william_rosa_praed_morres_lizzie_jardine_hervey_redmond_weeta_hugh_lodge_matilda_egerton_m-p

Matilda and TLM-P's children

Matilda and TLM-P had 12 children. Four (William, Weeta, Lodge and Matilda) died when babies. Of the 6 sons who survived, only the eldest (Thomas) led a relatively untroubled life. Hervey and Hugh were probably both alcoholics and died in their 30s; Morres died lonely and depressed when he was 44. Redmond and Egerton also struggled. As suggested below, their schooling might provide an explanation, but so too was their aspiration to make a living on isolated rural properties.1) Of the two surviving daughters, Rosa became a hugely successful novelist with female misery a major theme and she later found refuge in spiritualism; Lizzie married for love, but no-one could be too surprised when the property her husband bought with her father was a financial failure. It was a failure which adversely affected many in the family, especially her step-siblings.

The below photos, unless otherwise stated, are from Nora C. M-P's photo album. Other photos and some duplicates are, when stated, from TLM-P's album.2)

1. Thomas de Montmorenci (27 January 1848-11 December 1902).3) For more on this Thomas M-P, go to Thomas de Montmorenci, Florence and Mary M-P

2. William Augustus* (18 August 1849-17 January 1850)4) His birth and death both took place before compulsory registration, and neither event appears to have registered. However, Colin Roderick 5) describes how baby William had dysentery. Disastrously, the conventional medical routine at the time for someone with this form of diarrhoea including purging, that is, giving medicine designed to discharge whatever was causing the problem. That remedy increased any diarrhoea/vomiting and heightened dehydration. It is not surprising that so many babies with dysentery died, either from the original cause or because of the medical intervention by their desperate carers. In dying this way, 5-month-old William was one of many - but to his grieving family, it was a uniquely tragic event.
William's solitary grave in Bromelton's garden.6)

3. Rosa Caroline (27 March 18517)- 2 April 1935). She was born at Bromelton station and, like her elder brother, baptised by the Rev. Benjamin Glennie.8) Her family called her 'Rosie'. Like her sister Lizzie, she had a deeply loving relationship with her ailing mother. While the boys went to school, the girls were educated at home. When she was 12 years old, Rosie wrote to her grandmother mentioning a governess, Miss Medley, who came to them on a daily basis.9) An account book giving a list of cheques for 1866-68 indicate the expense Rosa's music education.10)
Rosa Praed Campbell Praed c. 1867, photo at State Library of Queensland:

Rosa made what seemed the ideal marriage for an Anglophile colonial writer when she married Arthur Campbell Bulkley Mackworth (he was known as Campbell) Praed on 29 October 1872. As she later wrote, her family and friends 'all wanted to be English', and Praed seemed a particularly dashing member of the English gentry, with a lifestyle bankrolled by his father's interests in a bank and brewery in London. Perhaps the clinching detail to the aspiring writer was that his uncle was a well-known poet Winthrop_Mackworth_Praed. Other current and future members of the family were also artistic, as indicated by a well-executed portrait of Rosa in the SLNSW attributed to an Emily Praed.11) To the young Rosa, her suitor embodied cultured English gentry. Sadly, neither of the couple lived up to the other's ideal. Divorce then was very difficult, expensive, condemned by churches and entailed social disgrace, so the unhappy couple did not divorce. They separated in 1899. Today it is probable that Rosa would identify as a lesbian; as it was, she wrote to her friend and co-author Justin McCarthy that (by implication, heterosexual) sex was 'a side of life that has always repelled me.'12) It did not help that Campbell Praed had a reputation for unfaithfulness. The heroine who was reared in the Victorian ideal of female innocent/ignorance, and then married someone unsuitable, became a common theme in Rosa's books. That theme resonated with many women's experiences as well as Rosa's.

The marriage did not start well. Their first home was the romantically named 'Monte Christo', a 500 square mile property on Port Curtis Island near Gladstone. The property was a joint venture by Campbell Praed and a former veterinary surgeon, Dr Samuel Joseph Wills.13) Four years later, they left the island with Praed's hopes of making a colonial fortune ended.14)

The Praeds left Australia in 1876 to live in England, but again - at least initially - reality was no match for Rosa's colonial fantasies. Praed's family circle tended to more insular gentry/business people rather than cultured sophisticates. Despite personal tragedy, Rosa forged her own way in England, becoming a prolific novelist and moving in literary circles. She wrote over 50 novels, many of them with controversial social themes. The height of her fame was the 1880s and 1890s. Almost half her novels had Australian settings or characters, though she returned to Australia only a few more times.15) For her 1894 trip, she took her daughter Maud with her not just to Australia, but also visiting on the way Singapore, Hong King, Japan and Canada.16) Rosa relied not just on her memory but her family, initially mostly her step-mother and father, to refresh her mind regarding Australian details. After her father's death and her step-mother's move to England, Rosa gained much of her Australian details from her sister Lizzie Jardine and other siblings.17) In particular, she directly incorporated the experiences of her brothers Morres and Hugh into her stories.18)

In keeping with her father's ideals, Rosa supported Irish home rule, largely through collaboration with fellow writer and Irish nationalist Justin McCarthy.19)

For an overview of Rosa's life see her entry in either The Australian Dictionary of Biography or Wikipedia Rosa Praed or the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. For a definitive biography, see Patricia Clarke, Rosa! Rosa! A Life of Rosa Praed, novelist and spiritualist, Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1999. There are many articles about Rosa Praed and her writing: a search in the database AustLit yields 393 hits.20) Most anthologies of 19th and early 20th century Australian writers include her, especially those on female authors. She was extensively reported in the newspapers of her day; when she died leading Australian newspapers acknowledged her as, for example, 'The first Australian-born novelist of any importance.'21) and 'the first Australian-born novelist worthy of consideration in Australian literature'.22)

For more on Rosa and Campbell Praed, click on Rosa Praed. For their children, see the next generation on the sidebar.

