Margaret Carnegy Arbuthnott Capel

Born on 6 December 1857, Margaret Carnegy Arbuthnott Capel was baptised at St Stephen’s in Paddington on 1 January 1858. She was the daughter of Arthur Risdon Capel and Mary Anne Jemima née Carnegy. Her father, a tea broker, was for many years the Treasurer of the London Orphan Asylum at Watford; he later changed his name to Arthur Risdon Capel Carnegy Arbuthnott when his wife came into possession of the estates of Balnamoon and Findowrie through the death of her sister in 1892.

On 15 November 1894 at Balnamoon in Scotland she married Arthur Griffith Layard, a tea planter in Ceylon [modern day Sri Lanka]. Their marriage produced three children. The family lived at ‘Lanka,’ Molyneux Park, Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Mrs Margaret Carnegy Arbuthnott Layard died, aged 60, on 9 September 1918.

Photographed by Hennah and Kent of Brighton.