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--- meta_emmeline_dorothy_eileen_frederic_robert_julius_ruth_m-p [2021/06/24 18:11] – judith
+++ meta_emmeline_dorothy_eileen_frederic_robert_julius_ruth_m-p [2022/04/28 10:29] – judith
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 Much to Nora's dismay, she and TLM-P she had 8 children. Unlike Matilda, Nora gave birth in urban settings with help at hand. She also remained healthy, so her babies were not so vulnerable: only one (Emmeline) died in infancy. Her children's choices when they grew up were firmly against marriage. Only 2 of her 4 surviving daughters married; only 1 of her 3 sons did so. While there was a dip in marriage rates at the time, and heterosexuality cannot be assumed, it is hard to escape the conclusion that one factor was their first-hand experience of the economic and personal costs of their father's fecundity.\\
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-. Matilda (**Meta**) Aimee (25 September 1873((Qld Births registration no. B16517))- 18 August 1939). Meta was born at 'Montpellier', Kangaroo Point, Brisbane, and was baptised at the Kangaroo Point Church of England.((‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.)) It was a difficult pregnancy as Nora had been sick for much of it.((M-P family papers, NLA MS 7801, folder 23, letter from Emily Heron to Nora M-P.)) For at least four months during her early pregnancy, she was 'plagued' by 'a certain unpleasant lethargy of mind and body ... combined with a heavy inclination to headache ... [a] chronic sick headache'.((Nora to Rosa, 3 May 1873)). Nora wrote to her step-daughter shortly after Meta's birth that {{http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hobbs-william-3773|Dr William Hobbs}}, a prominent Brisbane doctor, had cured her headaches so that she felt 'young and skittish again'.((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, 3 May 1875, Praed papers QJO, box 4.)) Dr Hobbs went on to deliver six of Nora's children((John Thearle email to J. Godden, 16 October 1998.)) and she was dismayed when she thought he might not be in Brisbane to deliver her second youngest son Robert. In one of life's coincidences (and indicative of the small population of Queensland then), baby Meta grew up to marry, on 15 April 1896 at All Saints Church of England in Brisbane, Dr Hobbs' son Arthur, a solicitor who lived in Townsville.((The online Qld marriage registration B17986 gives her name as Matilda Annie; //Leader//, 25 April 1896, p.30.)) Not surprisingly, he became his widowed mother-in-law's solicitor.((M-P papers, NLA, MS 7801, Box 4, folder 23.)) Arthur's mother was Anna nee Barton,((Qld births registration B11948)) no relation to Nora but a sister of {{http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barton-sir-edmund-toby-71|(later Sir) Edmund Barton}}, who became Australia's first Prime Minister. It says much about Nora that, when Meta married, she and Meta's eldest step-brother shared the duties that would have been TLM-P's if he had been alive. Thomas de M. M-P escorted Meta up the aisle, but it was Nora who gave her daughter away.((//Leader// 25 April 1896, p.30.)) \\
+. Matilda (**Meta**) Aimee (25 September 1873((Qld Births registration no. B16517))- 18 August 1939). Meta was born at 'Montpellier', Kangaroo Point, Brisbane, and was baptised at the Kangaroo Point Church of England.((‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.)) It was a difficult pregnancy as Nora had been sick for much of it.((M-P family papers, NLA MS 7801, folder 23, letter from Emily Heron to Nora M-P.)) For at least four months during her early pregnancy, she was 'plagued' by 'a certain unpleasant lethargy of mind and body ... combined with a heavy inclination to headache ... [a] chronic sick headache'.((Nora to Rosa, 3 May 1873)). Nora wrote to her step-daughter shortly after Meta's birth that {{http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hobbs-william-3773|Dr William Hobbs}}, a prominent Brisbane doctor, had cured her headaches so that she felt 'young and skittish again'.((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, 3 May 1875, Praed papers QJO, box 4.)) Dr Hobbs went on to deliver six of Nora's children((John Thearle email to J. Godden, 16 October 1998.)) and she was dismayed when she thought he might not be in Brisbane to deliver her second youngest son Robert.\\
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+In one of life's coincidences (and indicative of the small population of Queensland then), baby Meta grew up to marry, on 15 April 1896 at All Saints Church of England in Brisbane, Dr Hobbs' son Arthur, a solicitor who lived in Townsville.((The online Qld marriage registration B17986 gives her name as Matilda Annie; //Leader//, 25 April 1896, p.30.)) Not surprisingly, he became his widowed mother-in-law's solicitor.((M-P papers, NLA, MS 7801, Box 4, folder 23.)) Arthur's mother was Anna nee Barton,((Qld births registration B11948)) no relation to Nora but a sister of {{http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barton-sir-edmund-toby-71|(later Sir) Edmund Barton}}, who became Australia's first Prime Minister. It says much about Nora that, when Meta married, she and Meta's eldest step-brother shared the duties that would have been TLM-P's if he had been alive. Thomas de M. M-P escorted Meta up the aisle, but it was Nora who gave her daughter away.((//Leader// 25 April 1896, p.30.)) Later in life, by 1913, Meta lived in the Brisbane suburb of Ascot.((Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.90.))\\
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 When Nora wrote to Rosa Praed, she often described her children. In 1883, when Meta was a young girl, Nora described her having 'little bent towards book learning preferring outdoor pursuits of any description, but she has observation & is shrewd, going straight to the root of any question & taking a common sense, & not a conventional, view of matters... She is quite on the ground, never soars to the stars but sees what is on the ground plainly & shrewdly.'; 'Meta is Papa all over from top to toe – in deposition I mean, so trustworthy & strong & self-confident I already lean on her a great deal.' However, she suffered in comparison to her more attractive younger sister Dorothy.((Nora to Rosa, 14 March 1883 and 1884, check exact date, JOQ))\\
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 Eleven months after Eileen's birth, Nora had a miscarriage. She referred to it as a 'catastrophe', but it is likely she was also relieved. As she wrote to Rosa in the same month, '//How much more pleasant it is to hear ... 'How is your book' than 'how is your baby?' Alas! my mission seems to be to produce only the more commonplace article and I had such good reasons to for thinking my tasks and troubles over in that line//'.((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, 9 February 1879 or 27 July 1879, to check, JOQ, OM81-71))\\
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+From January, Nora apparently lodged at Mr Jephson's boarding house 'Longreach' in Brisbane while waiting for Fred's birth.((Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.73.))\\
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 . **Frederic** (Fred) Maurice (9((Robert M-P has 8th)) March 1880((Qld Births registration no. B26002)) - 29 September 1956). He was born in Brisbane, and baptised at Kangaroo Point church.((‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.)) Despite her dismay at having more children, and concern that 'colonial boys are often great louts - and it is so difficult to know what to do with them',((Nora to Rosa, 27 July 1879, Praed papers, QJO)) Nora was a loving mother. She told Rosa that baby Fred 'is a fine bonny fellow, sturdy enough and sufficiently like [his] Papa to console me for his existence.'((Nora to Rosa, 23 March 1880, Praed papers, QLO.)) Frederic's first names were a tribute to [[wp>Frederick_Denison_Maurice|the Rev. Frederick Maurice]], Nora's uncle by marriage and a founder of the Christian Socialist movement. For more click on [[Rev. Maurice and family]].