4. Morres(1523) May 1853 - 18 October 1897)24) Morres was born and baptised at Bromelton Station;25) he never married and had no known children. An account book with a list of cheques for 1866-68 indicate the expense of his education.26)

Morres initially worked on Maroon, being paid £30 pa by July 1870 when he was 17 years old.27). Later he became a surveyor. He was at a Survey Camp Eton Vale in February 1876, and on 30 March 1878 he 'exhibited evidence of competence as surveyor and licensed to survey under land Act 1876 and real Property Act 1861', qualifying as a licensed surveyor. In March 1881, he was in western Queensland, at Jundah to lay out a township when locals were hoping for an extension of the telegraph from Isisford.28) Gambling addiction and consequent debts apparently meant that he did not continue with a career as a surveyor.

In April 1880, TLM-P registered a mortgage on Morres' property at Cleveland, Brisbane.29) In the late 1880s/early 1890s, like his brother Hugh, Morres was living on Aberfoyle Station, jointly owned by his father and his brother-in-law, John Jardine.30) His step-mother considered that one 'cannot help loving him - his heart & impulses are so good', but that 'Morres, poor handsome, weak fellow, is a constantly recurring disappointment & heartbreak…. [he causes his father] bitter trouble'.31) Nora's letters to Rosa make numerous references to Morres' debts incurred through gambling: in 1880, he was contacted to do fencing for two years to help pay off a £957 debt (around $154,098 in 2019 values).32)

Morres died, lonely and depressed, when he was 45 years old. As historian Janet McCalman outlines, it was not an unusual fate for people in an emigrant society.33) When he died, Morres had been living for at least two years at Bulliwallah Station in the Clermont District, some 920 km northwest of Brisbane. He wrote a sadly revealing letter to his step-sister Dorothy a month before he died. For more click on Letter.

His death certificate states that Morres died after suffering for 9 days from 'inflammation of the kidneys'.34) This is not incompatible with Isobel Hannah's claim that he died 'from the scourge of the “Out-back,” berri berri'.35) Beriberi is a severe and chronic form of thiamine (B1) deficiency caused by, among other things, dehydration. One of the problems of all migrants was adjusting to new conditions. An entry in TLM-P's diary when Morres was 10 years old gives an indication how difficult it was to adjust to a semi-tropical climate: 'Morres had a sort of sun stroke and was very bad at first but recovering … poor little fellow'.36) If Morres had a weakness in his kidney function, then the heat and lack of water in summer in outback Queensland was a lethal combination.

There are numerous photos of Morres in Nora and TLM-P's albums: the one below is from TLM-P's. It bears out Nora's description of him as handsome. See entry on Thomas de M M-P for a photo of him with his eldest brother.

For more photos of Morres and his grave, click on Morres

5. Elisabeth (Lizzie) Catharine (29 October 185437) - 10 December 1940). She was baptised in Brisbane on Ash Wednesday 1855.38)
This photo is of Lizzie in fancy dress.39)

From c. February 1879 to early 1881, Lizzie was away visiting her sister Rosa in England. TLM-P arranged the trip to discourage her relationship with John (Jack) Robert Jardine.40) His misgivings about the character and lack of financial acumen of Lizzie's chosen mate was shared by her step-mother Nora. Lizzie's frail health added to their misgivings.41) Nora wrote to Rosa that “Jack has had full warning that he is marrying an invalid to be nursed, & not a general servant to look after his comfort, & says that he quite understands.”42)

Lizzie married Jack Jardine at Maroon Station on 14 June 1883.43) Nora had been close to Lizzie, seeing her as 'very necessary for my full happiness, the one I have most rapport with' in the family. Nora also wrote warmly of Jack being dependable though she worried that his mind was very different from Lizzie's. 44) But the marriage caused a permanent rift; words that could be accepted in a father, were not forgiven in a step-mother. Three years into her marriage, Lizzie wrote to Rosa: 'When I married Jack I knew that for years to come I should have plenty to contend against. But there is much to sweeten toil. Someday I look forward to a more civilised home. Meantime we are content and live for each other … [I think Nora] only pretends to like Jack for my sake and [I] cannot forget the hard things she said about him … He is only an Australian bushman, but he is true, loyal and the tenderest of husbands and we love each other. When I say that I say everything.'45)

Jack Jardine was part of a North Queensland family whose English gentry antecedents impressed TLM-P.46) Jack's father (His first name was also John) was famed for pioneering feats and for founding the settlement of Somerset at Cape York 47) - but also for his brutality towards the Indigenous owners of the land.48) David Marr49) tells a curious tale of the former Commission for Lands, George Dalrymple, who in 1863 'beat the Police Magistrate John Jardine in … Rockhampton with the ivory handle of his hunting whip while shouting: “I have the satisfaction of telling you that you are the most damnable scoundrel in Queensland.”' Jardine disarmed Dalrymple and ordered him arrested. Marr claims that Colonial Secretary Robert 'Herbert was able to arrange that Jardine was sent 1000 miles north to be Commissioner of Crown Lands at Port Albany on the tip of Cape York' in order to ensure that he could not testify against the 'volatile … Scottish adventurer' Dalrymple in court. Unfortunately Marr does not give more details about the reason behind Dalrymple's animosity.

