{{Short description|British industrialist and publisher (1852–1932)}} {{Infobox person | name = Alice Ann Cornwell | image = Alice Ann Cornwell in 1889.jpg | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = 1 January 1852 | birth_place = West Ham | death_date = {{death date and age|1932|01|07|1852|01|01|df=yes}} | death_place = Hove | death_cause = | other_names = Alice Robinson, Alice Whiteman | known_for = | education = Royal Academy of Music | employer = | occupation = mine and newspaper owner | spouse = {{Plainlist| * John Whiteman * "Phil" Robinson }} | children = | parents = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }}
'''Alice Ann Cornwell''' (1 January 1852 – 7 January 1932) was a British goldmining industrialist and newspaper proprietor. She made her fortune from gold and floated her company on the London Stock Exchange. She was a confident business person investing in several companies including owning the Sunday Times
==Life== Cornwell was born in West Ham in 1852 to Jemima and George Cornwell. She and her family emigrated to New Zealand when she was nine.<ref name=cornodnb/> Her father was an engineer.
Her first marriage was to the much older John Whiteman, a politician and publican. This marriage resulted in a legal separation before she left for England, but it was not ended until Whiteman died.
Her fortune was made when she returned from England to Australia after education at the Royal Academy of Music. Her father was a successful engineer who was prospecting but not making a profit. Cornwell studied his ground and convinced others that a major find lay beneath his land. Shafts were created where she had indicated and gold was reputedly found within 30 centimetres of where she had predicted.<ref name=cornodnb>{{cite ODNB |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-56583 |title=Cornwell [other married names Whiteman, Robinson], Alice Ann (1852-1932) |first=D. |last=Griffiths |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/56583 |access-date=January 25, 2019}}</ref>
In 1886 she returned to London as a reputed millionaire, although this may have been an exaggeration. Despite not being able to enter London's club's because of her gender she floated the "Midas Mine" on the London Stock Exchange. Moreover she also created the British and Australian Mining Trust and Investment Company to allow people to invest money directly in Australian mines.<ref name="aus">{{Cite web|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/alice-cornwell-fergus-hume-on-our-mysterious-madame-midas/news-story/0ab201c802e04c7db743c926183d516a|title=Woman with the golden touch|publisher= The Australian|date=2017-01-27|access-date=2017-12-10}}</ref>
Cornwell bought the ''Sunday Times'' in 1887 from Colonel George FitzGeorge, an illegitimate member of the Royal Family.<ref name="Negev2012">{{cite book|author=Eilat Negev|title=The First Lady of Fleet Street: The Life, Fortune and Tragedy of Rachel Beer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LvitAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT126|date=6 September 2012|publisher=Biteback Publishing|isbn=978-1-84954-460-3|pages=126–}}</ref> Her purpose was to promote her new company and the newspaper was in effect a gift to her lover Phil Robinson.<ref name=cornodnb/> In 1888 her friend Fergus Hume wrote a novel, "Madame Midas" about a "Mrs Villiers" which was obviously based on Cornwell.<ref name="aus"/>
Cornwell sold the ''Sunday Times'' in 1893 to Frederick Beer, who already owned ''Observer''. Beer appointed his wife, Rachel Sassoon Beer, as editor.<ref>{{cite book|title= The Pearl of Days|author=Hobson, Harold|author2=Knightley, Phillip|author3=Russell, Leonard|name-list-style=amp|year=1972|publisher=Hamish Hamilton|isbn=0-241-02266-5 |page=52}}</ref>
Cornwell's estranged first husband died in 1893<ref>[http://earlyphotographers.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/bardwell-william-h.html Bush Advocate cited by earlyphotographers], Volume IX, Issue 729, 19 January 1893, Page 2 </ref> and she took Robinson's name in 1894.<ref name=cornodnb/> Robinson was judicially separated from his wife Sarah, rather than divorced, and never legally married Cornwell. He assumed the name Frederick Stennard Robinson and Alice assumed the name Mrs Ann Stennard Robinson. They had an illegitimate daughter, Myrtle Dorothy Robinson.
Cornwell died in 1932 in Hove.<ref name=cornodnb/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornwell, Alice Ann}} Category:1852 births Category:1932 deaths Category:People from West Ham Category:English industrialists Category:New Zealand business executives Category:People from Victoria (state)