Lady Barkly

Anne Maria Barkly (c. 1838–1932) was the second wife of Sir Henry Barkly, Governor of Victoria from December 1856 to September 1863. Barkly’s first wife, Elizabeth, accompanied him to the colony, but she died soon after their arrival as a result of a phaeton accident on the Princes Bridge. Public sympathy for Barkly ran high and there was general rejoicing when in July 1860, the 45-year-old governor married 22-year old Anne Maria Pratt, daughter of Major General Pratt, commander of the troops in the Australian colonies and New Zealand. In 1860 Nicholas Chevalier designed a fancy-dress costume for the new Lady Barkly, trimmed with sheepskin and gemstone nuggets, appliqued with fern motifs and accessorised with a lyrebird-inspired fan. In September 1863 Barkly was succeeded as governor by Charles Darling. As the Barkly family progressed to Mauritius, Bourbon and the Cape, Lady Barkly collected plant specimens; she corresponded with Joseph Dalton Hooker about stapelias, (odoriferous succulents in which Henry Barkly was very interested), and compiled A Revised List of the Ferns of South Africa. She is listed in the Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists, as is her step-daughter, Emily Blanche Barkly. Lady Barkly outlived her husband by 34 years.