-A photo of Fred as a young boy: {{:fred_upright.jpg?200|}} This copy is in the ML (PXE1320) and is unfortunately behind plastic so it is difficult to photograph. Another copy of this photo is in the Oxley Library, Brisbane, see the__ BROKEN-LINK:[[http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/SLQ:DT:slq_digitool139485|QJO]]LINK-BROKEN__.\\
+A photo of Fred as a young boy: {{:fred_upright.jpg?200|}} This copy is in the ML (PXE1320) and is unfortunately behind plastic so it is difficult to photograph. Another copy of this photo is in the Oxley Library, Brisbane, see __ BROKEN-LINK:[[http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/SLQ:DT:slq_digitool139485|QJO]]LINK-BROKEN__.\\
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-Fred and his younger brother Robert first went to Bowen House Preparatory School at Ipswich. This was closer to Maroon - a decision in stark contrast to what was believed the disaster of sending Matilda's young sons to school in Hobart. When Fred and his brothers were older they transferred to the more prestigious - and further away - Brisbane Grammar.((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, 12/96)) In 1894 at Brisbane Grammar, Fred was awarded //Heroes and Kings. Stories from the Greek// (1890), as a prize for maths. Like most book prizes from that and subsequent decades, it appears little read.\\
+Fred and his younger brother Robert first went to Bowen House Preparatory School at Ipswich; it took in boys from 7 years of age.((Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.91n.)) This was closer to Maroon - a decision in stark contrast to what was believed the disaster of sending Matilda's young sons to school in Hobart. When Fred and his brothers were older they transferred to the more prestigious - and further away - Brisbane Grammar.((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, 12/96)) In 1894 at Brisbane Grammar, Fred was awarded //Heroes and Kings. Stories from the Greek// (1890), as a prize for maths. Like most book prizes from that and subsequent decades, it appears little read.\\
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-The last Australian reference found for Fred is in 1905, when the Supreme Court was asked to interpret his father's will.((//The Richmond River Express and Casino Kyogle Advertiser//, 3 November 1905, p.6.)) The next reference found is to his death in New Zealand in 1956, complicated by his surname being mispelt as Murray Pryor. His death certificate reveals his sad story. He died in Auckland Mental Hospital of bronchopneumonia, but was noted as having suffered for 'years' from two other diseases, both of them highly stigmatised at the time: tuberculosis and schizophrenia. As was so often the case for mental health patients, little was known about him by the time he died. The length of time he had lived in New Zealand, as well as whether he had ever married, were consequently both recorded as unknown.((New Zealand death certificate 1956/27163))  His death was deemed natural so no inquest was performed.((National Archives of New Zealand, Coroners Inquests Unnecessary - Case Files - Pryor, Frederick Maurice Murray (R23850983) 1956, R23850983, ACGS,	16231, J46, 1483/		CR1956/926))\\
+The last Australian reference found for Fred is in 1905, when the Supreme Court was asked to interpret his father's will.((//The Richmond River Express and Cas%%i%%no Kyogle Advertiser//, 3 November 1905, p.6.)) The next reference found is to his death in New Zealand in 1956, complicated by his surname being mispelt as Murray Pryor. His death certificate reveals his sad story. He died in Auckland Mental Hospital of bronchopneumonia, but was noted as having suffered for 'years' from two other diseases, both of them highly stigmatised at the time: tuberculosis and schizophrenia. As was so often the case for mental health patients, little was known about him by the time he died. The length of time he had lived in New Zealand, as well as whether he had ever married, were consequently both recorded as unknown.((New Zealand death certificate 1956/27163))  His death was deemed natural so no inquest was performed.((National Archives of New Zealand, Coroners Inquests Unnecessary - Case Files - Pryor, Frederick Maurice Murray (R23850983) 1956, R23850983, ACGS,	16231, J46, 1483/		CR1956/926))\\
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 After adding 5 children to the already large family in 5½ years, Nora understandably did not want any more. When her niece Minnie Lightoller asked her for patterns to make baby clothes, Nora wrote to Rosa Praed making that very clear: 'I sincerely hope that the mission of my layettes in future may be to serve as patterns for other people's babies' and not her own. She added, 'What a blessing that good fairy would receive from me who would give me a charm to work that end'.((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, 1 April 1880, M-P papers, JOQ, OM81-71.)) Effective birth control remained elusive, and 7 months after her letter, she again conceived.\\
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 Faced with having a sixth child, and her seventh pregnancy, and with no kindred spirit to share her concerns, she poured out her heart to her friend and step-daughter Rosa. When she was a couple of months pregnant, she commented on how another pregnant woman looked 'wretchedly ill and miserable'. Referring to pregnancy as a 'matrimonial trouble', she again dreamed of a freer future: 'Oh these babies - these babies - I am sure that a day will come (that I shall never see) when a plan of "artificial maternity" shall be matured and the present clumsy way of populating the world be done away with'. Queensland's February heat increased her discomfort, leading her to write to Rosa that 'A wife in Australia has a hard time of it ... I am not [sure] that in hot climates polygamy would not be advisable.'((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, February 1881, M-P papers, JOQ, OM81-71.))\\
