Agnes Jekyll


Dame Agnes Jekyll, was a British artist, writer and philanthropist. The daughter of William Graham, Liberal MP for Glasgow and patron of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, she was educated at home by governesses, and later attended King's College London.

Family

She married Herbert Jekyll, a soldier, public servant and wood-carver, and brother of the noted garden designer, writer and artist, Gertrude Jekyll. They lived at Munstead House in Surrey.
Their daughters were:
  1. Barbara Freyberg, Baroness Freyberg, GBE, DStJ ; married first, in 1911, to the Hon. Francis McLaren, M.P. ; secondly, in 1922, to Colonel B. C. Freyberg, V.C., later Lord Freyberg, and had issue by both husbands.
  2. Pamela Margaret ; married 1908 the Right Hon. Reginald McKenna, and had issue.
They also had a son Francis Walter Jekyll, who is commemorated on the Jekyll family memorial at Busbridge Church, Surrey, England.

DBE

Agnes Jekyll was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1918 for her public works. Lady Jekyll first published Kitchen Essays in The Times, reprinted in 2001 by Persephone Books.