Stephanie Vivian Wolfe Murray ( Todd; 27 April 1941 – 24 June 2017) was a British

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

and charity worker, who was co-founder of the Scottish publisher

Canongate Books Canongate Books (trading as Canongate) is an independent publishing firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Canongate area of the city. It is most recognised for publishing the Booker Prize winning novel '' Life of Pi'' (2001 ...

in 1973 and ran the company until it was bought out in 1993.

Early life and education

Stephanie Vivian Todd was born on 27 April 1941 in

Blandford Camp Blandford Camp is a military base comprising some 390 hectares of downland lying 2 miles (3 km) north-east of Blandford Forum in the county of Dorset in southern England. Significant areas of the camp are Sites of Special Scientific Interest (S ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, England. Her father, Hadden Royden Todd (1910–1944), was an officer in the Royal Artillery who was killed during the

Battle of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the N ...

. Her mother, Louisa May "Wendy" Todd (née Robins; 1914–1991), "came from a wealthy family linked to the

Bibby Line Bibby Line is a UK company concerned with shipping and marine operations. Its parent company, Bibby Line Group Limited, can be traced back to John Bibby who founded the company in 1807. The company along with the group is based in Liverpool. ...

shipping company". Her mother remarried after the war, first briefly to a New Zealander, and then to Henry George Villiers Greer, a Northern Irishman who had been a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

in Burma. She grew up in Shropshire and was educated at Overstone School, an all-girls

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

in Northampton. She left school at 16 and began to travel through Europe. She spent time in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, where she learned French, and then in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, Italy, where she studied and worked at the Hotel Savoy. She returned to England, became a

débutante A debutante, also spelled débutante ( ; from , ), or deb is a young woman of aristocratic or upper-class family background who has reached maturity and is presented to society at a formal "debut" ( , ; ) or possibly debutante ball. Original ...

and was featured on the cover of ''

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

'' magazine. Among her suitors was Anthony Armstrong Jones, later husband of Princess Margaret, but she fell in love with Angus Malcolm Wolfe Murray (born 1937), a journalist at ''

The Yorkshire Post ''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire, although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...

''. Rather than be allowed to marry the "penniless journalist", her mother sent her to New York. However, upon Stephanie's return, she still wished to marry Wolfe Murray and was only allowed to do so when he made it known that he had titled relatives: his maternal grandfather was

Patrick Boyle, 8th Earl of Glasgow Patrick James Boyle, 8th Earl of Glasgow (18 June 1874 – 14 December 1963), was a Scottish nobleman and a far right political activist, involved with fascist parties and groups. Royal Navy Boyle was trained for a naval career at the cadet ship ...

. They married on 11 November 1961 at the Church of St Michael & Our Lady,

Wragby Wragby ( ) is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated at the junction of the A157 and A158 roads, and approximately north-west from Horncastle and about north-east of L ...

. The couple lived at Braulen Lodge in

Strathfarrar Glen Strathfarrar () is a glen in the Highland region of Scotland, near Loch Ness. The Glen is part of the Affric-Beauly hydro-electric power scheme, with a dam at Loch Monar and a 9 km tunnel carrying water to an underground power station ...

, Scotland, and soon had four sons.

Career

In 1973, Wolfe Murray co-founded the publishing company

and her husband, and after he left the following year she ran it almost alone.

References

{{Authority control 1941 births 2017 deaths British book publishing company founders British publishers (people) People from Blandford Forum