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-In April, she again referred to her pregnancy in negative terms, enhanced by (well-grounded) fear that the doctor who would deliver the baby could be drunk: 'My dismay at the approaching trouble - which was //very great// - was enhanced by the news that they were sending Dr Hobbs away to England ... Of course it was a great nonsense in a place swarming with Drs but I did not feel the spirit to enter into the subject with a new doctor & did feel //really miserable// about it. I had made up my mind to consult Hancock - I should have preferred Bell, but he takes his glass and has grown sottish. I do not think Hancock a whit more steady but he carrys it off better & has not begun to grow shaky. Fortunately, I took the precaution to write to Hobbs first & got a dolorous note from him to say ... there was little or no prospect of his leaving Brisbane before I should want him which really lifts a load from my mind.'((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, Praed papers, 3 April 1881, QJO. Helen Woolcock, M.J. Thearle, Kay Saunders, "'My Beloved Chloroform’. Attitudes to Childbearing in Colonial Queensland: A Case Study', //Social History of Medicine//, 10:3, December 1997, p. 448, Hugh Bell became an eminent ophthalmologist and Hancock was a surgeon. The authors note that 'Brisbane's early doctors had a reputation for freely prescribing and imbibing alcohol'.)) In very late pregnancy, her  discomfort led her to be more negative. Two weeks before her next baby was born she was writing to Rosa: 'Oh! these dreadful, dreadful babies'.((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, Praed papers, 15 August [1881], QJO)) \\
+In April, she again referred to her pregnancy in negative terms, enhanced by fear that Dr Hobbs would be overseas during the delivery (she was relieved to find out he would be available) and a well-grounded fear that any replacement doctor who would deliver the baby could be drunk.((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, Praed papers, 3 April 1881, QJO. Helen Woolcock, M.J. Thearle, Kay Saunders, "'My Beloved Chloroform’. Attitudes to Childbearing in Colonial Queensland: A Case Study', //Social History of Medicine//, 10:3, December 1997, p.448. The authors note that 'Brisbane's early doctors had a reputation for freely prescribing and imbibing alcohol'.)) In very late pregnancy, her  discomfort led her to be more negative. Two weeks before her next baby was born she was writing to Rosa: 'Oh! these dreadful, dreadful babies'.((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, Praed papers, 15 August [1881], QJO)) \\
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-. **Robert** Sterling (29 August 1881((Qld Births registration no. B28103))-31 May 1962).((//Sydney Morning Herald//, 2 & 4 June 1962)) When young, his family called him Robin; in later life friends called him Bob. He was named Sterling after his mother's cousins: for more, click on [[Sterling]]. Robert's birth registration gives his birthplace as Stanley Street, South Brisbane, but TLM-P's diary states it was in a private establishment, run by a Mrs Scott, in Ipswich.((check TLM-P diary 2/9/89. Elsewhere TLM-P states that Robert was born in Brisbane,‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.))\\
+. **Robert** Sterling (29 August 1881((Qld Births registration no. B28103))-31 May 1962).((//Sydney Morning Herald//, 2 & 4 June 1962)) When young, his family called him Robin; in later life friends called him Bob. He was named Sterling after his mother's cousins: for more, click on [[Sterling]]. Robert's birth registration gives his birthplace as Stanley Street, South Brisbane; this was an establishment, run by a Mrs Scott.((check TLM-P diary 2/9/89; TLM-P, ‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry; Nora M=_P to TLM-P, n.d [incorrectly catalogued as 1876 but internal evidence indicates in is August 1881], NLA MS7801, Box 4.))\\
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-The move to hospital rather than home births could mean a significant rise in maternal mortality due to cross-infections, but that depended on the numbers of women cared for at once - an establishment like Mrs Scott's may well have only taken in a few women at a time. A key motivator of Nora and her contemporaries to move away from home births was access to effective pain relief.((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, Praed papers, 3 April 1881, QJO)) For Robert's birth, Nora wrote to her step-daughter, 'As the doctor was away ... I did not have access to my beloved chloroform'.((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, Praed papers, September 1888, QJO. For a discussion of her attitude towards pain relief in childbirth, see Helen Woolcock, M.J. Thearle, Kay Saunders, "'My Beloved Chloroform’. Attitudes to Childbearing in Colonial Queensland: A Case Study', //Social History of Medicine//, 10:3, December 1997, pp. 437–457.)) Nora was lucky as it was a face presentation and it needed a skilled midwife to deliver the baby safely.((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, Praed papers, 12 September 1881, QJO.))\\
+The move to hospital rather than home births could mean a significant rise in maternal mortality due to cross-infections, but that depended on the numbers of women cared for at once - an establishment like Mrs Scott's may well have only taken in a few women at a time. A key motivator of Nora and her contemporaries to move away from home births was access to effective pain relief.((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, Praed papers, 3 April 1881, QJO)) For Robert's birth, Nora wrote to her step-daughter, 'As the doctor was away ... I did not have access to my beloved chloroform'.((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, Praed papers, September 1888, QJO. For a discussion of her attitude towards pain relief in childbirth, see Helen Woolcock, M.J. Thearle, Kay Saunders, "'My Beloved Chloroform’. Attitudes to Childbearing in Colonial Queensland: A Case Study', //Social History of Medicine//, 10:3, December 1997, pp. 437–457.)) Nora was lucky as it was a face presentation and it needed a skilled midwife to deliver the baby safely.((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, Praed papers, 12 September 1881, QJO.)) It was consequently
+a painful delivery with TLM-P commenting in his diary, 'found Nora and the little one doing well. She had a hard time of it on Monday [for the birth]'((TLM-P, Diary, 2 September 1889))\\
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 Despite Dr Hobbs' absence, TLM-P paid him five guineas. Mrs Scott's was also expensive - two guineas a week for a bed and sitting room, with a nurse paid one guinea a week to care for the baby during the dangerous month after birth. After that, Nora and baby returned to Maroon along with a nursemaid who was paid 10 shillings a week.((Kay Ferres, ‘”I must dree my weird”: A colonial Correspondence’, Hecate, 31:2, 2005, pp.66.)) As Nora was only too well aware, children were expensive. Robert was  baptised at the Kangaroo Point Church of England in Brisbane.((‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.))\\
