Agnes Anne Murray

Agnes Anne Edwards, a cousin of William Schwenk Gilbert (of Gilbert and Sullivan) came to New South Wales as governess to the children of Sir Alfred Stephen, Chief Justice of New South Wales.

Agnes is described as

"then a lively woman in her mid-twenties, a gay and vivacious linguist, an accomplished musician, who dressed with considerable chic and possessed what was often described as a regal bearing. She was a woman of character, taste and ambition. When Sir Alfred Stephen's salary was unexpectedly reduced by the New South Wales Parliament when he proposed to take leave in England, much to the regret of his large family - and to Agnes' own regret for she greatly admired the judge - the Stephens were obliged to give up their governess. But they thought of the widowed Murray whose sister promptly engaged Agnes. At their first meeting Agnes thought Terence a fine figure of a man and, when presently he proposed marriage, she accepted. They were married at Murray's surviving property, Winderadeen, in August 1860, first in a Catholic ceremony, then in an Anglican one."

from "Gilbert Murray, a Life - by Francis West.

After her husband's death in 1873, Agnes opened a successful school at Springfield which she later sold in 1877, enabling a return to England to further her sons education. She opened another school for young lades at No.1 Observatory Avenue (Horton Street) Kensington.