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| matilda_m-p [2026/05/11 18:02] – [Death] judith | matilda_m-p [2026/07/15 21:34] (current) – [Children] judith |
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| The other listed passengers were Dr Robert Little, M.D. and his unnamed wife; Mrs Hollinworth, Miss Hollinworth, Miss M. A. Hollinworth, Miss C. Hollinworth and Master Hollinworth; Mr Blondel; Mr and Mrs Owen and their unnamed child; Mr and Mrs Martyr; Mr and Mrs Lewellyn; Mr J. Smyth; Mr Coley; and Mr and Mrs Newman and their unnamed daughter.)) There were also 233 'bounty emigrants', people who emigrated with the assistance of money from the Colonial Government. \\ | The other listed passengers were Dr Robert Little, M.D. and his unnamed wife; Mrs Hollinworth, Miss Hollinworth, Miss M. A. Hollinworth, Miss C. Hollinworth and Master Hollinworth; Mr Blondel; Mr and Mrs Owen and their unnamed child; Mr and Mrs Martyr; Mr and Mrs Lewellyn; Mr J. Smyth; Mr Coley; and Mr and Mrs Newman and their unnamed daughter.)) There were also 233 'bounty emigrants', people who emigrated with the assistance of money from the Colonial Government. \\ |
| Matilda's stepfamily increased after they arrived in Australia: | Matilda's stepfamily increased after they arrived in Australia: |
| * Stepbrother Richard Donovan Speer Harpur was born c.1841; | * Half-brother Richard Donovan Speer Harpur was born c.1841; |
| * Stepsister Emily Anne was born in 1843.((//Sydney Morning Herald//, 15 June 1846, p.3; //The Brisbane Courier//, 17 September 1868, p.2; NSW BDM, 3295/1843 V18433295 27A.)) As was usual for the time, the birth notice inserted in the paper gives scant recognition to the mother: it simply states that 'On the 4th instant, the Lady of Thomas Harpur, Esq., of Cecil Hills, of a daughter'.((//Sydney Morning Herald//, 6 September 1843, p.3.)); and | * Half-sister Emily Anne was born in 1843.((//Sydney Morning Herald//, 15 June 1846, p.3; //The Brisbane Courier//, 17 September 1868, p.2; NSW BDM, 3295/1843 V18433295 27A.)) As was usual for the time, the birth notice inserted in the paper gives scant recognition to the mother: it simply states that 'On the 4th instant, the Lady of Thomas Harpur, Esq., of Cecil Hills, of a daughter'.((//Sydney Morning Herald//, 6 September 1843, p.3.)); and |
| * Possibly another stepsister, Mary Jane Harpur, who died in Sydney in 1899.((NSW Death notices,2269/1899))\\ | * Possibly another half-sister, Mary Jane Harpur, who died in Sydney in 1899.((NSW Death notices,2269/1899))\\ |
| Thomas Harpur was not a success in the new colony. He first tried farming on the Parramatta River, then moved his family to [[wp>Cecil_Hills,_New_South_Wales|Cecil Hills]], north-west of Liverpool.((Patricia Clarke, 'Rosa Praed's Irish Connections', //The Australian Journal of Irish Studies//, vol. 1, 2001, p.119.)) His granddaughter Rosa Praed was an imaginative novelist rather than reliable biographer but she drew on her mother's letters to conclude that Thomas Harpur was unsuited to the life of a colonial bushman. Rosa quoted Matilda writing to her fiancée bemoaning that their property was plagued by drought and bushfire while "Papa, while his bush is burning and his beasts are perishing, sits in the little parlour writing poetry... He is now writing a piece on Life which is very pretty, but Mama does not like his confining himself so much to the little parlour, for besides injuring his health, poetry also makes him neglect the station. But Papa, she mournfully adds, was never cut out to be a bushman; he is much fonder of writing poetry than of riding after cattle."((Rosa Campbell Praed, //My Australian Girlhood//, London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1902, pp.39-40.)) Thomas Harpur's poetry appeared in a Sydney Weekly called //Atlas// under his pseudonyms 'Harmonides' and 'Cecil Hills', and in 1847 his major epic poem, //A Land Redeemed//, was published.((Patricia Clarke, 'Rosa Praed's Irish Connections', //The Australian Journal of Irish Studies//, vol. 1, 2001, p.119.))