Like so many other settlers in Queensland, Jack's eldest brother Frank Jardine was openly murderous towards Indigenous people, reputed to have 'a Terry rifle with 47 notches on the stock for confirmed killings of Aboriginal people'.50) Frank Jardine was also well-known due to his transgressive marriage in 1873 to Sana Solia nee De Boos, a niece of the king of Samoa.51)

Jack Jardine had taken charge of Vallack Point Station, near Somerset (Cape York), in 1868 when he was only 21 years old. At some time he appears to have been in the Barcoo area in Central West Queensland, as Nora wrote to Rosa reassuring her that, if Lizzie did live there, it was no longer 'the unattainable uninhabitable 'terra incognita' … You can't stretch a line 80 miles in a given direction there now without touching a piano or a sewing machine - Ladies and babies are as thick as bandicoots … and the former are very angry if you hint there may possibly be a more desirable place of residence.'52) Despite this reassuring description of the Barcoo, after their marriage, Lizzie stayed with the Jardines in Rockhampton while her husband set up a home for her at Aberfoyle Station in western Queensland (just over 1,000 km northwest of Brisbane), breeding sheep and cattle.53) TLM-P became a partner with Jack Jardine of Aberfoyle in 1885 to try to secure Lizzie's future.54) Lizzie's brothers Morres, Hugh and Egerton subsequently worked at the property at various times.55) Nora had hoped that Jack and Lizzie would settle at Rathdowny, both for her own pleasure in Lizzie's company and because of Lizzie's ill-health, but it was not to be.56) In 1888, TLM-P visited Lizzie and her mother-in-law at Herries St, Toowoomba.57)
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As with so many of TLM-P's ventures - not to mention Jack Jardine's - the property was not profitable. TLM-P's 1888 diary has numerous entries indicating that he and Jack were (unsuccessfully) trying to sell Aberfoyle. The the 1890s drought the last straw.58) A key reason was its unreliable water supply.59) TLM-P's 1892 will states that the property cost him £10,070 and that, by then, the partnership had a £8,000 mortgage.60) Aberfoyle was sold after TLM-P's death and, in 1905, the Queensland Supreme Court was told that the loss that entailed was the chief reason the estate could not afford to pay the bequests.61) By 1911, Lizzie lived at Fairview, Old Sandgate Road, Brisbane. When Jack Jardine died from pneumonia62) at Southport in 1911, he worked for Messrs Aplin, Brown and Co., a major mercantile company operating in north Queensland.63)

Perhaps due to Lizzie's poverty as a widow, in 1924 her sister-in-law Mary M-P left her an annuity of £50 (i.e. paying her £50 a year for the rest of her life).64) In October 1933, Lizzie was living at Langhram, Scarborough St., Southport. The JOL has a photo of her in her later years.

Lizzie Jardine, like her father and brother, died from stomach cancer - in addition she had bronchopneumonia. She had been ill for two years before she died at her daughter Rose Molle's home at Orchid Avenue, Surfers Paradise. She was cremated at Brisbane Crematorium.65)

For more, including photos of Aberfoyle, click on the Jardines.

6. Hervey Morres (9 September 185666)-1 January 1887.67) His godmother was his English step-aunt Jemima Prior.68) Photo: Hervey as young man, full of promise.69)

Hervey was born at Hawkwood Station, baptised by the Rev. Mr Dodd, and was buried in South Brisbane (later called Toowong) Cemetery.70) After school in Tasmania, Hervey gained a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney, where he lived at St Paul's College. He is said to have gained a classical first class honours.71) He was a barrister, admitted in 1879. As Darbyshire outlines, Hervey appeared as the barrister in court cases in and around Brisbane, For example, in 1881, he was a prosecutor in the City Police Court on a forgery case 72) and in the Southern District Court at Ipswich and later Dalby.73) By 1882, he was appointed to the Board of Examiners for Attorneys.74) He was also a member of the 'Colony of Queensland Society'.75) From the early 1880s until 1885, Hervey leased one of Brisbane's historic houses, Middenbury which now has the address of 600 Coronation Drive, Toowong.76) At the time of his death, he lived at Oxley, a south-western suburb of Brisbane.

Hervey married Margaret (Maggie) Macdonald in 1881 - with various spellings of Macdonald'. She was described as the daughter of the late Alexander Macdonald.77) While the extended clan of the McDonalds lived on the neighbouring Dugandan Station, TLM-P indicated that her father (had?) lived in Brisbane.78)TLM-P wrote that she was born in Edinburgh on 12 September 1857.79) It was a short-lived and troubled marriage. Even before Hervey's death, TLM-P and Nora assumed responsibility for Maggie and her son. In August 1882, when TLM-P was away, they came to stay at Maroon.80) Maggie and her son also accompanied TLM-P, Nora and other family members on their visit to England in 1885.81) Nevertheless, in his will he left everything he owned to his widow 'absolutely for her sole and separate use'.(Hervey M-P, Probate papers, Queensland archives)