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 {{:rsmp_street_1955.jpg?250|}} One of the ubiquitous street photos of the time: Robert M-P dressed for work as a barrister, 1955.((Provence: J. Godden.)) For more photos of Robert and his family, click [[Robert M-P]]
-Robert was a barrister specialising in probate law. Family lore has it that he did not enjoy that area of practice largely because it so often involved bitter family disputes. It is also understood that he challenged the power of law clerks to distribute briefs - he lost that battle and thereafter the clerks avoided giving him briefs, much to the detriment of his practice.((E.S.M-P, pers. comm. to J. Godden))\\
+Robert was admitted to the NSW bar in November 1908; as a barrister, he specialised in probate law. Family lore has it that he did not enjoy that area of practice largely because it so often involved bitter family disputes. It is also understood that he challenged the power of law clerks to distribute briefs - he lost that battle and thereafter the clerks avoided giving him briefs, much to the detriment of his practice.((E.S.M-P, pers. comm. to J. Godden))\\
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 Robert M-P was a political conservative, a prominent Mason and active in his local community of Hunters Hill, becoming its mayor in 1935. During World War II he was employed as a censor.((G.M-P, pers comm, 15 Sept 2020)). Murray Prior Reserve, George Street, Hunters Hill is named after him. He was also active in community groups. In c.1901, he was the founding Honorary Treasurer of the Gladesville Volunteer Fire Brigade.((J. Boult,//Hunter's Hill 1794-1938, sesqui-centenary celebrations// Hunters Hill Council, 1938, pp.21,32.)) A small medal dated March 1902 has inscribed on the reverse that it was presented to him 'by the G.C.& D. Society for his zealous work as Secretary' - just what was that Society is unknown though G perhaps stands for Gladesville.((Provenance medal: J. Godden)) He was also a founder, President and keen actor for the Hunters Hill Playreading and Dramatic Club.((Gabrielle Shannon, email to J. Godden, 28 August 2014; pers. comm 14 May 2020.)) While in his twenties, he wrote the genealogical history of his family, 'The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors'. \\
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-Robert married on 22 April 1908, Estella (Stella) Augusta Herring 1883-1968.((//The Sydney Morning Herald//, 25 April 1908, p.10 and death notice, 18 September 1968.)) She was born at Gladesville on 4 March 1883((Birth Certificate in possession of J. Godden.)); her brother Sydney had married Robert's step-niece, a daughter of Florence and Thomas de M.M-P. Stella Herring was reputedly brought up by nannies in an austere fashion, normally seeing her parents only to say goodnight, and at a set and limited period on the weekends.((E.S.M-P, pers.comm to J. Godden.)) Her father was Gerald Herring, a Mayor of Ryde: Herring Road, North Ryde is named after him. On her marriage certificate, Stella gave his occupation as 'gentleman'; Robert described TLM-P as a grazier. After their marriage, Robert and Stella lived at 1 Yerton Avenue, Hunters Hill. With the death of Robert's sister Ruth M-P, they moved to her home at 17 Madeline Street, Hunters Hill. Click here for [[certificates]]. \\
+Robert married on 22 April 1908, Estella (Stella) Augusta Herring 1883-17 September 1968.((//The Sydney Morning Herald//, 25 April 1908, p.10 and death notice, 18 September 1968.)) She was born at Gladesville on 4 March 1883((Birth Certificate in possession of J. Godden.)); her brother Sydney had married Robert's step-niece, a daughter of Florence and Thomas de M.M-P. Stella Herring was reputedly brought up by nannies in an austere fashion, normally seeing her parents only to say goodnight, and at a set and limited period on the weekends.((E.S.M-P, pers.comm to J. Godden.)) Her father was Gerald Herring, a Mayor of Ryde: Herring Road, North Ryde is named after him. On her marriage certificate, Stella gave his occupation as 'gentleman'; Robert described TLM-P as a grazier. After their marriage, Robert and Stella lived at 1 Yerton Avenue, Hunters Hill (the  noted artist Nora Heysen lived at no. 2 Yerton Ave). With the death of Robert's sister Ruth M-P, they moved to her home at 17 Madeline Street, Hunters Hill. Click here for [[certificates]]. \\
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 Robert and Stella had five children - more information is available for family members.\\
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 In his will, Robert left a collection of his step-sister Rosa Praed's books to the [[https://rgsq.org.au/|Royal Geographic Society of Australia, Queensland branch]].((J.Godden to Natalie Prior, Town Clerk, Logan, 29 May 1988 re information provided by E.S. M-P.))\\
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-Nora was dismayed when she again became pregnant, around two years after Robert's birth. She apparently delayed telling Rosa until she could put it off no longer: \\
+Nora was dismayed when she again became pregnant, around two years after Robert's birth. She apparently delayed telling Rosa until she could put it off no longer: "//Open confession is good for the soul and nothing can be hidden forever, and you can perhaps imagine some little of the mortification, chagrin and disgust [with] which I have been forced to recognise myself as once again in the valley of the shadow of a baby. ... All pleasant plans were broken up and at an end. So many more years of necessary repetition in this quiet dull place, of which by the bye, I am heartily fond when I do not feel eternally tied to it ... [baby] being forced into world where he is not at all wanted.//"((3 December 1883, OM 81-71 JOL))\\
