Introduction
Dame Agnes Jekyll, DBE (née Graham; 12 October 1861 – 28 January 1937) was a British artist, writer and philanthropist. The daughter of William Graham, Liberal MP for Glasgow (1865–1874) 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 (later Sir Herbert Jekyll, KCMG), 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:
- Barbara Freyberg, Baroness Freyberg, GBE, DStJ (1887–1973); married first, in 1911, to the Hon. Francis McLaren, M.P. (killed 1917 in the Great War); secondly, in 1922, to Colonel B. C. Freyberg, V.C., later Lord Freyberg (1889–1963), and had issue by both husbands.
- Pamela Margaret (1889–1943); married 1908 the Right Hon. Reginald McKenna (died 1943), and had issue.
They also had a son Francis Walter Jekyll (1882-1965), 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 (DBE) in 1918 for her public works. Lady Jekyll first published Kitchen Essays (1922) in The Times, reprinted in 2001 by Persephone Books.
Agnes Jekyll's gravestone
Jekyll family memorial in Busbridge churchyard
Herbert Jekyll's gravestone