\\ | Thomas Harpur was not a success in the new colony. He first tried farming on the Parramatta River, then moved his family to [[wp>Cecil_Hills,_New_South_Wales|Cecil Hills]], north-west of Liverpool.((Patricia Clarke, 'Rosa Praed's Irish Connections', //The Australian Journal of Irish Studies//, vol. 1, 2001, p.119.)) His granddaughter Rosa Praed was an imaginative novelist rather than reliable biographer but she drew on her mother's letters to conclude that Thomas Harpur was unsuited to the life of a colonial bushman. Rosa quoted Matilda writing to her fiancée bemoaning that their property was plagued by drought and bushfire while "Papa, while his bush is burning and his beasts are perishing, sits in the little parlour writing poetry... He is now writing a piece on Life which is very pretty, but Mama does not like his confining himself so much to the little parlour, for besides injuring his health, poetry also makes him neglect the station. But Papa, she mournfully adds, was never cut out to be a bushman; he is much fonder of writing poetry than of riding after cattle."((Rosa Campbell Praed, //My Australian Girlhood//, London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1902, pp.39-40.)) Thomas Harpur's poetry appeared in a Sydney Weekly called //Atlas// under his pseudonyms 'Harmonides' and 'Cecil Hills', and in 1847 his major epic poem, //A Land Redeemed//, was published.((Patricia Clarke, 'Rosa Praed's Irish Connections', //The Australian Journal of Irish Studies//, vol. 1, 2001, p.119.))\\ |
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| European women living in what is now Queensland had a higher number of children than their sisters in the south, a phenomenon that was strongly supported by TLM-P and other politicians, 'spurred by fears of being engulfed, both numerically and culturally by foreign invaders'.((Kay Saunders and Katie Spearritt, 'Is there life after birth? Childbirth, death and danger for settler women in colonial Queensland', //Journal of Australian Studies//, 29, June 1991, pp.64-79.)) Matilda was exemplary in this regard, having 12 children during her 22 years of marriage. It is likely that her fecundity contributed to her early death aged 41. Additionally, each time she gave birth there was a real possibility of dying in the process: in 1878, for example, a pregnant woman in Queensland had 'one chance in 21 of dying in childbirth'.((Kay Saunders and Katie Spearritt, 'Is there life after birth? Childbirth, death and danger for settler women in colonial Queensland', //Journal of Australian Studies//, 29, June 1991, pp.64-79.)) Note that Aboriginal women were generally excluded from the statistics, though medical historian John Theale has argued that traditional Aboriginal maternal mortality was low. \\ | European women living in what is now Queensland had a higher number of children than their sisters in the south, a phenomenon that was strongly supported by TLM-P and other politicians, 'spurred by fears of being engulfed, both numerically and culturally by foreign invaders'.((Kay Saunders and Katie Spearritt, 'Is there life after birth? Childbirth, death and danger for settler women in colonial Queensland', //Journal of Australian Studies//, 29, June 1991, pp.64-79.)) Matilda was exemplary in this regard, having 12 children during her 22 years of marriage. It is likely that her fecundity contributed to her early death aged 41. Additionally, each time she gave birth there was a real possibility of dying in the process: in 1878, for example, a pregnant woman in Queensland had 'one chance in 21 of dying in childbirth'.((Kay Saunders and Katie Spearritt, 'Is there life after birth? Childbirth, death and danger for settler women in colonial Queensland', //Journal of Australian Studies//, 29, June 1991, pp.64-79.)) Note that Aboriginal women were generally excluded from the statistics, though medical historian John Theale has argued that traditional Aboriginal maternal mortality was low. \\ |
