The Times/1925/Obituary/Agnes Macdonell

We regret to announce that Lady Macdonell, widow of Sir John Macdonell, the eminent jurist and for many years a valued member of The Times staff, died last evening at her residence in Kensington Park-gardens at the age of 85.

The daughter of Daniel Harrison of Shirley House, Beckenham, she married to Sir John Macdonell in 1873; he died in 1821. Lady Macdonell's gracious and beautiful personality was well known to a wide circle of friends, both here and in the United States. Seven years of her youth were spent in America, and during the Civil War she had talked with President Lincoln. To her anxious girlish inquiry whether there would be war with England, she remembered his big handshake and his reply, "I reckon there'll never be that war." She was wide in her reading, a keen Shakespeare student, and had a mind of great power and beauty, which appeared in all her talk. For over 40 years she was her husband's right hand in all his work, bringing to this her swift sympathy of mind and wise judgment. She herself published many novels, including "Quaker Cousins," "For the King's Dues," and "Martin's Vineyard," and she contributed many stories and articles to the Contemporary Review and the Atlantic Monthly. Lady Macdonell leaves two daughters—Mrs. R. W. Lee, of Oxford, and Mrs. Charles Alder.