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| thomas_bertram_murray-prior_and_his_siblings [2026/05/30 18:01] – judith | thomas_bertram_murray-prior_and_his_siblings [2026/05/30 21:22] (current) – judith |
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| {{:florette_m-p.jpg?150|}}Young Florette.((Provenance: J. Godden to Jill Fleming.)) Is this the photo that TLM-P refers to in his 1888 diary when he notes that on 10 July Florence had 'an appointment with Malthers for [9 year old] Florette's photograph'?)) \\ | {{:florette_m-p.jpg?150|}}Young Florette.((Provenance: J. Godden to Jill Fleming.)) Is this the photo that TLM-P refers to in his 1888 diary when he notes that on 10 July Florence had 'an appointment with Malthers for [9 year old] Florette's photograph'?)) \\ |
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| When describing the children in her notebook (and probably summarising Nora) Rosa wrote that: 'Florette is to be the genius of the family. She has a strong nature, & if she has proper training should be a splendid woman, but she wants more love shewn to her & love & sympathy & not hardness, for she already rebels against the strict rule....' ((Praed papers, Box 23, 20250416_115422.jpg)) Like her sisters, she was educated at //Ascham//, an elite school in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney,{{http://www.ascham.nsw.edu.au/a-strong-history/|Ascham}}.((Miss Wallis, Headmistress to Mrs M-P, n.d. provenance: Jill Fleming; //Ascham Remembered 1886-1986//, Sydney Fine Arts Press, 1986.))\\ | When describing the children in her notebook (and probably summarising Nora) Rosa wrote that: 'Florette is to be the genius of the family. She has a strong nature, & if she has proper training should be a splendid woman, but she wants more love shewn to her & love & sympathy & not hardness, for she already rebels against the strict rule'. In another note she refers to Florette when eight years old, 'reading a dry article in the //Nineteenth Century// aloud to the elders'.((Praed papers, Box 23, 20250416_115422.jpg and 20250416_115551.jpg)))) Like her sisters, she was educated at //Ascham//, an elite school in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney,{{http://www.ascham.nsw.edu.au/a-strong-history/|Ascham}}.((Miss Wallis, Headmistress to Mrs M-P, n.d. provenance: Jill Fleming; //Ascham Remembered 1886-1986//, Sydney Fine Arts Press, 1986.))\\ |
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| On 28 October 1896, the poet/novelist [[wp>James_Brunton_Stephens|James Brunton Stephens]] wrote to her encouraging her to persevere with her poetry, but advising she defer publication.((Provenance: Jill Fleming.)) Prominent feminist Rose Scott also wrote to Florette encouraging her artistic talents.((reference? just brief note found so far.)) In the end, Florence decided on music, with a New Zealand paper reporting in 1906 that she planned to go to Paris for further study.((//Star//, 16 October 1906, p.1.)) Her farewell concert was held in April 1906.(( //The Sydney Morning Herald//, 24 March 1906, p.12; //Sunday Times//, 29 April 1906, p.2)) In 1909 it was announced that she would be part of the Alys Bateman Concert Company to tour New Zealand the following year.((//New Zealand Herald//, supplement, 27 November 1909, p.4.)) When she returned to Australia in 1909, she was described as a contralto who had been overseas for 4 years, having studied for 2 of those years in Paris under the famous baritone [[wp>Jacques_Bouhy| Jacques Bouhy]](( //The Brisbane Courier//, 31 August 1909, p. 2)) Her talent as a singer was something she shared with her mother.((Nora to Rosa, 3 December 1883, JOQ)).\\ | On 28 October 1896, the poet/novelist [[wp>James_Brunton_Stephens|James Brunton Stephens]] wrote to her encouraging her to persevere with her poetry, but advising she defer publication.((Provenance: Jill Fleming.)) Prominent feminist Rose Scott also wrote to Florette encouraging her artistic talents.((reference? just brief note found so far.)) In the end, Florence decided on music, with a New Zealand paper reporting in 1906 that she planned to go to Paris for further study.((//Star//, 16 October 1906, p.1.)) Her farewell concert was held in April 1906.(( //The Sydney Morning Herald//, 24 March 1906, p.12; //Sunday Times//, 29 April 1906, p.2)) In 1909 it was announced that she would be part of the Alys Bateman Concert Company to tour New Zealand the following year.((//New Zealand Herald//, supplement, 27 November 1909, p.4.)) When she returned to Australia in 1909, she was described as a contralto who had been overseas for 4 years, having studied for 2 of those years in Paris under the famous baritone [[wp>Jacques_Bouhy| Jacques Bouhy]](( //The Brisbane Courier//, 31 August 1909, p. 2)) Her talent as a singer was something she shared with her mother.((Nora to Rosa, 3 December 1883, JOQ)).\\ |