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| Matilda had her children when her husband was struggling to establish himself. They were not wealthy at this stage and, at least for her first six births, she endured the rough isolation that characterised the life of women settlers in rural Queensland at the time. These conditions contributed to Queensland's death rate being higher than that of other Australian colonies.((D. Waterson and M. French, //From the Frontier. A Pictorial History of Queensland to 1920//, St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1987, p.7.)) Repeated childbearing - in this age when abstinence was the only effective contraception - undermined her health. Matilda duly had 12 children during 1848-66, meaning she was pregnant for exactly half those 18 years, during which time she also raised eight and buried four of her children. It did not make it any easier that having four of her children die before her was statistically normal. Even in Victoria in the 1880s and 1890s, where health outcomes where better, by the time a married woman was 50 years old, typically 'about one-quarter of her children would have died'.((Peter McDonald and Patricia Quiggin, 'Lifecourse transitions in Victoria in the 1880s', //Families in Colonial Australia// ed. P. Grimshaw, C. McConville and Ellen McEwen, Sydney: George Allen & Unwin, 1985, p.77.)) It is also possible that she was pregnant at other times as we don't know if she had any miscarriages or stillbirths (stillbirths were not registered at the time).\\ | Matilda had her children when her husband was struggling to establish himself. They were not wealthy at this stage and, at least for her first six births, she endured the rough isolation that characterised the life of women settlers in rural Queensland at the time. These conditions contributed to Queensland's death rate being higher than that of other Australian colonies, including for inflants.((D. Waterson and M. French, //From the Frontier. A Pictorial History of Queensland to 1920//, St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1987, p.7.)) Repeated childbearing - in this age when abstinence was the only effective contraception - undermined her health. Matilda duly had 12 children during 1848-66, meaning she was pregnant for exactly half those 18 years, during which time she also raised eight and buried four of her children. It did not make it any easier that having four of her children die before her was statistically normal. Even in Victoria in the 1880s and 1890s, where health outcomes where better, by the time a married woman was 50 years old, typically 'about one-quarter of her children would have died'.((Peter McDonald and Patricia Quiggin, 'Lifecourse transitions in Victoria in the 1880s', //Families in Colonial Australia// ed. P. Grimshaw, C. McConville and Ellen McEwen, Sydney: George Allen & Unwin, 1985, p.77.)) It is also possible that she was pregnant at other times as we don't know if she had any miscarriages or stillbirths (stillbirths were not registered at the time).\\ |
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| ==== Maroon Magazine ==== | ==== Maroon Magazine ==== |
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| ==== Family circle ==== | ==== Family circle ==== |
| A number of Matilda's siblings and step-siblings also moved to Queensland. These relatives were especially important given the small (white) settler population - Queensland only had around 30,000 settlers in 1861, and about two-thirds were men.((D. Waterson and M. French, //From the Frontier. A Pictorial History of Queensland to 1920//, St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1987, pp.3,8.))\\ | A number of Matilda's siblings and half-siblings also moved to Queensland. These relatives were especially important given the small (white) settler population - Queensland only had around 30,000 settlers in 1861, and about two-thirds were men.((D. Waterson and M. French, //From the Frontier. A Pictorial History of Queensland to 1920//, St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1987, pp.3,8.))\\ |