The tragedy of Harvey's life was that he was an alcoholic. He died aged 30 when his son, Hervey McDonald M-P, was four. The following report of Hervey's death highlighted his potential: that 'at Sydney University … he … graduated B.A. with great credit, being nearly at the head of the list in his year. Shortly afterwards he was called to the Queensland Bar, and in March, 1883, was appointed Crown Prosecutor for the Southern district. In July, 1884, he was appointed Master of Titles, which office he held up to his death. He bore a good reputation as a barrister, and his knowledge and grasp of the laws relating to real property are said to have been very considerable.'82) Hervey was buried at the Brisbane Cemetery on 2 January 1887.83)

For more on Hervey and Margaret M-P and their son, click on Hervey

7. Redmond (26 October 185884) - 21 January 191185) 'Reddie' or 'Red', as his family called him, was born at Eskgrove house, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane and baptised there by the Rev. B.E. Shaw. THM-P gave his occupation at the time of Redmond's birth as 'gentleman'.86) Redmond was a family name; TLM-P visited the house at Brighton where an earlier Redmond M-P had lived.87) At least in 1873, Redmond attended the High School at Ipswich, then the following year, the Grammar School at Toowoomba.88)

In 1882, the 24 year old Redman was being 'obstinate', causing problems for his stepmother while his father was away.89). The following year he did 'a runner' from where he was supposed to be working at Rathdowney. Nevertheless, Nora wrote that 'Red has real force of character & will do well I think, I wish that his body were as strong as his mind, but I believe that he has been stronger lately.'90) In 1888, he disappointed TLM-P who wrote in his diary (27 October) that 'Fred saw Redmond said he looked well for him, he was on his way to' Tagula_Island which is now called 'Sudest Is. near New Guinea where the new [gold] rush is, he tried to persuade him not to go, but it was no use. I am very sorry for I thought my letter to him would have prevented his leaving the Normanby but it cannot be helped now only trust that he will come back safe.' William Aplin 'says the Island is healthy, I hope so'. Redmond eventually returned as, on 22 March 1894, he appeared in the in the Brisbane Police Court to be fined 5 shillings for disorderly conduct.91)

Redmond died aged 52 on Proserpine railway station, reportedly boarding a train so that he could see a doctor at Bowen. His death certificate indicates that he had seen a doctor the day he died, and that his cause of death was pneumonia. His sister Lizzie was the informant and described him as a 'farmer'.92) Probably Redmond still had hopes of finding gold, as lived in Proserpine, north Queensland for over 20 years, an area is known for its gold. Shortly before his death, he had acquired an interest in a farm at nearby Kelsey Creek.93) To date we have no more information about the adult Reddie, other than a comment by his stepmother in 1880 that Alice Bundock was attached to him (Alice's sister Mary became the second wife of Redmond's eldest brother Tom).94) The attachment did not come to anything and they both died unmarried. Redmond had no known partner nor children.
The photo, from TLM-P's album, is of Reddie (right) and his brother Hugh. For more photos, click on Reddie.

8. Weeta Sophia* 12 June 186095)- 8 July 1860.96) She was born at Cleveland, dying there from influenza 26 days later, before she was baptised. On her death certificate, her surname is given as Prior not M-P97). TLM-P later wrote that she was buried at 'Cleveland, The Priory, W[?] Brisbane'.98) Her name is engraved on the marble at the front of the family grave at Toowong cemetery.

9. Hugh (26 July 186199) - 28 December 1896).100) If later belief is correct, Hugh's half-sister was born less than a fortnight after Hugh, to TLM-P and Annie Smith.
The photo is of Hugh (right) with his older brother Redmond.101) Hugh was born at Cleveland and baptised at Brisbane by the Rev. John Bliss.102) He is believed to have attended Hobart High School in 1874-79.103)

In 1882, when TLM-P was away in England, his family became very worried about Hugh. He was apparently working for the law firm Little & Brown but was seen as lazy, over-weight and succumbing to the 'frightful yearning for drink'. His family, including TLM-P, wrote to him, hoping 'it will have some effect upon him.'104) and his eldest brother Tom offered him a home where he hoped work 'in the healthy rough bush would do him good'. One of Tom's letter implies that Hugh was guilty of the 'despicable' crimes of 'drunkenness and theft'; he attributed Hugh and Morres' poor character as due to being too young when they went to school as well as the 'want of principle among the Tasmanian boys'.105) After TLM-P returned, Hugh again ran away - initially, it was thought he had joined a travelling theatre group. His venture into independence was not a success and finally Hugh, via his brother Hervey, obtained money from his father to return home.106) Nora considered he had returned 'so manly & self reliant & so much improved in every way'. His brother Tom wanted Hugh to be a bushman, but Nora did not think his talents lay that way.107) She was probably correct.

By 1888, Hugh, like his brother Morres, was living on Aberfoyle Station, jointly owned by his father and his brother-in-law, John Jardine.108) In his diary of 20 October 1888, TLM-P noted that he had written to John Jardine and to Hugh, offering the latter 'that on my return [to Australia after going back to the UK] if he continued steady I would double his stock up to the value of £200 should stock be below that value any salary due to him to count, but stock must be his own bona fide, paid for and no debts.' If Hugh did achieve this goal, he did not benefit from it for long. Eight years later ad his trying to be a bushman, Hugh died 'from sunstroke on a lonely track between Annie Vale and Doongmabulla', in central Queensland.109) He never married but possibly had two children.