| A young, somewhat idealised Mabel {{:mabel_m-p.jpg?200|}} {{:mabel_mp_horse.jpg?300|}}((Provenance both photos: Jill Fleming. Get better copy of former))\\ | A young, somewhat idealised Mabel {{:mabel_m-p.jpg?200|}} {{:mabel_mp_horse.jpg?300|}}((Provenance both photos: Jill Fleming. Get better copy of former))\\ |
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| An obituary published by the Women's College at the University of Sydney outlines her chequered academic career.((see also Women's College, Calendar, 1910 p.20 and 1919, p.?.)) She was the 41st student to enter the Women's College in 1899 while she studied for an Arts degree. She left after a year with second class honours in French. She returned to the University in 1903 to study medicine; it was a time when higher education was still controversial for women, and medicine particularly so. Medicine had a high failure rate and Mabel left, having only completed the third year of the course, in early 1907. She returned in 1911 in an attempt to finish, but left after a term. It is not known what she did then, though she was probably the 'Miss Murray-Prior' who unsuccessfully applied for the position of Superintendent at the Sydney Medical Mission in December 1911. She was not appointed because she was not medically qualified.((Sydney Medical Mission, minutes, 18 December 1911, Dixson Library (SLNSW), MS218.))\\ | An obituary published by the Women's College at the University of Sydney outlines her chequered academic career.((see also Women's College, Calendar, 1910 p.20 and 1919, p.?.)) She was the 41st student to enter the Women's College in 1899 while she studied for an Arts degree. She left after a year with second class honours in French. She returned to the University in 1903 to study medicine; it was a time when higher education was still controversial for women, and medicine particularly so. Medicine had a high failure rate and Mabel left, having only completed the third year of the course, in early 1907. Her aunt Rosa noted around this time that Mabel had 'failed in her last Exam & was a sad person. I think she is getting tired of College & hard work & not much pleasure & would like just one year in which to frivol really hard & nothing else. She says she wants to experience that side of life ... She feels she is missing something & can't see how much she has ... her education & brains'.((Praed papers, Rosa's notebook Box 23/6/? 20250416_115914.jpg)) Mabel returned in 1911 in an attempt to finish, but left after a term. It is not known what she did then, though she was probably the 'Miss Murray-Prior' who unsuccessfully applied for the position of Superintendent at the Sydney Medical Mission in December 1911. She was not appointed because she was not medically qualified.((Sydney Medical Mission, minutes, 18 December 1911, Dixson Library (SLNSW), MS218.))\\ |
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| In January 1914 Rosa Praed wrote how she was pleased Mabel had had 'an extremely good time ... [and] some English hunting' and was about to leave for home with Mary Bundock, Thomas de M. M-P's second wife.((Rosa Praed to Ethel Butler, 1 January 1914, in Rosa Praed Papers, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, MSOM64-01, Box 4, item 355.)) Mabel took her time returning as, when World War I began in July 1914, she was in Hong Kong. She then returned to England and qualified in 1915 as a V.A.D. ([[wiki>Voluntary_Aid_Detachment]]) - as did her cousins Ruth M-P and probably Dorothy M-P. In December 1914, Ruth wrote that Mabel was accompanying her sister Florette to Europe: most likely when Florette was trying to see her husband Sydney Herring who was on active duty.((M-P family papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 4, folder 26)) Mabel subsequently worked as a VAD in an unnamed English hospital. Dublin University was one of the few universities that admitted women, and she went there to complete her medical degree. After qualifying as a doctor, she was a medical resident for 6 months at the Royal Herbert Military Hospital in Woolwich, London then moved to Edinburgh Hospital, Scotland where she worked until mid-1919. In 1917, she was awarded a Doctor of Medicine at University of Edinburgh.((//Magazine of the Women's College//, 1917, p.20; University of Sydney, //Beyond 1914 - Book of Remembrance//, includes details of Mabel's war record completed by her sister Florette Herring. See [[http://beyond1914.sydney.edu.au/profile/3705/mabel-murray-prior#]])) \\ | Ironically for someone who Rosa said was 'very patriotic' towards Australia rather than Britain,((Praed papers, Rosa's notebook Box 23/6/1? 