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| **Elizabeth Barker**: Elizabeth Harpur married William Barker of //Tamrookum// station on 8 July 1847: TLM-P was one of the witnesses.((Elizabeth Harpur, Queensland marriage certificate, 1847, BM54.)) //Tamrookum// was just south of the town of Beaudesert and, using today's road, is around 33km from Maroon and around 12km north of Rathdowney. Elizabeth and William Barker had six sons and two daughters.((Brisbane paper, //The Week//, 13 July 1900, p.17.)) In the late 1860s, the well-known poet and novelist, [[http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/stephens-james-brunton-4642|James Brunton Stephens]], was employed as their tutor at //Tamrookum//. TLM-P's ledger for Bugrooperia indicates that he had business dealings with William Barker and //Tamrookum//((MLMSS3117, box 6/item 5)). A Hawkwood ledger c.1856 lists 'Mr J. B. Stephens' buying stores including books costing £4.5.6.((MLMSS3117, box7X, p.44)) William Barker sold //Tamrookum// station in 1878. In 1927, the Duke and Duchess of York (the future King and Queen) stayed at //Tamrookum// which was described as 'about 45,000 acres' with the homestead 'a lovely old home built almost entirely of cedar' and with 'about 30 rooms' situated 'on the slope of a hill overlooking a beautiful crescent-shaped lake'.((unidentified newspaper clipping in Rosa Praed Papers, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, MSOM64-01, Box 23/5/1))\\ | **Elizabeth Barker**: Elizabeth Harpur married William Barker of //Tamrookum// station on 8 July 1847: TLM-P was one of the witnesses.((Elizabeth Harpur, Queensland marriage certificate, 1847, BM54.)) //Tamrookum// was just south of the town of Beaudesert and, using today's road, is around 33km from Maroon and around 12km north of Rathdowney. Elizabeth and William Barker had six sons and two daughters.((Brisbane paper, //The Week//, 13 July 1900, p.17.)) In the late 1860s, the well-known poet and novelist, [[http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/stephens-james-brunton-4642|James Brunton Stephens]], was employed as their tutor at //Tamrookum//. TLM-P's ledger for Bugrooperia indicates that he had business dealings with William Barker and //Tamrookum//((MLMSS3117, box 6/item 5)). A Hawkwood ledger c.1856 lists 'Mr J. B. Stephens' buying stores including books costing £4.5.6.((MLMSS3117, box7X, p.44)) William Barker sold //Tamrookum// station in 1878. In 1927, the Duke and Duchess of York (the future King and Queen) stayed at //Tamrookum// which was described as 'about 45,000 acres' with the homestead 'a lovely old home built almost entirely of cedar' and with 'about 30 rooms' situated 'on the slope of a hill overlooking a beautiful crescent-shaped lake'.((unidentified newspaper clipping in Rosa Praed Papers, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, MSOM64-01, Box 23/5/1))\\ |
| **William Haly**: Another witness to Charles Haly and Rosa Harpur's marriage was Charles' brother William O'Grady Haly. ((Queensland B,D & M, 1866 registration number C153.)) He also illustrates the close-knit nature of Queensland society. 'Mr O'Grady Haly' had been superintendent at //Maroon// to an earlier owner of that property.((Angela Collyer, The Process of Settlement. Land Occupation and Usage in Boonah 1842-1870s, MA (Local History), University of Queensland, 1991, p.63.)) When he (or a namesake died), TLM-P was a co-trustee/executor.((//The Courier//, 10 August 1861, p.1; A collection of Newfoundland Wills, entry for William O'Grady Haly, probate 1906.)) Similarly, the small circles in which they moved is illustrated by the experience of Matilda's other sister Elizabeth. When her husband William Barker retired from //Tamrookum//, they purchased //Nunnington//, a house at Kangaroo Point, Brisbane. It was sold to them by Frederick Orme Darvell, then Registrar-General of Queensland, and Nora M-P's uncle. [[wp>Nunnington|Nunnington]] was named what the Darvalls believed to be a family home in Yorkshire.((Brisbane paper, //The Week//, 13 July 1900, p.17.))\\ | **William Haly**: Another witness to Charles Haly and Rosa Harpur's marriage was Charles' brother William O'Grady Haly. ((Queensland B,D & M, 1866 registration number C153.)) He also illustrates the close-knit nature of Queensland society. 