Elisabeth Murdoch (philanthropist) - Family

Family

Murdoch was born as Elisabeth Joy Greene in Melbourne, the third daughter of Marie Grace De Lancey 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; her great-grandfather 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 the time of a 2003 interview she had 73 descendants. Her namesake granddaughter, Elisabeth Murdoch, is prominent in the British business world and is married to Matthew Freud.

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