For more information and photos, click on Hugh.

10. Lodge (29 March 1863110) - 19 April 1863).111) He was born and baptised at Brisbane, dying when 21 days old. He was buried in the family plot at Toowong (then known as the South Brisbane) Cemetery.112) His cause of death was given as 'atrophy' - a vague diagnosis that went out of fashion in the next century, which could mean anything from prematurity to feeding problems leading to general decline.

Not surprisingly, after baby Lodge died Matilda wanted a holiday. A month later TLM-P decided to vacate their Brisbane house so it could be let out while Matilda and the children went to Tasmania for six months. Matilda, he wrote, wanted a change. According to Darbyshire, TLM-P allocated £600 for the trip, his entire year's salary as Postmaster-General.113) Matilda, two daughters and three sons left on 14 November 1863 and returned on 24 April 1864 - at least on the the forward trip, a servant went with them.114). The break may have helped Matilda recover but appears to have proved too much for TLM-P's fidelity: Clara van Zuethem gave birth to a son on 25 January 1864 whose father was believed to be TLM-P. As well, Matilda was pregnant again almost immediately she arrived back.

11. Matilda (26115) January 1865 - 11 May 1865.116) She was christened in Brisbane but died when three and a half months old. She joined her brother Lodge in the family plot at Toowong (then known as the South Brisbane) Cemetery.117) No cause of death was given on her death certificate; the section specifying the duration of the illness and when last seen by a doctor, is also blank. One possibility is that her's was a SIDS death so had no known illness and had not been recently seen by a doctor.

12. Egerton (5 October 1866118)- 1 September 1936). Egerton was born at Maroon119) and was only two when his mother died. 'Egerton' appears to be a family name through TLM-P's mother. Significantly for TLM-P, it had aristocratic connections as the family name of the Dukes of Bridgewater and Sutherland, as well as of various earls. In 1882, TLM-P stayed with John Skynner Egerton Bishop who lived at Brighton.120) For more, click on Bishop.

When he was 19, Egerton suffered a life-threatening accident. The Courier Mail reported that, on Christmas day 1885, Edgerton was thrown from his horse during a race with his cousin Charles Haly junior at Maroon : 'and seriously injured in the head', remaining unconscious for six days. 'On Saturday last he spoke for the first time, saying “Good-bye” to his brother, Mr. Hervey Murray-Prior, who was about to return to Brisbane. Information was received in town yesterday that the sufferer was still conscious, and that great hopes were now entertained of his recovery.'121) It is not known if he had permanent injuries from such a severe accident.

Egerton was six years old when Nora married his father, and she agreed to help educate him home at Maroon.122) He went to school (at least May 1878) at the High School, Hobart123) and at some stage school in Brisbane, boarding nearby, perhaps with his brother Hugh at his brother Hervey's place.124). In 1883, his stepmother Nora described Egerton as 'growing very handsome, is steady & affectionate, & tho he has not set the Brisbane river on fire, has made himself a great favourite with his masters. He was 17 last Oct. & I do not think when he comes home this time, that he will go back to school again.'125)

What to do with Egerton? There was only one answer for TLM-P: if he was academically inclined, to set him up in a profession such as law. If not, or if he had a bushman's soul, to set him up on a property. On 14 October 1888, TLM-P consulted his eldest son Tom:'had a long chat with Tom about Egerton … It is a question whether it would not be better for Eggy to wait till my return then to see how he gets on and whether able to do the business.' Perhaps this referred to working on Bulli station, as he did with his brother Tom some time around 1888. Tom concluded that his brother was not very well suited to managing a station.126) Nevertheless, Egerton tried again, at another isolated family station, Moorlands, Malvern Hills, Blackall in central western Queensland.127) For more on Moorlands, Miscellaneous Properties.
Egerton inherited his grandfather's love of writing poetry, a passion likely to have been nurtured by his stepmother whose mother was an avid poet. He published his 16pp booklet, Poems (Brisbane: Watson, Ferguson & Co. Printers) in 1893, perhaps using some of his legacy from his father. They aren't bad but didn't lead to him becoming a recognised poet.
Cover of Egerton's poems, ML PAM 89/1341, A821/P658.2/1A1. One theme of the first poem is of him reconciling his dreams with merciless reality:Cui Bono?[Who benefits?]: . The final lines offer little hope: 'Why strive to climb any higher? It is vain/ For we have tried and we have failed - let us rest.' For more, click on Egerton's poetry

Egerton found consolation in marriage. He and Sara Arbuthnot Crawford (b. St James' Park, London) married on 30 April 1894 at St Andrew's Church of England, Lutwyche in Brisbane.128) Their only child, Egerton Thomas Crawford Murray-Prior, was born the next year, on 28 November 1895, but died a month later.129) For more information click on Rosa Praed's, Lizzie Jardine's, Hervey & Egerton M-P's children without known direct descendants

After their marriage, Egerton and Sara lived on the the Darling Downs in Queensland. In 1895, they were at Killarney station at Augathella.130) By 1900, they gave their address as Hoganthulla, the largest town to Augathella village (73km away). Sara's sisters lived at Eton, the Church of England school at Nundah.131)