'Mr O'Grady Haly' had been superintendent at //Maroon// to an earlier owner of that property.((Angela Collyer, The Process of Settlement. Land Occupation and Usage in Boonah 1842-1870s, MA (Local History), University of Queensland, 1991, p.63.)) When he (or a namesake died), TLM-P was a co-trustee/executor.((//The Courier//, 10 August 1861, p.1; A collection of Newfoundland Wills, entry for William O'Grady Haly, probate 1906.)) Similarly, the small circles in which they moved is illustrated by the experience of Matilda's other sister Elizabeth. When her husband William Barker retired from //Tamrookum//, they purchased //Nunnington//, a house at Kangaroo Point, Brisbane. It was sold to them by Frederick Orme Darvell, then Registrar-General of Queensland, and Nora M-P's uncle. [[wp>Nunnington|Nunnington]] was named what the Darvalls believed to be a family home in Yorkshire.((Brisbane paper, //The Week//, 13 July 1900, p.17.))\\ |
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| **Richard Harpur**: Members of Matilda's stepfamily also moved to Queensland. Her stepbrother Richard Donovan Speer Harpur was born c.1841. A Facebook post on the Calliope River Historical Village states that when he was 7 years old, his mother took him back to Ireland to complete his education.(([[https://www.facebook.com/CalliopeRiverHistoricalVillage/posts/today-it-is-barmundoo-homesteadalfred-and-arthur-brown-took-out-a-lease-on-barmu/875462269627001/]])) This fits in with his mother dying in London in 1887 and just one of her children being mentioned in the death notice: Richard Harpur of Barmundoo, Gladstone.((//The Brisbane Courier//, 14 January 1887, p.40)) The blog goes onto say that Richard returned to Australia when he was 15 years old, c.1856, and completed his education at the Kings School then at Parramatta. All this indicates that there was money in Matilda's stepfamily, regardless of her father's bankruptcy. After he left Kings, Richard was appointed manager of //Barmundoo// station near Gladstone which was owned by his stepsister's husband William Barker. Despite his lack of experience, Richard did well at //Barmundoo//, staying as manager for 40 years, resigning in 1899 to allow William Barker to retire to the property. Richard married Frances Clara, daughter of prominent Brisbane pioneer, Robert Douglas.((//The Brisbane Courier//, 29 March 1871, p.2)). Richard and Frances had five children: Matilda May (known as May, whose married name was Menzies); Emily Theresa (married name Thomson), twins Violet (married name Dunlop) and Ruby (married W.A.F. McDonald). All the daughters married local pastoralists: the son was crippled by polio and died aged 26 years old.(([[https://www.facebook.com/CalliopeRiverHistoricalVillage/posts/today-it-is-barmundoo-homesteadalfred-and-arthur-brown-took-out-a-lease-on-barmu/875462269627001/]]; //The Brisbane Courier//, 30 May 1873, p.2)) \\ | **Richard Harpur**: Members of Matilda's family also moved to Queensland. Her half-brother Richard Donovan Speer Harpur was born c.1841. A Facebook post on the Calliope River Historical Village states that when he was 7 years old, his mother took him back to Ireland to complete his education.(([[https://www.facebook.com/CalliopeRiverHistoricalVillage/posts/today-it-is-barmundoo-homesteadalfred-and-arthur-brown-took-out-a-lease-on-barmu/875462269627001/]])) This fits in with his mother dying in London in 1887 and just one of her children being mentioned in the death notice: Richard Harpur of Barmundoo, Gladstone.((//The Brisbane Courier//, 14 January 1887, p.40)) The blog goes onto say that Richard returned to Australia when he was 15 years old, c.1856, and completed his education at the Kings School then at Parramatta. All this indicates that there was money in Matilda's family, regardless of her father's bankruptcy. After he left Kings, Richard was appointed manager of //Barmundoo// station near Gladstone which was owned by his half-sister's husband William Barker. Despite his lack of experience, Richard did well at //Barmundoo//, staying as manager for 40 years, resigning in 1899 to allow William Barker to retire to the property. Richard married Frances Clara, daughter of prominent Brisbane pioneer, Robert Douglas.