Miss Monk

An inscription on the album page identifies the sitter only as 'Miss Monk.' Given that elsewhere in the same album appear portraits of Charles James Monk, his wife and his youngest daughter, this is probably one of Charles Monk’s sisters. His father, James Henry Monk, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, appears on the 1851 census living at Stapleton Palace near Bristol with his wife and three unmarried daughters: Jane (27), Mary (25), and Penelope (22). Mary married the Hon. George Mostyn later that year. The woman seen here in riding habit is possibly one of the other daughters.

After the death of Bishop Monk, his widow and the two unmarried daughters, Jane Emily and Penelope Anna, divided their time between Rome and England. When their mother died, the two sisters settled in London.

The younger sister, Penelope Anna Monk, was born at Peterborough in 1829 and never married. She appears on the 1911 census, aged 81, living in Chelsea. She died in Chelsea in 1917, aged 88.

Jane Emily Monk never married either. She died on 2 July 1917, aged 93, at 4 Cadogan Square, Chelsea. She left an estate valued at over £43,000.

Photographed by Camille Silvy of London.