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| nora_m-p [2021/07/04 13:34] – judith | nora_m-p [2023/11/09 10:03] (current) – [Visit to Europe, 1885-89] judith |
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| ==== Visit to Europe, 1885-89 ==== | ==== Visit to Europe, 1885-89 ==== |
| On 1 December 1885, TLM-P, Nora, Lizzie Jardine, Maggie M-P with her little son Hervey, Meta, Dorothea, Alienora, Robert, Julius and his nursemaid, all departed for London on the steamship //Quetta//.((//The Queenslander//, 5 December 1885, p.909.)) She stayed in England and Europe until late 1889, with quite some time spent in Switzerland.\\ | On 1 December 1885, TLM-P, Nora, Lizzie Jardine, Maggie M-P with her little son Hervey, Meta, Dorothea, Alienora, Robert, Julius and his nursemaid, all departed for London on the steamship //Quetta//.((//The Queenslander//, 5 December 1885, p.909.)) {{:to_london_1885_screenshot_2023-11-09_095613.jpg?200|}} Nora and her children stayed overseas until late 1889, with quite some time spent in Switzerland.\\ |
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| The following three Swiss scenes were likely to have been bought as souvenirs when Nora lived in Switzerland. The first is of a famous waterfall seen on the way to Jungfrau.((Provenance: Glenn M-P and A. Federer))\\ | The following three Swiss scenes were likely to have been bought as souvenirs when Nora lived in Switzerland. The first is of a famous waterfall seen on the way to Jungfrau.((Provenance: Glenn M-P and A. Federer))\\ |
| Under the terms of her husband's will and codicil, Nora could remain in their Brisbane home Whytecliffe and also a recently furnished cottage in Sandgate, a coastal suburb of Brisbane. She was to have at least £500 p.a. to meet the cost of any of her under-age children living with her.((TLM-P, Last will and testament, 1892, copy belonging to J. Godden)) In 1904 her trustees wrote to her that her income from TLM-P's estate had declined by 20 per cent, so that she received £123.12.0 [presumably a month, but possibly a quarter?] (in 2017 values around $18,719)((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, 12/94.)) \\ | Under the terms of her husband's will and codicil, Nora could remain in their Brisbane home Whytecliffe and also a recently furnished cottage in Sandgate, a coastal suburb of Brisbane. She was to have at least £500 p.a. to meet the cost of any of her under-age children living with her.((TLM-P, Last will and testament, 1892, copy belonging to J. Godden)) In 1904 her trustees wrote to her that her income from TLM-P's estate had declined by 20 per cent, so that she received £123.12.0 [presumably a month, but possibly a quarter?] (in 2017 values around $18,719)((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, 12/94.)) \\ |
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| Despite the provision in her husband's will that she could stay in their Queensland homes, Nora moved to Sydney. Perhaps she wanted to be closer to her mother and other family; perhaps Whytecliff with its 22 rooms was too big for her.((F.Lord in //The Queenslander//, 11 September 1930, p.7.)) Nora's two single daughters, Dorothy and Ruth, and younger sons Robert and Julius, went with her. They returned to the Gladesville area, close to where Nora's widowed mother Emily Mary Barton lived.((Judith Godden, The matriarch of //Rockend//: Emily Mary Barton, more than Banjo Paterson's grandmother, Sydney: Ryde District Historical Society, 2020.)) Nora and her daughters were close, and Nora was an explicitly loving mother. A letter to her 'dearest daughters', for example, ended with 'dear love to you both, I am ever darlings, Your loving Mother Nora C. Murray-Prior.'((M-P papers, NLA, MS 7801, Box 4?, folder 23.)) From at least November 1900 to 1904, Nora, her two single daughters Dorothy and Ruth, and her son Julius, lived at 'Karlite' (also spelt Karlyte), a house on what is now Victoria Road, Gladesville. It is possible that she was renting from Gerald Herring who at one stage owned 'Karlite'.((Paul Davies P/L, //The Gladesville Shops. Heritage Assessment and Conservation Guidelines//, Draft, 2004, Appendix A)) Four years later, her second youngest son Robert married Gerald's daughter. From Karlite, by June 1904 Nora and her daughters rented a beautiful two-story stone home,'Oatlands' at 10 Ferry Street, Hunters Hill.((M-P papers, NLA, MS 7801, Box 7, folders 42, 23 and 12/94; Hunters Hill Trust, //A Glimpse of Hunters Hill// at [[http://huntershilltrust.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Glimpse-of-HH-32-items-Woolwich-Rd-Wybalena-Rd-Ferry-St.pdf]].))\\ | Despite the provision in her husband's will that she could stay in their Queensland homes, Nora moved to Sydney. Perhaps she wanted to be closer to her mother and other family; perhaps Whytecliff with its 22 rooms was too big for her.((F.Lord in //The Queenslander//, 11 September 1930, p.7.)) Nora's two single daughters, Dorothy and Ruth, and younger sons Robert and Julius, went with her. They returned to the Gladesville area, close to where Nora's widowed mother Emily Mary Barton lived.((Judith Godden, The matriarch of //Rockend//: Emily Mary Barton, more than Banjo Paterson's grandmother, Sydney: Ryde District Historical Society, 2020.)) Nora and her daughters were close, and Nora was an explicitly loving mother. A letter to her 'dearest daughters', for example, ended with 'dear love to you both, I am ever darlings, Your loving Mother Nora C. Murray-Prior.'