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Sent to distant India, the adventurous side of his nature compelled him to join a Royal Naval detail. With this he charted the Torres Strait Islands (one was named for a period in his honour) and east coast of Australia, before returning to India and settling down. He married and worked his way up from entry level Clerk to Judge and Master of the Mint. His natural acumen for business and politics enabled him to amass a considerable fortune and influence. If not for his scandal laden past and adulterous liaisons with Indian woman, some resulting in pregnancies, like many of his likewise successful peers he would probably have been elevated to the peerage or married into that echelon of society. With that much aspired avenue closed off to him, he thrust his social climbing ambitions on his children. Both sons joined the military and achieved officer status before marriage (mergers) with illustrious British families and as his only surviving daughter entered womanhood, it would have been naturally assumed that she too would do the family proud by marriage into a respectable family.  Between From 1845 to 1848 Mr Donnithorne attempted to arrange marriages between his daughter and the sons of former East India Company colleagues in India,. However Eliza showed the same stubbornness he was renowned for by rejecting an arranged marriage. She proudly stated she would only marry someone she loved, which was remarkable defiance in an era when woman had precious few rights and their submission to men, especially fathers, was mandated and even preached from church pulpits as Gods own law. Her refusal to submit to the demands of her father led to friction, with them going for days without speaking. It was during this difficult period she sought refuge at St Stephen's Anglican Church in Newtown, where bible study classes and philanthropic diversions were arranged for daughters of the wealthy forbidden careers due to their high status and possessing time to be killed waiting for a suitable husband to come along.
It was here Eliza met a young Englishman by the name of George Cuthbertson, who is believed to have been a clerk in a shipping company. He began pursuing her and captured her affections, undoubtedly a breath of fresh air and liberty for a young woman trapped in a suffocating guilded cage. The class divide was presumably seen by both as an unbridgeable chasm so their relationship had to be carried out in secret, clandestine meetings and stolen moments in the wild pastures of Camperdown Cemetery where they were spotted by one of the sextons. As Eliza continued spending time away from home her father became concerned. On becoming aware of the relationship between the young couple he erupted. Infuriated, he forbade his daughter to ever see her unworthy suitor again. But his ultimatum fell on deaf ears. Whenever he departed on business Eliza would send one of the trusted servants with a message to Mr Cuthbertson announcing their opportunity for a rendezvous. George would then ride out on horseback to Camperdown Lodge, riding into Newtown like an American cowboy, where the couple would spend as much time as possible together.   |