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-"//Open confession is good for the soul and nothing can be hidden forever, and you can perhaps imagine some little of the mortification, chagrin and disgust [with] which I have been forced to recognise myself as once again in the valley of the shadow of a baby. I cannot at all describe to you the unfathomable bottomless slough of despond in which I wallowed for some months after the truth broke upon me. All pleasant plans were broken up and at an end. So many more years of necessary repetition in this quiet dull place, of which by the bye, I am heartily fond when I do not feel eternally tied to it - but it is the tendency of such circumstances to turn all my physical senses to the disagreeable side of things and quite to darken the future outlook spiritually. Nothing tastes, smells, sounds, feels or looks  anything but disgusting and sickening to me physically and mentally I am overshadowed with an irritating sense of wrong from whom I am not prepared to say and a still more trying sense of guilt towards whom I know not - unless to the poor little morsel of humanity who is being forced into world where he is not at all wanted.//"((3 December 1883, OM 81-71 JOL))\\
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 . **Julius** (Jules) Orlebar (25 March 1884 - 6 October 1931((Queensland death certificate, 1931 C4220))). Nora's 'poor little morsel' was born at 'Ervingstone',((probably a private hospital, given other births there. See, e.g., //The Queenslander//, 3 November 1883, p.727.)) Stanley Street, South Brisbane((Qld Births registration no. B32130)) and baptised at the Kangaroo Point Church of England.((‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.)) Julius never married and had no known children. His second name of Orlebar was the family name of TLM-P's maternal grandmother; when TLM-P visited his daughter Rosa Praed in England, they visited the widowed 'Mrs Olebar' whom he thought was 'nearly 80 a very nice looking old lady' with two daughters.((TLM-P, Diary, 31 May 1882))\\
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-Julius was three months old when Nora wrote to Rosa describing her fears during pregnancy and what we would now call a mid-life crisis (Nora was then 37 years old), but also reassuring her that she loved her children://\\
+Julius was three months old when Nora wrote to Rosa about her 'morbid thoughts and feelings' during pregnancy and what we would now call a mid-life crisis (Nora was then 37 years old):' You have brought a life into an uncertain world of wrecks and disease and dynamite explosions. Your heart’s love is irrevocably invested in that life."((15 June 1884, JOL)) As far as childhood diseases went, necessity meant that she had gained considerable confidence, writing to Rosa that 'Fortunately I am now quite as good as a Doctor with baby complaints', which was fortunate given she also assured her that 'as little as I care for having babies, I should like losing those I have still less.'((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, 21 December 1884, Oxley Library.))\\
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-"I have arrived at the middle of a natural life-time, am turning the corner to go down hill and a last glance at the past youth is saddening. ... As to the bush life I believe it to be the best in itself - but know it to be decidedly the best for me, who have been brought up to it, and am fitted for it - and I am sure that one does not escape morbid thoughts and feelings by living more in the world. Yes! we Australians have the best of it, and should not grumble. As to babies - I am quite sure that they are meant to be blessings, were the world only in a natural state. The more artificial your life - the more difficult it is to bring up a family properly .... I know that my horror at the idea of bringing a human creature into the world is morbid and unnatural - but not the less can I overcome it. I do indeed lose all fear of gallows and handcuffs &c when the baby is once born. I cannot look into the innocent little face and connect it with such a future, but the sense of a dreadful responsibility remains [with a] feeling of having invested heavily [in] something from which it is beyond your power to sell out, turn out how it will. You have brought a life into an uncertain world of wrecks and disease and dynamite explosions. Your heart’s love is irrevocably invested in that life."//((15 June 1884, JOL)) \\
+Like his brothers Fred and Robert, Julius initially went to school at Bowen House in Brisbane, the preparatory school for Brisbane Grammar.((//The Telegraph// 9 December 1897, p.3.)) While still a schoolboy, he moved with his mother and other siblings to Sydney where they lived in a home called Karlite (or Karlyte) at Gladesville.((//The Maitland Daily Mercury//, 8 January 1909, p.6.)) In 1901, the 17-year-old won two prizes at a Flower Show to raise money for the Anglican church at Gladesville (his sisters, Eileen and Dorothy, entered the table decoration category, but were unsuccessful).((//The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate//, 1 May 1901, p.1.)) In 1909, 24 year-old Julius was described as a stockman in the Gulf of Carpentaria and 'a bit of a mug'. The latter was because, on the train down to Sydney, he was fleeced £4 at cards - understandably, he was 'greatly agitated' at the loss - in 2017 values it was around $548, a lot for a young stockman to lose before even arriving in the city.((//The Maitland Daily Mercury//, 8 January 1909, p.6; //National Advocate// 9 January 1909, p.4.)) He gave his address in Sydney as 'Abalar', Darling Point Road, Darling Point.((//Cairns Morning Post//, 1 Feb 1909, p.2.))\\
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-As far as childhood diseases went, necessity meant that she had gained considerable confidence, writing to Rosa that 'Fortunately I am now quite as good as a Doctor with baby complaints', which was fortunate given she also assured her that 'as little as I care for having babies, I should like losing those I have still less.'((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, 21 December 1884, Oxley Library.))\\
+Sometime after this widely reported incident, he went to Western Australia. There are two photos of him held by the National Archives of Australia when he was part of an exploring expedition in the Kimberleys in 1911. Click on [[https://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/images/pd090/090191PD.jpg|Julius second from left back row]] and [[http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/images/pd090/090190PD.jpg|Julius far left]]. The Kimberleys was a popular destination for Queensland graziers eager for new land, such as the famed Durack family.((Chris Owen, 'Every mother's son is guilty': policing the Kimberley frontier of Western Australia 1882-1905, Crawley: UWA Publishing, 2016, pp.15,97, 104-05.)) Julius's sister Ruth wrote that he had been a special constable in the north of Western Australia to deal with Aboriginal resistance which took the form of cattle spearing and murder.((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 4, folder 26.))\\
