Josephine Alexandra Mitchell
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22 July 1903
Josephine Alexandra "Zandra" Mitchell | |
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| Born | Josephine Alexandra Mitchell 22 July 1903 Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | 23 November 1995 (aged 92) Donegal, Ireland |
| Known for | saxophonist |
Josephine Alexandra Mitchell (22 July 1903 – 23 November 1995) was Ireland's first female professional saxophonist.[1]
Mitchell was born in 1903 in Phibsborough, Dublin to Joseph Edwin Mitchell, conductor at the Theatre Royale and civil servant for the Ordnance Survey and Gertrude Elizabeth Woodnut.[2][3]
Musical career
From a musical family she learned the saxophone when young and performed her first gig when she was 11. She became a headline act when her brother, also a musician, took her on tour in London.She took on the stage name Zandra which was also used by friends. She was offered a place in an all-girls band touring Switzerland and Germany by an agent in the city. This took her through Germany and a witness to Hitler's rise to power. She played with legends like Coleman Hawkins and Jean ‘Django’ Reinhardt.
Later personal life
While she was in Berlin she had a daughter she named Constance Alexandra. She gave the child up for adoption to a Russian couple. She eventually married a Belgian man to enable her to get out of Germany.[4][5][6][7]
On her return to Ireland Mitchell lived in a house owned by the family in Rossnowlagh in Donegal, which she knew from childhood holidays. She spent the rest of her life living there, supposedly sleeping in the bathroom, almost a complete recluse. She never attempted to find her daughter but left her money in her will.[4][7]
She died on 23 November 1995. She is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.[4][7]