and retired with him to Italy.

During the troubles of 1848 their property was confiscated, and the countess resolved to resume her public appearances. In 1850 she sang in opera at Rome; then at Lisbon, and on 18 July 1851 re-appeared in London, singing in Handel's 'Messiah' at Exeter Hall. Her embellishments brought some disapprobation, though her voice was pronounced to have gained in strength, and to have lost nothing of its beauty. She took the place of leading English concert soprano, appearing only once again in England in opera, in 'I Puritani' at Drury Lane on 5 July 1853. At Milan she sang in opera during the carnivals from 1854-6. In England her singing was regarded as the embodiment of the best traditions of the Handelian style; like Mara and Catalani before, and Lemmens-Sherrington after, she was specially distinguished in her rendering of 'I know that my Redeemer liveth,' and she sang the opening phrase in one breath. On the opening of the Crystal Palace, on 10 June 1854, her singing, 'heard to remote comers of the building' (Athenæum, 17 June 1854), seemed grander than ever before; probably the finest revelation of her powers was at the Handel Festival there in June 1859. She then determined to retire. After singing in Handel's 'Messiah' at the Crystal Palace, she made her last appearance at a benefit concert at St. James's Hall on 21 Nov. 1860, the final strain being the National Anthem.

In her retirement she lived with her husband at Rome and Fermo. He died on 29 March 1893; she died in her ninetieth year, on 12 March 1908, at Rome, leaving a daughter, Valeria. Her portrait was twice painted, by her brother Edward Petre Novello, and by Edward Magnus of Berlin. These pictures were reproduced, with photographs, in Clayton's 'Queens of Song,' the memorial article by 'F. G. E.' in 'Musical Times,' April 1908, the Novello centenary number, June 1911, and in her volume of 'Reminiscences' (1910).

[Her posthumous Reminiscences (1910), compiled by her daughter Valeria ; works and periodicals quoted.]

H. D.

NUNBURNHOLME, first Baron. [See Wilson, Charles Henry (1833–1907), shipowner and politician.]

NUNN, JOSHUA ARTHUR (1853–1908), colonel, army veterinary service, born on 10 May 1853 at Hill Castle, co. Wexford, Ireland, was son of Edward W. Nunn, J. P., D.L. He was educated at Wimbledon school, and served in the royal Monmouthshire engineer militia from 1871 to 1877. In 1874 he entered the Royal Veterinary College at Camden Town, and was admitted M.R.C.V.S. on 4 Jan. 1877, being elected F.R.C.V.S. on 29 April 1886. In 1877 he obtained a certificate in cattle pathology from the Royal Agricultural Society. He was gazetted veterinary surgeon on probation in the army veterinary service on 21 April 1877 and veterinary surgeon to the royal artillery on 24 April 1877, being the last officer to obtain a commission under the old regimental system.

Nunn proceeded to India at the end of 1877, and from September 1879 to August 1880 he took part in the Afghan war as the veterinary officer in charge of transport on the Khyber line of communication. Later, accompanying the expeditionary column in the Lughman valley, he was in charge of the transport base hospital at Gandamak. For these services he gained the war medal.

He was employed on special duty from 1880 to 1885 as a civil servant under the Punjab government, first in the suppression of glanders under the Glanders and Farcy Act, afterwards in connection with the agricultural department of the Punjab as the veterinary inspector. In this capacity he travelled widely to collect all manner of information and statistics about cattle, including folklore and disease. This he embodied in a series of valuable reports: 'Animal Diseases in Rohtak' (1882); 'Diseases in Sialkote and Hazara' (1883); 'Diseases in the Montgomery and Shapur Districts' (1884 and 1885). At the same time he lectured to native students at the