((M-P papers, NLA, MS 7801, Box 4?, folder 23.)) From at least November 1900 to 1904, Nora, her two single daughters Dorothy and Ruth, and her son Julius, lived at 'Karlite' (also spelt Karlyte), a house on what is now Victoria Road, Gladesville. It is possible that she was renting from Gerald Herring who at one stage owned 'Karlite'.((Paul Davies P/L, //The Gladesville Shops. Heritage Assessment and Conservation Guidelines//, Draft, 2004, Appendix A)) Four years later, her second youngest son Robert married Gerald's daughter. From 'Karlite', by June 1904 Nora and her daughters rented a beautiful, sprawling sandstone home,'Oatlands' at 10 Ferry Street, Hunters Hill.((M-P papers, NLA, MS 7801, Box 7, folders 42, 23 and 12/94; Hunters Hill Trust, //A Glimpse of Hunters Hill// at [[http://huntershilltrust.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Glimpse-of-HH-32-items-Woolwich-Rd-Wybalena-Rd-Ferry-St.pdf]].)){{:20230611_154421.jpg?300|}} {{:20230611_155436.jpg?300|Oatlands in June 2023}} 'Oatlands' in June 2023\\ |
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| Some time later, at Ruth's insistent urging, they travelled to Europe. Ruth acknowledged that they would have to live quietly and cheaply and 'chase the climate as we do here.'((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 4, folder 25.)) By January 1913, they were in Rome with Mabel M-P (see sidebar, Mabel was Nora's step-grand-daughter) and all learning Italian. Over a year later, in April 1914, Nora and her daughters were in [[wp>Heidelberg|Heidelberg]], Germany. That city was, Ruth wrote, 'a dream of loveliness', but it would only be three months before the Kaiser swept it, and most of the world, into war.((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 4, folder 25.))\\ | Some time later, at Ruth's insistent urging, they travelled to Europe. Ruth acknowledged that they would have to live quietly and cheaply and 'chase the climate as we do here.'((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 4, folder 25.)) By January 1913, they were in Rome with Mabel M-P (see sidebar, Mabel was Nora's step-grand-daughter) and all learning Italian. Over a year later, in April 1914, Nora and her daughters were in [[wp>Heidelberg|Heidelberg]], Germany. That city was, Ruth wrote, 'a dream of loveliness', but it would only be three months before the Kaiser swept it, and most of the world, into war.((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 4, folder 25.))\\ |
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| With the outbreak of World War I, they lived in England in various private hotels and rented places; Nora was to live in London (by 1919, in Highgate) for the rest of her life. It appears that by 1918, when the war ended, she was considered too ill to travel. In 1915, Dorothy described her mother in terms that suggested she was an invalid: we 'just had Mother tucked up' in bed when there were bomb explosions: when they put up the blind in Nora's bedroom they saw one of the dreaded [[wp>Zeppelin|Zeppelins]] glide past. 'Mother', Dorothy wrote, ' was as calm as a cucumber - just lay in bed watching the Zeppelin.'((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 4, folder 26.)) \\ | With the outbreak of World War I, they lived in England in various private hotels and rented places; Nora was to live in London (by 1919, in Highgate) for the rest of her life. In 1928, a letter from Rosa Praed gives their address as 3 Gresley Road, off Whitehall park, Highgate. N London.((Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.81)) It appears that by 1918, when the war ended, she was considered too ill to travel. In 1915, Dorothy described her mother in terms that suggested she was an invalid: we 'just had Mother tucked up' in bed when there were bomb explosions: when they put up the blind in Nora's bedroom they saw one of the dreaded [[wp>Zeppelin|Zeppelins]] glide past. 'Mother', Dorothy wrote, ' was as calm as a cucumber - just lay in bed watching the Zeppelin.'((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 4, folder 26.)) \\ |
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| During the war, probably for the first time in her life, Nora lived - at least for a time - without help from a servant. Nevertheless, she contributed to the war effort by billeting soldiers in her home, and helped to support them in other ways.((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 1, folder 2.)) Ruth wrote to Rosie Praed that the men didn't talk much about their experiences except for one man fresh from Flanders and visiting with his wife and children - he told Nora about the women and children maimed and killed, 'His eyes looked mad almost & he clutched at his own child as he spoke in such a wild way ...'.((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 4, folder 26.)) \\ | During the war, probably for the first time in her life, Nora lived - at least for a time - without help from a servant. Nevertheless, she contributed to the war effort by billeting soldiers in her home, and helped to support them in other ways.((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 1, folder 2.)) Ruth wrote to Rosie Praed that the men didn't talk much about their experiences except for one man fresh from Flanders and visiting with his wife and children - he told Nora about the women and children maimed and killed, 'His eyes looked mad almost & he clutched at his own child as he spoke in such a wild way ...'.((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 4, folder 26.)) \\ |