Agnes Murgoci

Dr. Agnes Murgoci (1875-1929), née Kelly, was an English zoologist and folklorist.

Born in Adelaide, South Australia, the daughter of Adam Kelly, formerly of Glasgow, and Helen Beveridge, she graduated from Bedford College in 1896, obtained first class honours in zoology, and a PhD from the University of Munich. She married Gheorghe Munteanu-Murgoci, a Romanian professor of mineralogy and moved to Bucharest. She published articles on the folklore of her new home, especially early studies on vampirism, and a book, Rumania and the Rumanians . Her works appeared in the journal of the Folklore Society.

"The Life of Dr Agnes Murgoci" by Juliu Moisil

"People's destinies follow unknown and mysterious ways. They allow people from across the world to meet one another and raise families whose descendants turn out as gifted members who benefit mankind. While studying at the University of Munich for her Ph.D. Miss Agnes Kelly met Gheorghe Munteanu Murgoci also working for his doctor's degree in mineralogy and geology and some time later they married. Mrs Agnes Murgoci, a scholar (she was the first woman to whom the University of Munich awarded its Doctorate of Philosophy) was also a thoughtful and loving wife and mother. She became a Romanian by marriage and lived in Bucharest. She came to know the Romanian people and their history and was a strenuous and ardent worker, a real pioneer in Romania's cause abroad.

She was born in Adelaide, Australia, where her father Adam Kelly the youngest of twelve children had emigrated from Scotland in 1840. He took an active part in setting up a new colony there. Her mother, Helen Beveridge, came from a distinguished family in Dunfermline, Scotland. In 1879 Agnes Kelly and her mother left Adelaide and went back to Scotland, to the beautiful town of Dollar. She went to a junior school and then to the Dollar Academy. In both these schools she got high qualifications and also a scholarship to Bedford College in London. Later she won the St Dunstan's Medical Scholarship. At the University College in London she won a 'Weldon Gold Medal' in zoology and a scholarship. She took her Bachelor of Science degree with 'honours'. She then went to Munich University where she took her Ph.D. 'summa cum laude.

Next she travelled to Australia and New Zealand because she had been asked by the English Board of Education to write a report on education there. She returned through North America where she studied and lectured on the English educational system.

Before her marriage she also taught at King Edward VIII High School in Birmingham.

Dr Agnes Kelly and Professor Gheorghe Murgoci were married in 1904 in London and went on a long and interesting journey travelling through United States as far as San Francisco and seeing most beautiful places such as Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite Valley in California and Niagara waterfall.

They went to Romania and settled in Bucharest in a house which they had built with many lovely Romanian art objects in very good taste. A recognised authority on various people's folklore and national art Mrs Murgoci quickly got to know and value the beauty of Romanian culture. She both helped her husband with his scientific works and made notes on Romanian customs which she came across in her travels in Romania.

The Romanian Boy Scouts Organization had its origin in the English branch and Mrs Murgoci took a great interest in it and advised in its development.

In 1916 Mrs Murgoci and her children, Helen and Radu, went to England for educational reasons and settled down in Bristol. During her stay there she made Bristol a very important centre for information on Romanian culture. She wrote many an article on Romanian folklore, and lectured on Romania in many towns such as London, Hull, Glasgow, Cardiff, and many others.

Her husband's early death in 1925 left a great gap which she tried to fill by working steadily for her children's education and also for the cause of Romania and its folklore.

Meanwhile, she found her children's academic achievements a real support. Helen read medicine at Bristol University and Radu had won a scholarship to Cambridge and was reading physics. She went on doing further research on Romanian folklore and her articles on it were of great interest for the School of Ethnology in England led by Professor Percy and Prof. Elliot Smith from the University College of London. This encouraged her to carry on still further in her research. Here are the lectures she held in England.

The Romanian Peasant Christmas in Romania Festivals in Romania Women in Romania Women before the law The Case for Bassarabia Agarian Reform in Romania The Religion of the Romanian Peasant Religions in Romania Minorities in Romania Salt signs in Romania Robert Burns - Scottish Poet Westermark - history of human marriage Here is a list of articles published in the Folklore magazine in London Romanian Easter Eggs Guarding the Dead Washing the Dead Watching the Dead The Vampire in Romania Silk Worms in Romanian folklore.

Articles published in the Evening News, Glasgow and Glasgow Herald On Elementary School Teaching in Romania Schools in Basarabia Romanian Dances Virgin Mary and Christmas New Year in Romania What Women are called in Romania Professional Women in Romania On holidays in the Carpathians A Vineyard in Wallachra The Devil in Romanian folklore

She argued against the claim that Protestant Hungarians in Ardeal were persecuted by the Romanian Government and people.

Taking her advice many English scholars including Professor Sir William Craigie, Prof. Sydney Chapman paid visits to Romania in order to know it better Prof. Jervis took lantern slides and wrote a commentary on Romanian beauties and riches which he made available for use by 'Teachers Geographical Association'. Mrs Murgoci together with her daughter Miss Helen Murgoci, doctor of Medicine put on many exhibitions with Romanian exhibits of peasants' craftsmanship and paintings in Bristol, Swanwick and Reading.

She also lectured on Romania's behalf under the supervision of the League of Nations Union, the Workers Educational Association and the English Board of Education.

She helped many Romanians to be registered at Bristol and Oxford Universities. Mrs Murgoci's future plans were to travel to Australia and North America and lecture on Romania for the International Federation of University Women We deeply regret the death of Mrs Murgoci who was killed in a motor accident in the Isle of Wight on May 7th 1929."

She left behind a daughter, Helen Beveridge, the wife of Revd. Hugh Gerard Gibson Herklots, and a son, Radu Maxwell Murgoci, a noted Physicist.

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References

1. AIM25 : Archives in London and the M25 area MURGOCI, Dr Agnes (1875-1929)
2. Centre for Romanian Studies Vampirism of New and Old Ottomans

External links