 \\
-Julius initially went to school at Bowen House in Brisbane, the preparatory school for Brisbane Grammar.((//The Telegraph// 9 December 1897, p.3.)) While still a schoolboy, he moved with his mother and other siblings to Sydney where they lived in a home called Karlite (or Karlyte) at Gladesville.((//The Maitland Daily Mercury//, 8 January 1909, p.6.)) In 1901, the 17-year-old won two prizes at a Flower Show to raise money for the Anglican church at Gladesville (his sisters, Eileen and Dorothy, entered the table decoration category, but were unsuccessful).((//The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate//, 1 May 1901, p.1.)) In 1909, 24 year-old Julius was described as a stockman in the Gulf of Carpentaria and 'a bit of a mug'. The latter was because, on the train down to Sydney, he was fleeced £4 at cards - understandably, he was 'greatly agitated' at the loss - in 2017 values it was around $548, a lot for a young stockman to lose before even arriving in the city.((//The Maitland Daily Mercury//, 8 January 1909, p.6; //National Advocate// 9 January 1909, p.4.)) He gave his address in Sydney as 'Abalar', Darling Point Road, Darling Point.((//Cairns Morning Post//, 1 Feb 1909, p.2.))\\
+Julius was still in West Australia when World War I began, changing the lives of all such young men. On 8 November 1914, he enlisted as a Private in the [[wp>10th_Light_Horse_Regiment_(Australia)|10th Australian Light Horse Regiment]]. On enlistment he gave his occupation as a grazier and his record shows he was a tall man (6'2½") who weighed 12 stone.((Attestation papers, https://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/records/301101)) According to his sister Ruth, the Light Horse was a logical choice as Julius was a good horseman. Julius sailed from Australia in February 1915. His regiment's first action was at Gallipoli; thereafter it remained in the Middle East. In 1915 he was promoted to corporal; his cousin Tony Barton commented that, 'I had a long yarn with Jules the other day and he seems to be much the same as he always was. He is a corporal but I should think his lack of self-confidence was a bit of a draw back to him.'(([[https://maxandtonybartonww1lettershome.wordpress.com/page/7/|letter Tony Barton 1 May 1916]])) Despite that lack of self-confidence, he was again promoted, in 1917 to Sergeant. Julius was wounded in action at Gallipoli in 1915, with shrapnel in his leg.((//Examiner//, 23 July 1915, p.7; ((Attestation papers, https://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/records/301101))  Ruth reported that he had been taken to the hospital on the Greek island of Lemnos; when he returned to his unit, out of 1,000 men he could find less than 50 still alive.((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 4, folder 26.)) This once fit and healthy man was again sick in December 1915, and hospitalised several times in the remaining years of the war. As soldiers just appeared on casualty lists with no details, and Julius had given his mother in London as his next-of-kin, his Australian relatives were left in the dark until details went first to London then back to Sydney. Both Miss E. Hobbs (a niece?) and his brother Robert accordingly wrote directly to the army (in the latter case, the Minister for Defence) asking for quicker information. A month before the armistice, Julius was again in hospital, this time with influenza, the beginning of the world-wide pandemic which would kill more people than the War. He remained in the army for 1919, was given medical clearance in May before returning to Queensland to be demobilised. It is probably significant that Julius and the others on the ship were taken straight to a hospital.((//The Daily Mail//, 10 November 1919, p.9.))\\
+A very faded and damaged photo of Julius Murray-Prior((bromley Web Site)): {{:julius_copy.jpg?200|}}
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-Sometime after this widely reported incident, he went to Western Australia. There are two photos of him held by the National Archives of Australia when he was part of an exploring expedition in the Kimberleys in 1911. Click on __ BROKEN-LINK:LINK-BROKEN__ and [[http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/images/pd090/090190PD.jpg|Julius far left]]. The Kimberleys was a popular destination for Queensland graziers eager for new land, such as the famed Durack family.((Chris Owen, 'Every mother's son is guilty': policing the Kimberley frontier of Western Australia 1882-1905, Crawley: UWA Publishing, 2016, pp.15,97, 104-05.)) Julius's sister Ruth wrote that he had been a special constable in the north of Western Australia to deal with Aboriginal resistance which took the form of cattle spearing and murder.((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 4, folder 26.))\\
+Little is known about Julius' life immediately after the war. By 1927 he was living at Stanthorpe, perhaps on one of the notoriously inadequate soldier settler blocks there (to check). Calling himself Jules Murray-Prior, he was also trying to find work as a stage and screen 'character' actor: [[https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-557796529/image?WID=1217|click here for his ad]](( see also Everyones, 6:389 (17 August 1927) p.65.))\\
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-Julius was still in West Australia when World War I began, changing the lives of all such young men. On 8 November 1914, he enlisted as a Private in the [[wp>10th_Light_Horse_Regiment_(Australia)|10th Australian Light Horse Regiment]]. On enlistment he gave his occupation as a grazier and his record shows he was a tall man (6'2½") who weighed 12 stone.((Attestation papers, https://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/records/301101)) According to his sister Ruth, the Light Horse was a logical choice as Julius was a good horseman. Julius sailed from Australia in February 1915. His regiment's first action was at Gallipoli; thereafter it remained in the Middle East. In 1915 he was promoted to corporal; his cousin Tony Barton commented that, 'I had a long yarn with Jules the other day and he seems to be much the same as he always was. He is a corporal but I should think his lack of self-confidence was a bit of a draw back to him.' (([[https://maxandtonybartonww1lettershome.wordpress.com/page/7/|letter Tony Barton 1 May 1916]])) Despite that lack of self-confidence, he was again promoted, in 1917 to Sergeant. Julius was wounded in action at Gallipoli in 1915, with shrapnel in his leg.