Death of The Duchess and Separation From McCrae
On 31 January 1864, the Duchess died. She had been engaged in church politics and evangelical work. She left Georgiana McCrae and her children nothing, and McCrae had to claim her birth.
McCrae had been disabled by a hip injury since 1859 which meant she could not visit Andrew who had been Police Magistrate in Kilmore. In any case he was no support when he learnt Georgiana had been cut from the will, and the sons had to support themselves. Her eldest son, George, went to Britain in 1864 after ten years in the Public Service, and his brother Sandy worked in Queensland. Georgiana coped by writing memoirs of the Gordon Castle and, more generally, the family history. She also copied out her journals from 1838 to 1845, with possible cuts and additions. It was around this time of frenetic activity, after his leavetaking in Kilmore, that Georgiana left McCrae after thirty-seven years of marriage. McCrae left for Britain in 1867 and stayed for seven years until 1874.
Read more about this topic: Georgiana Mc Crae
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