Born Jeanie Lucinda Field (1833–1920), Lady Lucinda Musgrave was a prominent American-born promoter of women's charitable projects in at least three British colonies, then in Britain of conservative politics, and the anti-suffrage movement.
Early life in the US
Jeanie Lucinda Field was born on 9 October 1833 in Massachusetts, probably in a family home in StockbridgeThe family of Rev. David D. Field, D.D. of Stockbridge, Mass. by Henry M. Field (1860), page 60 She was still a two-year-old when her mother, Jane Lucinda (née Hopkins), died of consumption in January 1836. and she and two siblings would be raised by a nanny until her father, David Dudley Field II (1805–1894), married his second wife, Harriet Davidson, in 1841.Record of the life of David Dudley Field, by Emilia R. Field (1931), pages 30 & 51The family of Rev. David D. Field, D.D. of Stockbridge, Mass. by Henry M. Field (1860), page 60 Her father was a lawyer who would later achieve national distinction as a reformer and briefly represent New York in the US House of Representatives as a Democrat. Through him and other family members, from an early age Jeanie would meet leading figures in American law, politics and other fields. For example, in August 1850, when she was 16, she accompanied the Moby-Dick author Herman Melville and fellow writers Nathaniel Hawthorne and Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. on a hike and picnic up Monument Mountain in Massachusetts, then joined them for dinner at her father's summer home in Stockbridge in the evening. The 1855 New York State Census shows her living in New York City with her father, her step-mother, and her elder brother, Dudley, along with six house servants.New York State Census, 1855, New York City, Ward 18 [database on-line, Ancestry.com]
Marriage and life in British Columbia
Among Jeanie's uncles, Stephen Johnson Field (1816–1899), would become the Chief Justice of California and later an Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court, and Henry Martyn Field (1822–1907), became a well-known author. However, it seems she was closest to another uncle, Cyrus West Field (1819–1892). His New York home was next door to her father's, and even connected by a hallway,Record of the life of David Dudley Field, by Emilia R. Field (1931), page 41 and it's likely she met her future husband through him. Cyrus had won fame in 1858 as one of the driving forces behind the laying of the first telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1866, he befriended the Antigua-born British imperial civil servant, Anthony Musgrave (1828–1888) at the time of the laying of a new trans-Atlantic cable from Britain to Newfoundland, where Musgrave was the Governor. The following year, Musgrave stayed in New York as a guest of Cyrus.Halifax Sun and Advertizer, 4 December 1867, page 2 When Jeanie married Musgrave on 20 June 1870 he had become the Governor of another British colony in North America, British Columbia. The marriage was a five-minute ceremony in San Francisco performed by the Episcopal Bishop of California, Ingraham Kip. She was “given away” by Cyrus, even though her father was present.The Sacramento Bee, 22 June 1870, page 3Victoria Daily British Colonist 22 June 1870, page 5Victoria Daily British Colonist, 3 July 1870, page 5 Often known as Lucinda Musgrave, she began almost two decades of life in British colonies. In the speech at the reception to mark the Governor's return to British Columbia with his new wife, hope was expressed that her being American would strengthen bilateral bonds with the US as the colony was joining the newly formed Canadian Confederation. Within days of British Columbia joining on 20 July 1871, the couple left for England.Victoria Daily British Colonist, 25 July 1871, page 6New Westminster Mainland Guardian, 26 July 1871, page 3 A short time later, Lucinda Musgrave gave birth in London to the couple's first child, Joyce Harriet Musgrave.
Life in Natal
From England, Anthony Musgrave's next appointment was in southern Africa, as interim Lieutenant-Governor of the British colony of Natal.Morning Post (London), 5 April 1872, page 5Broad Arrow, 15 June 1872, page 19 He and Lucinda arrived in Natal in September 1872 after what one report described as “five chequered and gloomy years” of administration by his predecessor, winning praise for his tact, good judgement and a lack of formality.Yorke's Peninsula Advertiser and Miners' News,13 June 1873, page 3 Lucinda's ability to join her husband in official or ceremonial duties may have been restricted for much of the time they were in Natal by the fact that she was pregnant with their second child. Dudley Field Musgrave (1873–1895), named after her father, was born on 5 Jan 1873 in Pietermaritzburg.South Australian Register, 8 April 1873, page 5 Soon after the birth, the couple received news of his appointment as the next Governor of South Australia.Morning Post (London), 29 January 1873, page 4 A few months later, at an official farewell ceremony in Durban, “universal regret” was expressed among the colonists that the Musgraves were leaving after only nine months.South Australian Register, 16 June 1873, page 6