((//Examiner//, 23 July 1915, p.7; ((Attestation papers, https://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/records/301101))  Ruth reported that he had been taken to the hospital on the Greek island of Lemnos; when he returned to his unit, out of 1,000 men he could find less than 50 still alive.((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 4, folder 26.)) This once fit and healthy man was again sick in December 1915, and hospitalised several times in the remaining years of the war. As soldiers just appeared on casualty lists with no details, and Julius had given his mother in London as his next-of-kin, his Australian relatives were left in the dark until details went first to London then back to Sydney. Both Miss E. Hobbs (a niece?) and his brother Robert accordingly wrote directly to the army (in the latter case, the Minister for Defence) asking for quicker information. A month before the armistice, Julius was again in hospital, this time with influenza, the beginning of the world-wide pandemic which would kill more people than the War. He remained in the army for 1919, was given medical clearance in May before returning to Queensland to be demobilised. It is probably significant that Julius and the others on the ship were taken straight to a hospital.((//The Daily Mail//, 10 November 1919, p.9.))\\
+Julius died, aged 47, in 1931, committing suicide by shooting himself in the head. Sadly, his end was not quick, as he died in Stanthorpe Hospital.((Queensland death certificate, 1931 C4220)) He was then described as an orchardist at Broadwater, Stanthorpe.((//The Brisbane Courier//, 23 October 1931, p.12 and ?24 October 1931.)) His Australian experiences and army service may provide one explanation for one informant's belief that he was an alcoholic and was often found drunk on his horse outside his home in the early hours of the morning.((Tom M-P, Pers. Comm., 2017, information from person selling the following sketch of Julius.)) {{:mp4.jpg?300|}} ((Provenance: T.A. & M.T. M-P.)) His domestic and overseas war experiences could also be an explanation for his sad end. So too was the fact that 1931 was near the depth of the Great Depression. As an orchardist, Julius was unlikely to have been able to make a living at this time. It may be a factor too in his not marrying, if he had ever been so inclined, as he probably could not afford to support a wife and any children.   \\
-A very faded and damaged photo of Julius Murray-Prior((bromley Web Site)): {{:julius_copy.jpg?200|}}
-\\
-Little is known about Julius' life immediately after the war. By 1927 he was living at Stanthorpe, perhaps on one of the notoriously inadequate soldier settler blocks there (to check). Calling himself Jules Murray-Prior, he was also trying to find work as a stage and screen 'character' actor: [[https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-557796529/image?WID=1217|click here for his ad]](( see also Everyones, 6:389 (17 August 1927) p.65.))
-Julius died, aged 47, in 1931, committing suicide by shooting himself in the head. Sadly, his end was not quick, as he died in Stanthorpe Hospital.((Queensland death certificate, 1931 C4220)) He was then described as an orchardist at Broadwater, Stanthorpe.((//The Brisbane Courier//, 23 October 1931, p.12.)) His Australian experiences and army service may provide one explanation for one informant's belief that he was an alcoholic and was often found drunk on his horse outside his home in the early hours of the morning.((Tom M-P, Pers. Comm., 2017, information from person selling the following sketch of Julius.)) {{:mp4.jpg?300|}} ((Provenance: T.A. & M.T. M-P.)) His domestic and overseas war experiences could also be an explanation for his sad end. So too was the fact that 1931 was near the depth of the Great Depression. As an orchardist, Julius was unlikely to have been able to make a living at this time. It may be a factor too, that he probably could not afford to marry.   \\
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-Julius left an estate of £2,492 - around $223,449 in 2017 values.((//The Courier-Mail//, 18 July 1934, p.11.)) In a will made 4 months before he died, Julius left land, presumably his orchard, worth £696 to Miss Mary Myrtle Macdonald, then living in Brisbane.((//The Courier-Mail//, 8 October 1934, p.2.)) Mary (1889-1958) never married.((Qld BDM, 1889/C/6525 & 1958/B/24758))\\
+Julius left an estate of £2,492 - around $223,449 in 2017 values.((//The Courier-Mail//, 18 July 1934, p.11.)) In a will made 4 months before he died, Julius left land, presumably his orchard, worth £696 to Miss Mary Myrtle Macdonald, then living in Brisbane. She was also his sole executor of the will.((//The Courier-Mail//, 8 October 1934, p.2.)) Mary (1889-1958) never married.((Qld BDM, 1889/C/6525 & 1958/B/24758))\\
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-Eight months after the birth of Julius, Nora conceived again and desperately, despairingly, sought to induce an abortion. With her earlier pregnancies, she had taken care not to miscarry, cancelling travel and postponing dental work.((Nora to Rosa, 9 February 1879, OM 81-71.)) This time was very different. In a much-quoted passage, she wrote to Rosa: '//What will you say to me? How will you manifest your disgust? When I tell you that I am again sick, sorry and expecting ... When it first began I resolved to try heroic remedies - so went to town made an appointment with the dentist & had sixteen teeth taken out - but what was the use? Ordinary rules that affect other women don't apply to me at all - I was much pulled down and very sick after it, but my prospects remain the same. What will become of all my little ones of whom the world stands in no need, how will they find niches & sure foothold for themselves amongst the many struggling ones who are each pushing for themself. There is certainly not room for them all to walk safely - some of them must go to the wall. No mother even bore children into the world with more foreboding than I do...//'((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, 3 November, 21 December 1884, M-P papers, JOQ, OM81-71. See Patricia Branca, Silent Sisterhood: Middle class women in the Victorian Home, London 1975, for the gradual decline in fatalism, replaced by women's more activist attitude.)) Fortunately for Nora, it was to be her last baby.
