Elisabeth Murdoch (senior)
| Dame Elisabeth Joy Murdoch | |
|---|---|
Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, opening a drug rehabilitation centre in Melbourne, May 2005
|
|
| Born |
Elisabeth Joy Greene 8 February 1909 Melbourne, Australia |
| Died | 5 December 2012 (aged 103) Melbourne, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | Philanthropist |
| Spouse(s) |
Sir Keith Murdoch (m. 1928–1952, his death) |
| Children | Helen Handbury (deceased) Rupert Murdoch Anne Kantor Janet Calvert-Jones |
| Parent(s) | Rupert Greene Marie Grace De Lancey Forth |
Dame Elisabeth Joy Murdoch AC DBE (née Greene; 8 February 1909 – 5 December 2012) was an Australian philanthropist and matriarch of the Murdoch family. She was the wife of Australian newspaper publisher Sir Keith Murdoch and the mother of Australian international media proprietor Rupert Murdoch. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1963 for her charity work in Australia and overseas.
Murdoch was born in Melbourne on 8 February 1909, the third daughter of Marie Grace de Lancey (Forth) and Rupert Greene. Her grandfather, William Henry Greene, was an Irish railway engineer (later one of the three Commissioners of Victorian Railways) who emigrated to Australia and married Fanny, the fourth of the 10 daughters of George Govett. Her mother's ancestors were Scottish and English; one of her maternal great-grandfathers was a lieutenant governor in the West Indies. Elisabeth was educated at St Catherine's School in Toorak, and at Clyde School in Woodend. She married Keith Murdoch, 23 years her senior, in 1928 and inherited the bulk of his fortune when he died in 1952. Apart from Rupert, her children are Janet Calvert-Jones, Anne Kantor and Helen Handbury (1929–2004). At her death, she had 77 direct living descendants (names unknown). Her granddaughter, Elisabeth Murdoch, was prominent in the British business world and was married to Matthew Freud.
Apart from raising her children, Murdoch devoted her life to philanthropy. Before her marriage she worked as a volunteer for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Dame Elisabeth Murdoch joined the management committee of the Royal Children's Hospital in 1933, serving as its president from 1954 to 1965. A 2003 article in the Melbourne newspaper The Age (see link below) said: "Few can rival Dame Elisabeth's enormous contribution. Her interests are so many they need to be alphabetically catalogued: academia, the arts, children, flora and fauna, heritage, medical research, social welfare. Many of Melbourne and Australia's most cherished institutions, from the Royal Children's Hospital to the Australian Ballet and the Botanic Gardens, have benefited from her involvement. But Murdoch also devoted herself to less popular causes: prisoners, children in care, those battling mental illness and substance abuse."
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