Sara died, aged 38, in a Toowoomba private hospital in 1903.132) Egerton was then a diary farmer at Kureelpa,_Queensland near Nambour on what is now called the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. Egerton's lack of financial success resulted in TLM-P adding a codicil to his will just before he died in December 1892. In this codicil, TLM-P allowed for Egerton's £3,000 legacy to be paid before his (TLM-P's) death. To protect the money from creditors, TLM-P stipulated that no income be paid to Egerton (or his younger brothers) while bankrupt, although it could be paid to their wife or child/children.133)

In 1904, Egerton was declared bankrupt134). He paid his creditors 16 shillings in the £(20 shillings).135) The year after his bankruptcy, in 1905, Egerton married again, to Annie Grace (known as Grace) Crawford, his late wife's sister.136) Marriage with a deceased wife's sister was still fiercely opposed by sections of the church.137) In 1908, Egerton and Grace were still living in Egerton's home in Nambour.138) In August 1911, Ruth M-P wrote to Rosa Praed that she had seen Egerton and Grace - he was looking prosperous and had just bought his neighbour's farm but, she added, Egerton's 'swans are often geese'.139) In 1912, still at Nambour, Egerton was one of a large number of people fined 5 shillings for 'Omission to furnish sugar cane producer's return; Omission to cut beer duty stamp' thereby contravening the Excise Act.140) Perhaps he overlooked the sugar cane return because he was no longer growing cane: his 1918 will and associated probate papers described him as a dairy farmer at Kureelpa until his retirement in 1926. On the other hand, newspapers reports in 1924 show him living in Melbourne, at least during summer.141)

In c1926, after Egerton sold his farm and retired from farming, he and Grace left Nambour.142) They lived for around a decade at a rented property, Moorlands (also the name of his home in the 1890s), Palm Avenue, Harbord, Sydney. Perhaps for probate purposes, Grace testified that he had intended to return to live in Queensland. That intention was never realised. After a short illness of 4 days, he died on 1 September 1936143) in the Crescent Private Hospital, Manly. His cause of death was listed as a heart condition (myocarditis) and acute bronchitis.144) His stepbrother Robert, a probate lawyer living in Sydney, provided the information for the death certificate. Robert's knowledge of his stepfamily was sketchy and there was no easy way to check. He gave Egerton's mother's surname as Harper rather than Harpur, and puffed up their father's 'rank or profession' (as requested on the death certificate) to 'President of Queensland Legislative Council'. The memory of the dead baby had gone, so Egerton was listed as having 'no issue'. More oddly, his first wife was listed as 'Ray Crawford'. A problem emerged when Robert inflated his stepbrother's occupation to 'grazier', whereas in his will, Egerton described himself more humbly and accurately as a dairy farmer. It is a telling testimony to the unreliability of family information provided on death certificates especially when there is no close family network within easy distance.

As was usual in a family spotted with lawyers, Egerton's 1918 will had been drawn up by a firm of solicitors connected to they family - in this case, to his stepsister - Hobbs Caine & McDonald (270 Queen St., Brisbane. Egerton left everything to his wife Grace 'absolutely'. It was not much - the value of the estate 'as returned for Succession Duty' was £2,162.14.3. Probate was paid on £1,740.4.8, almost all of it derived from 'interest in a deceased person's estate' of £1,727.9.9. In other words, they were largely living off TLM-P's legacy.

Egerton was cremated at Sydney's Northern Suburbs Crematorium. Grace M-P lived to receive her share (£1,300) of TLM-P's estate when it was wound up in 1945.145) When probate of Egerton's estate was granted in July 1937, Grace was living at the corner of Sydney Street and Bowen Terrace, New Farm, Brisbane. When she died in November 1950, she had returned to Sydney and another beach suburb, Bondi.146)

Photos of Egerton: 147).

This next photo, in a beautiful tooled leather case, was donated by Colin Roderick to the ML148). He identified one of the boys as possibly Egerton.
Later generations believed that, around five months after Egerton's birth, another child was born to TLM-P, this time with Mary Ingoldsby.

One source of information are the family bibles with names and dates of family members written it them, as shown by the next 3 photos of one family bible. 149)
The next pages are from the Family Bible, as shown in the first photo, given to TLM-P by his half-sister Jemima150):


Key Genealogical Sources: Bernard Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry, Melbourne: E.A. Petherick, 1891-95, pp.49-50; 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; [Thomas M-P], [Thomas A. M-P], Murray-Prior Family, booklet, October 2014; Thomas Bertram M-P, Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty, ms, n.d, pp.7-14, NLA; TLM-P, genealogical notes in John & John B. Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland: M to Z, London: Henry Colburn Publisher, 1846; Robert M-P, The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors, ms written 1901-05 NLA Nq929.2M984.

N.B. The above references give contradictory information regarding names and key dates, hence the references to births, deaths and marriage registrations. The certificates need to be bought to find out more than year and parents' names.