+Nora apparently suffered 'perineal tears and subsequent haemorrhage' during Julius' birth (( Katie Spearitt, 'The Sexual Economics of Colonial marriage' in Gail Reekie (ed) On the Edge. Women's experiences of Queensland', Univerisity of Queensland Press, 1994, p.71)) but nevertheless, eight months later she conceived again and desperately, despairingly, sought to induce an abortion. With her earlier pregnancies, she had taken care not to miscarry, cancelling travel and postponing dental work.((Nora to Rosa, 9 February 1879, OM 81-71.)) This time was very different. In a much-quoted passage, she wrote to Rosa: '//What will you say to me? How will you manifest your disgust? When I tell you that I am again sick, sorry and expecting ... When it first began I resolved to try heroic remedies - so ... had sixteen teeth taken out - but ... I was much pulled down and very sick after it, but my prospects remain the same. What will become of all my little ones of whom the world stands in no need, how will they find niches & sure foothold for themselves amongst the many struggling ones who are each pushing for themself. There is certainly not room for them all to walk safely - some of them must go to the wall. No mother even bore children into the world with more foreboding than I do...//'((Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, 3 November, 21 December 1884, M-P papers, JOQ, OM81-71. )) Fortunately for Nora, it was to be her last baby.
 . **Ruth** Angela (27 July 1885-15 August 1961).((Qld Births registration no. B34762; //Sydney Morning Herald//, 16 August 1961.)) She was born and baptised at Kangaroo Point, Brisbane.((Dorothy, Alienora and Ruth was all baptised at the Kangaroo Point Church of England by the Rev. D. A. Court, ‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.)) As the youngest child, she was seven when her 73-year-old father died. When her mother chose a verse to describe her, probably in the 1890s, it was one from the poet Lowell, 'I know not how others see her/ but to me she is wholly fair.'((M-P family papers, NLA, Box 7, folder 42.)) From shortly before World War I, Ruth lived in England (mostly London) with her mother and her elder sister Dorothy. After Nora died, Ruth and Dorothy returned to Australia in 1931. The sisters spent the rest of their life at 'Drak', 17 Madeline Street, Hunters Hill.\\
@@ Line 116: / Line 115: @@
 {{:ruth_m-p.jpg?250|}} This 1929 sketch of Ruth, like the one of her sister Dorothy, is by her cousin Isabel Huntley.((Provenance: Phyllis Cullen-Ward to J. Godden.))\\
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-In her old age, Ruth was remembered with love by children. A relative Gabrielle (Gay) Shannon recalled her as 'so sweet to children and always had time for me to show me the ducks and her cockatoo'.((Gabrielle Shannon, email to J. Godden, 28 August 2014.)) My memory of meeting her as a 9 year old was also someone who was very kind.((J. Godden.)) \\
+In her old age, Ruth was remembered with love by children. A relative Gabrielle (Gay) Shannon recalled her as 'so sweet to children and always had time for me to show me the ducks and her cockatoo'.((Gabrielle Shannon, email to J. Godden, 28 August 2014.)) My memory of meeting her as a 9 year old was also someone who was very kind.((J. Godden.)) Her death notice included the statement 'loving aunt of her nephews and nieces'((SMH August 1961))\\
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-After Ruth died, 'Drak', the house she and her sister Dorothy had lived in at Hunters' Hill was bought by their Robert. Robert and his wife Stella lived there until they died. After Robert died, his son David joined his mother living at Drak. For a number of years, Helen Murray-Prior also lived there until her grandmother died.\\
+After Ruth died, 'Drak', the house she and her sister Dorothy had lived in at Hunters' Hill was bought by their brother Robert. Robert and his wife Stella lived there until they died. After Robert died, his son David joined his mother living at Drak. For a number of years, Helen Murray-Prior also lived there until her grandmother died.\\
 **Key Genealogical Sources**: Bernard Burke, //A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry//, Melbourne: E.A. Petherick, 1891-95, p.50; Owen Lloyd, Jeremy Long and Barbara Dawson, //Descendants of Robert Johnston Barton & Emily Mary Darvall//, 1993; Robert M-P, //The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors//, pp.18-19; Thomas Bertram M-P, //Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty//, ms, n.d., pp. 15-18. \\