Life in South Australia Not long after the couple arrived to a relatively low-key welcome in the South Australian capital, Adelaide, in June 1873,Yorke's Peninsula Advertiser and Miners' News, 10 June 1873, page 2 In a speech delivered on her behalf by Musgrave, she expressed her determination to join not only the “social pleasures and duties” of being the Governor's wife, but also “the sorrows and griefs” of the community in which she was living. The speech came after she had laid the foundation stone for “cottage homes for the aged poor” in North Adelaide. Notably, she made no mention of Aboriginal South Australians, instead stressing the worthiness of an institution set up to help elderly colonists from Britain who had “endured hardships and privations” as “early settlers”.South Australian Register, 28 October 1873, pages 6-7 Lucinda had already become the patroness of Adelaide's Orphan Home, which trained orphaned girls to be domestic workers.South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail, 18 July 1873, page 10 Later, she would also lay the foundation stone for the first home for convalescent patients from the Adelaide Hospital. A committee of women had worked quietly to raise funds for the project, and Musgrave also made a “handsome donation”.Express and Telegraph (Adelaide), 15 September 1874, page 3Evening Journal (Adelaide) 15 September 1874, page 3
Many events in the early stages of her time in South Australia should have been joyous for Lucinda. Her husband's appointment had proved popular, with the South Australian parliament showing its satisfaction by commissioning a new government steamer named The Governor Musgrave.South Australian Register, 5 October 1874, page 5 On 10 March 1874, she gave birth to the couple's third child, Arthur David Musgrave (1874–1931). She then learned that her beloved father, David, had arrived in Adelaide by ship on a round-the-world trip that same day to visit for a few weeks.The Life of David Dudley Field by Henry M. Field, (1898), page 251 However, a few months later, just after the newly built steamer arrived in Adelaide from Sydney, tragedy struck. On October 9, 1874, Lucinda's 41st birthday, three-year-old Joyce Harriet Musgrave accidentally fell into a bath of hot water being prepared by her nurse. Joyce died two days later from the severe scalding she'd received.Evening Journal (Adelaide), 12 October 1874, page 2
Lucinda was pregnant at the time of the loss of her daughter, giving birth to another son, Herbert, on 11 May 1875.Record of the life of David Dudley Field, by Emilia R. Field (1931), page 52 A few months later, it was learned that her husband had been knighted by Queen Victoria.The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide), 15 October 1875, page 2 For the rest of his life, he was known as Sir Anthony Musgrave, and she became Lady Lucinda Musgrave. The couple continued official and social duties in South Australia without controversy until news came through in late 1876 of another promotion for him, this time to be Governor of Jamaica. At a farewell function at Government House in January 1877, Lucinda entertained “a large number of ladies and the gentlemen accompanying them”. In her address, she said she was taking away two children born in Adelaide who must always have a personal interest in their birthplace, and to her the city would always be “inexpressibly dear” to her, a probable reference to it being the burial place of her daughter, Joyce.Evening Journal (Adelaide), 26 January 1877, page 3 When the Musgraves sailed out of Adelaide on their way to the West Indies, they left behind a land sub-division in the south-east corner of the colony called “the Hundred of Joyce”, named after their daughter, and within it, plans for a new township called Lucindale.South Australian Register, 26 January 1877, page 7
Life in Jamaica
The Jamaica appointment presented more opportunities for Lucinda to catch up with her then 72-year-old father, David. She arrived in Jamaica in October 1877, having given her father “unspeakable happiness” by visiting him at his home in Stockton, Massachusetts, on the way.The Life of David Dudley Field by Henry M. Field, (1898), page 277 Her father would visit Jamaica in 1880 and go with Lucinda into the rugged hills of St Andrew, overlooking Kingston city and harbour, where she and her family sought refuge from the summer heat in a vine-covered cottage called Flamstead.Ibid. page 288 During the visit, she pointed out to her father a treacherous mountain hillside where she'd been thrown from a runaway horse. “It is a frightful place, and it was a miracle that she was not killed,” he recorded.Ibid. page 289
During her time in Jamaica, Lucinda would accompany her husband in performing the same sort of social and ceremonial functions she had performed in Adelaide. However, her most notable achievement would be as the founder of what would become known as the Lady Musgrave Women's Self-help Society. This group was established in 1879 “for the instruction of poor women of the better class in various kinds of ornamental and fancy work, with a view to the sale of such work in the US and elsewhere”.Kingston Daily Gleaner, 30 July 1879, page 2 To women who provided certificates of commendation from their local clergymen, the Society offered six months of free classes in needlework and straw-plaiting, if they didn't have other craft skills. For a fee, women could market their crafts through the Society, then keep the profits.Ibid. 2 March 1883, page 2 Members of the Society expressed sadness in 1883 when they heard that Lucinda would be leaving Jamaica, following her husband's appointment as the next Governor of the colony of Queensland. In a formal address on the eve of her departure in April 1883, the committee of the Society in Kingston told Lucinda that “sad hearts have been cheered by your kindness, bitter needs relieved by your charity, dark lives brightened by your thoughtful wisdom”Ibid. 18 April 1883, page 2 Hundreds of members of the Society in the outer district of Portland would sign a statement expressing similar sentiments.Papers of Sir Anthony Musgrave (as filmed by the AJCP): [M412], 1862-1912, File 4, Address to Lady Musgrave, 1883
Life in Queensland