1)
Janet McCalman, 'To Die without Friends: Solitaries, Drifters and Failures in a New World Society', Body and Mind: Historical Essays in Honour of F. B. Smith, eds. Graeme Davison et al, Melbourne University Press, 2009, pp.173-194.
2)
Provenance of both albums: J. Godden.
3)
Qld Death registration C1918.
4)
‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by but apparently died before he could be baptised.((‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.
5)
p.11
6)
Thanks to Dr John Thearle who took this photo on 19 October 1997 and gave it to J. Godden.
7)
Qld Births registration no. BBP473; her birth was not registered until her sister was born in 1854
8) , 25) , 30) , 38) , 43) , 46) , 70) , 102) , 108) , 112) , 119) , 127)
‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.
9)
Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p. 80 citing letter of 11 April 1863
10) , 26)
MLMSS3117/Box 9
11)
SLNSW, ML1039
12)
Patricia Clarke, 'Rosa Praed's Irish Connections', The Australian Journal of Irish Studies, vol. 1, 2001, p.120 citing Rosa Praed to Justin McCarthy, typescript extracts, Praed papers 8/13/1.
13)
https://www.secretbrisbane.com.au/home/2017/7/13/suburban-dentist-a-salt-works-and-one-of-queenslands-most-important-female-novelists)) Rosa's romantic dreams were dashed by the reality of scrubby land and hordes of mosquitoes.((Roderick, In Mortal Bondage, p.65.
14)
Roderick, In Mortal Bondage, pp.102-03, 115.
15)
Roderick, In Mortal Bondagepp.92-93,102-03, 115: Rosa and Campbell Praed returned for a visit in 1882; and Rosa again in 1894-95,Kay Ferres, ‘”I must dree my weird”: A colonial Correspondence’, Hecate, 31:2, 2005, p.74; New Zealand Herald, 7 February 1895, p.6.
16)
Jessica White, Hearing Maud, Crawley, WA: UWA Press, 2019
17)
M-P family papers, NLA MS 7801, 16/33
18)
Patricia Clarke, 'A Paradox of Exile: Rosa Praed's Lifelines to her Australian Past', in Landscapes of Exile: Once Perilous, Now Safe, eds. Anna Haebich and Baden Offord, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2008; amongst other news, Rosa used her brother's story of a toddler who wandered off and died at his sister Lizzie's home, Aberfoyle station: The Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil 31 October 1889, p.171.
19)
Patricia Clarke, 'Rosa Praed's Irish Connections', The Australian Journal of Irish Studies, vol. 1, 2001, pp.118-25.
21)
SMH, 20 November 1936
22)
The Courier-Mail, 27 April 1935.
23)
TLM-P has 16th, TLM-P, genealogical notes in John & John B. Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland: M to Z, London: Henry Colburn Publisher, 1846. He was born before compulsory birth registrations and it appears his birth was not registered.
24)
Qld Death registration C937; his death registration calls him 'Morris' despite the informant being his eldest brother.
27)
MLMM3117/Box 8
28)
Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, pp.82-83.
29)
Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia, p.122.
31)
Nora to Rosa, 14 March 1883 and 3 December 1883
32)
Nora to Rosa, 29 August 1880
33)
Janet McCalman, 'To Die without Friends: Solitaries, Drifters and Failures in a New World Society', Body and Mind: Historical Essays in Honour of F. B. Smith, eds. G. Davison et al, Melbourne University Press, 2009, pp.173-194. <https://search-informit-com-au.ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=212683401745250;res=IELHSS> ISBN: 9780522857177. [cited 10 Aug 18].
34)
Qld Death registration C937.
35) , 109)
Isobel Hannah, 'The Royal Descent of the First Postmaster-General of Queensland', Queensland Geographical Journal, vol. LV, 1953-54, p.12.
36)
19 January 1863, p.19
37)
Qld Births registration no. BBP1252
39) , 69) , 147)
Provenance: J. Godden
40)
TLM-P, Diary, e.g. 29 May 1882; Kay Ferres, ‘”I must dree my weird”: A colonial Correspondence’, Hecate, 31:2, 2005, pp.69-70
41)
there are many references to Lizzie's health, e.g. that 'Lizzie not strong and had gone to Brisbane', TLM-P, Diary, 16 August 1882
42)
Nora to Rosa, 7 February 1883
44)
Nora to Rosa, 22 November 1882
45)
Lizzie Jardine to Rosa Praed, 1886, Praed Papers, QJO.
48) , 54)
Kay Ferres, ‘”I must dree my weird”: A colonial Correspondence’, Hecate, 31:2, 2005, p.70.
49)
Killing for Country
50)
John Bayton, 'The Mission to the Aborigines at Somerset', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society of Queensland, 7(3), 1965, p.622-33 cited in Belinda McKay, 'Proleptic Modernism?' Queensland Review, p.127
52)
Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, 13 May 1883, Praed papers, QJO
53)
For more on this property see 4pp of loose 1888 balance sheets for Aberfoyle station, now in ML. It was with a report of Queensland post service for 1864, donated to the ML with TLM-P's diaries.
55)
Burke; ‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.
56)
Nora to Rosa, ?22 march 1882
57)
Diary, 19 August, 1 October
58)
Anne Alloway and Roberta Morrison,Tales from Bush Graves. A study of bush graves in north-west Queensland, Brisbane: Boolarong Press, 2012, p.2.
59)
Otago Witness, issue 2668, 3 May 1905, p.8.
60)
copy of will with J. Godden.
61)
The Richmond River Express and Casino Kyogle Advertiser, 3 November 1905, p.6.
62)
M-P family papers, NLA Ms 7801, folder 25, Ruth? M-P to Rosa Praed?, 1 October 1911.
63)
Wiki entry for Aplin, Brown and Co; Jill Fleming, email to J. Godden, 18 January 2018
64)
Mary Bundock, will, in F.F. Bundock papers, MLA5396
65)
Queensland death certificate, 1940/50317
66)
Qld Births registration no. C543
67)
‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry. Queensland online death registration C1359 gives his first name as 'Henry', an easy mistake to make.