((//The Brisbane Courier//, 29 March 1871, p.2)). Richard and Frances had five children: Matilda May (known as May, whose married name was Menzies); Emily Theresa (married name Thomson), twins Violet (married name Dunlop) and Ruby (married W.A.F. McDonald). All the daughters married local pastoralists: the son was crippled by polio and died aged 26 years old.(([[https://www.facebook.com/CalliopeRiverHistoricalVillage/posts/today-it-is-barmundoo-homesteadalfred-and-arthur-brown-took-out-a-lease-on-barmu/875462269627001/]]; //The Brisbane Courier//, 30 May 1873, p.2)) \\ |
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| **Emily Hunt**: Stepsister Emily Anne also moved to Queensland after her marriage in 1868 to a doctor, J. Percival Hunt MD,((sadly he is not listed in the Australian Medical Pioneers Index)) whose father had lived in Galway, Ireland. Both the groom and his father were referred to as 'Esq.' indicating gentry status. The marriage notice stated that the rector who married them, Rev. S. Donovan, was 'uncle to the bride'.((//The Brisbane Courier//, 17 Sep 1868, p.2 - it was a later notice as the marriage took place on 18 June)). This suggests that the Harpurs' extended family had also moved to Queensland. \\ | **Emily Hunt**: Half-sister Emily Anne also moved to Queensland after her marriage in 1868 to a doctor, J. Percival Hunt MD,((sadly he is not listed in the Australian Medical Pioneers Index)) whose father had lived in Galway, Ireland. Both the groom and his father were referred to as 'Esq.' indicating gentry status. The marriage notice stated that the rector who married them, Rev. S. Donovan, was 'uncle to the bride'.((//The Brisbane Courier//, 17 Sep 1868, p.2 - it was a later notice as the marriage took place on 18 June)). This suggests that the Harpurs' extended family had also moved to Queensland. \\ |
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| ===== Death ==== | ===== Death ==== |
| {{:matilda_death_cert.jpg?600}}\\ | {{:matilda_death_cert.jpg?600}}\\ |
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| Much to the grief of her children, Matilda died when she was 41 years old at their home 'Montpelier' at [[wp>Kangaroo_Point,_Queensland|Kangaroo Point, Brisbane]] on 25 November 1868. She was buried in Brisbane Cemetery. She was not alone in suffering from tuberculosis in this pre-vaccination era: in Queensland it was the 'largest single killer of working adults throughout the colonial period', though Pacific Islanders were particularly susceptible. As well, at the time Queensland had a higher death rate from the disease than England.((Kay Saunders and Katie Spearritt, 'Is there life after birth? Childbirth, death and danger for settler women in colonial Queensland', //Journal of Australian Studies//, 29, June 1991, pp.64-79; Bernard Burke, //A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry//, Melbourne: E.A. Petherick, 1891-95, p.49; 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; Thomas Bertram M-P, //Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty//, ms, n.d., p.7, NLA; {{http://www.cotyroneireland.com/bornburied/australia3.html|Len Swindley, Born Co. Tyrone, Ireland, Married & Died in the Colony of New South Wales, Australia 1837-1879}})) Matilda's death certificate indicates that the diagnosis was made two years before she died, shortly after the birth of her last child, Egerton.((Matilda M-P, Queensland Death Certificate, Registration B4732)) TLM-P's diary indicates that he was concerned enough about her health in 23 September 1864 to consider taking leave of absence from his employment as Postmaster-General.((Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8,p.36)) Another possible indication of prolonged ill-health are the cheques to pay chemist bills in 1866-67 e.g. in June 1866 Mr W.J. Page Chemist was paid £3.16.6 and in June 1867 £5.7.3. As well there is a note in September 1867 regarding a cheque for £3.11.0 to Dr Hugh Bell that TLM-P thought had been paid previously. In March 1868, Dr Handcock was paid with a cheque for £10.8.6, suggesting numerous visits.((MLMSS3117/Box 9, list of cheques.))\\ | Much to the grief of her children, Matilda died when she was 41 years old at their home 'Montpelier' at [[wp>Kangaroo_Point,_Queensland|Kangaroo Point, Brisbane]] on 25 November 1868. The wording of her death notice was conventional. It was in //The Brisbane Courier//, 1 December 1868, p.1 and read: 'PRIOR.—On the 25th November, at Montpellier, Kangaroo Point, Matilda, the beloved wife of Thos. L. Murray Prior.' She was buried in Brisbane Cemetery.\\ |