20250416_115914.jpg, unlike her more English-inclined sister Ethel)) Mabel spent most of the rest of her life in Britain. In January 1914 Rosa Praed wrote how she was pleased Mabel had had 'an extremely good time ... [and] some English hunting' and was about to leave for home with Mary Bundock, Thomas de M. M-P's second wife.((Rosa Praed to Ethel Butler, 1 January 1914, in Rosa Praed Papers, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, MSOM64-01, Box 4, item 355.)) Mabel took her time returning as, when World War I began in July 1914, she was in Hong Kong. She then returned to England and qualified in 1915 as a V.A.D. ([[wiki>Voluntary_Aid_Detachment]]) - as did her cousins Ruth M-P and probably Dorothy M-P. In December 1914, Ruth wrote that Mabel was accompanying her sister Florette to Europe: most likely when Florette was trying to see her husband Sydney Herring who was on active duty.((M-P family papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 4, folder 26)) Mabel subsequently worked as a VAD in an unnamed English hospital. Dublin University was one of the few universities that admitted women, and she went there to complete her medical degree. After qualifying as a doctor, she was a medical resident for 6 months at the Royal Herbert Military Hospital in Woolwich, London then moved to Edinburgh Hospital, Scotland where she worked until mid-1919. In 1917, she was awarded a Doctor of Medicine at University of Edinburgh.((//Magazine of the Women's College//, 1917, p.20; University of Sydney, //Beyond 1914 - Book of Remembrance//, includes details of Mabel's war record completed by her sister Florette Herring. See [[http://beyond1914.sydney.edu.au/profile/3705/mabel-murray-prior#]])) \\ |
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| There is a letter dated 19 January 1915(( or check if 1914?)) from Ruth M-P to Rosa, saying that Mabel was engaged: if so, it was unofficial as another family member thought she was 'only fooling', and had booked to go to Japan, 'sans the man'.((M-P family papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 4, folder 26)) Her family viewed Mabel as eccentric: her aunt Rosa Praed, for example, wrote to Ruth M-P after Mabel qualified as a physician: 'I suppose from Mabel's point of view it is a good thing, but I can't help feeling sorry for her patients. No doubt, however, the soldiers will adore her and she may put her best self into their ills.'((M-P family papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 1, folder 2. Also anecdotes by E.S. & B.I. M-P, pers.comm; Praed papers, Box 10, QJO.)) Others were more forthright. Max Barton wrote to his mother in 1916 referring to Doris Kennedy, an Irish cousin: 'I did hear that Doris’s housekeeper expressed the opinion that Mabel M.P. was mad.'(([[https://maxandtonybartonww1lettershome.wordpress.com/page/8/|Max letter to his mother, 16 April 1916]])) Nevertheless, the extended family remained close and when Mabel wrote to Nora M-P, her father's stepmother, it was to 'My dear Grandmother Nora'.((M-P papers, NLA, MS 7801, Box 1, folder 2.)) Another sign of the closeness between the step-relatives is that, after her death, C.B. Darvall, one of Nora's relatives, acted on behalf of Mabel's two executors (her elder siblings Thomas and Florette).((Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.93.)) \\ | There is a letter dated 19 January 1915(( or check if 1914?)) from Ruth M-P to Rosa, saying that Mabel was engaged: if so, it was unofficial as another family member thought she was 'only fooling', and had booked to go to Japan, 'sans the man'.((M-P family papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 4, folder 26)) Her family viewed Mabel as eccentric: her aunt Rosa Praed, for example, wrote to Ruth M-P after Mabel qualified as a physician: 'I suppose from Mabel's point of view it is a good thing, but I can't help feeling sorry for her patients. No doubt, however, the soldiers will adore her and she may put her best self into their ills.'((M-P family papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 1, folder 2. Also anecdotes by E.S. & B.I. M-P, pers.comm; Praed papers, Box 10, QJO.)) Others were more forthright. Max Barton wrote to his mother in 1916 referring to Doris Kennedy, an Irish cousin: 'I did hear that Doris’s housekeeper expressed the opinion that Mabel M.P. was mad.'(([[https://maxandtonybartonww1lettershome.wordpress.com/page/8/|Max letter to his mother, 16 April 1916]])) Nevertheless, the extended family remained close and when Mabel wrote to Nora M-P, her father's stepmother, it was to 'My dear Grandmother Nora'.((M-P papers, NLA, MS 7801, Box 1, folder 2.)) Another sign of the closeness between the step-relatives is that, after her death, C.B. Darvall, one of Nora's relatives, acted on behalf of Mabel's two executors (her elder siblings Thomas and Florette).((Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.93.)) \\ |