68)
TLM-P, diary, 17 July 1864
71)
http://www.stpauls.edu.au/home/contribute/benefactors/founders-of-scholarships-and-prizes; M-P family papers, NLA MS 7801, 15/30; Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.87.
72)
The Queenslander, 30 April 1881.
73) , 74)
The Brisbane Courier, 23 November 1881
75)
Bernard Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry, Melbourne: E.A. Petherick, 1891-95, p.50.
76)
ABC Studios, Heritage Register, entry for Middenbury
77)
The Brisbane Courier, 24 August 1881, p.2.
78)
cf. Woolcock, Helen, M. John Thearle, Kay Saunders, '“My beloved chloroform'. Attitudes to Childbearing in Colonial Queensland: a case study', Social History of Medicine, 1997, p.441.
79) , 83)
‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda to the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.
80) , 89) , 104)
TLM-P, Diary, 16 August 1882
81)
The Queenslander, 5 December 1885, p.909.
82)
The Queenslander 8 January 1887 p.55.
84)
Qld Births registration no. B781/1858; TLM-P, genealogical notes in John & John B. Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland: M to Z, London: Henry Colburn Publisher, 1846; T.A M-P's Family Bible states he was born 25 October 1858 at Cleveland but this would appear to be incorrect.
85) , 92)
Qld Death C198/1911.
86)
Qld Births registration no. B781/1858;‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.
87)
TLM-P, Diary, 25 June 1882
88)
Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.88.
90) , 107) , 125)
Nora to Rosa, 3 December 1883
91)
The Brisbane Courier, 22 March 1894, cited by Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.88.
93)
Bowen Independent, 24 January 1911, p.2.
94)
Nora to Rosie, 29 December [1880?], Praed papers, QJO OM64-1, 4/2/1-4
95)
Qld Births registration no. B208
96)
Qld Death registration B488; TLM-P mistakenly gave the year as 1861,‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.
97)
Queensland death certificate B488
98)
Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda to the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.
99)
Qld Births registration no. B695; TLM-P gives 26 July 1861, TLM-P, genealogical notes in John & John B. Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland: M to Z, London: Henry Colburn Publisher, 1846; Robert M-P has 25 July as does T.A. M-P's Family Bible.
100)
Burke has 1895; Robert M-P states he died c.27 December 1897; His death was registered in 1896, Qld Death registration C6; T.A.M-P's Family Bible has his death in 1896 at Annie Vale station.
101)
Like the one above, the photo is from TLM-P's album. Provenance: J. Godden
103)
Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.89.
105)
T de M. M-P letters to Nora, 13 & 27 August & 3 September 1882, NLA, Box4?, MS 7801.
106)
Nora to Rosa, feb? date? 1883
110)
Qld Births registration no. B1669
111)
Qld Death registration B1158; ‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.
113)
TLM-P, diary, 29 October 1863, MLMSS 3117/Box 1; Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.16. Mistake?
114)
Passenger list for Briton's Queen arriving from Hobart to Sydney, 18 April 1864, accessed on Ancestry.com; Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.64
115)
Qld Births registration no. B3500;TLM-P has 27th, TLM-P, genealogical notes in John & John B. Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland: M to Z, London: Henry Colburn Publisher, 1846.
116)
Qld Death registration B2324; ‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.
117)
‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp.
118)
Qld Births registration no. B6322; TLM-P, genealogical notes in John & John B. Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland: M to Z, London: Henry Colburn Publisher, 1846.
120)
TLM-P, Diary 27 June 1882
121)
8 January 1885, my emphasis
122)
Woolcock, Helen, M. John Thearle, Kay Saunders, '“My beloved chloroform'. Attitudes to Childbearing in Colonial Queensland: a case study', Social History of Medicine, 1997, p.441; Nora to Rosa, Praed papers, 25 July 1880, JOL.
123) , 135) , 145)
Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.90.
124)
Nora to Rosa, Praed papers, 14 March 1883
126)
Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.90; TLM-P, Diary 1888, 14 October.
128)
This church has since been replaced, see history
129)
Qld Birth registration 1895/B/57492; Qld death registration 1895/B/28362
130)
The Queenslander, 11 May 1895, p.909.
131)
The Queenslander, 7 April 1900, p.670.
132)
The Brisbane Courier, 21 January 1903, p.4; Qld death registration C1358
133)
codicil, copy with J. Godden.
134)
M-P family papers, NLA MS 7801, special set 15/83
136)
Qld marriage registration C2010; Annie was born in 1879, daughter of Fergus and Agnes Crawford, Birth registration number B24396
137)
Charlotte Frew, Marriage to a Deceased Wife's Sister in England and Australia 1835-1907, PhD, Macquarie University, 2012.
138)
The Queenslander, 19 September 1908, p.12.
139)
M-P family papers, NLA MS 7801, folder 25.
140)
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, 6 July 1912 [Issue No.45], p.1239.
141)
e.g.The Week, 24 October 1924, p.26.
142)
Probate papers for Egerton M-P.
143)
The Courier-Mail, 10 October 1936, p.4; Queensland Archives, Probate record for Egerton M-P
144)
Death certificate in Probate papers, Qld Archives
146)
The Sydney Morning Herald, 28 November 1950, p.22.
148)
MIN 333
149)
Provenance, M.T & Tom A. M-P.
150)
Provenance: E.S.M-P to Glenn M-P, Photos by Suzanne M-P
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