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| Grief at her loss lingered. In 1882 her widower visited Lady Bowen, the wife of the first Governor of Queensland: she 'had tears in her eyes naming Matilda. She [Matilda] was so good, so kind she had never met a more unselfish woman'. Lady Bowen shook her head at the news TLM-P had remarried 'and still more when in reply I told her I had more children'.((TLM-P, Diary, 18 July 1882, ML)) TLM-P's list of cheques indicates that the regard was mutual as in October 1867 both Matilda and Rosa contributed to a testimonial to Lady Bowen, respectively £3.3.0 and £1.((MLMSS3117/Box 9))\\ | Matilda was not alone in suffering from tuberculosis in this pre-vaccination era: in Queensland it was the 'largest single killer of working adults throughout the colonial period', though Pacific Islanders were particularly susceptible. As well, at the time Queensland had a higher death rate from the disease than England.((Kay Saunders and Katie Spearritt, 'Is there life after birth? Childbirth, death and danger for settler women in colonial Queensland', //Journal of Australian Studies//, 29, June 1991, pp.64-79; Bernard Burke, //A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry//, Melbourne: E.A. Petherick, 1891-95, p.49; 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; Thomas Bertram M-P, //Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty//, ms, n.d., p.7, NLA; {{http://www.cotyroneireland.com/bornburied/australia3.html|Len Swindley, Born Co. Tyrone, Ireland, Married & Died in the Colony of New South Wales, Australia 1837-1879}})) Matilda's death certificate indicates that the diagnosis was made two years before she died, shortly after the birth of her last child, Egerton.((Matilda M-P, Queensland Death Certificate, Registration B4732)) TLM-P's diary indicates that he was concerned enough about her health in 23 September 1864 to consider taking leave of absence from his employment as Postmaster-General.((Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8,p.36)) Another possible indication of prolonged ill-health are the cheques to pay chemist bills in 1866-67 e.g. in June 1866 Mr W.J. Page Chemist was paid £3.16.6 and in June 1867 £5.7.3. As well there is a note in September 1867 regarding a cheque for £3.11.0 to Dr Hugh Bell that TLM-P thought had been paid previously. In March 1868, Dr Handcock was paid with a cheque for £10.8.6, suggesting numerous visits.((MLMSS3117/Box 9, list of cheques.))\\ |
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| | Grief at her loss lingered. In 1882 her widower visited Diamantina, Lady Bowen, the philanthropic wife of the first Governor of Queensland: she 'had tears in her eyes naming Matilda. She [Matilda] was so good, so kind she had never met a more unselfish woman'. Lady Bowen shook her head at the news TLM-P had remarried 'and still more when in reply I told her I had more children'.((TLM-P, Diary, 18 July 1882, ML)) TLM-P's list of cheques indicates that the regard was mutual as in October 1867 both Matilda and Rosa contributed to a testimonial to Lady Bowen, respectively £3.3.0 and £1.((MLMSS3117/Box 9))\\ |
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| The love for Matilda was also reflected in the number of babies of the next generation of the family being baptised Matilda - though all were called by other names in their everyday life. | The love for Matilda was also reflected in the number of babies of the next generation of the family being baptised Matilda - though all were called by other names in their everyday life. |