Sophia Margaret (Gray) Caird (1843 - 1882)

Born 28 Oct 1843 in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland, United Kingdom

Wife of James Key Caird 1st Bt. — married 16 Jul 1873 in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland

Died 15 Mar 1882 at age 38 in Chiswick, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

Sophia "Sophy" Margaret Gray was born on 28 Oct 1843 at Bowerswell House, her family home near the foot of Kinnoull Hill, near the city of Perth, Perthshire, Scotland, United Kingdom. She was the daughter of George Gray, a Scottish lawyer and businessman, and his wife Sophia Margaret Jameson. She was christened on 1 Dec 1843 at Kinnoull Church. ^[1] Her parents had 15 children, but 7 of them died young, including an older sister with the same name (1834-1841).

Sophy was a frequent model for her brother-in-law, the Pre-Raphaelite painter, John Everett Millais, who married her sister Euphemia (Effie) Gray in 1855 after the annulment of Effie's marriage to English writer and art critic John Ruskin. Sophy's youthful beauty played a major role in many of Millais' popular paintings, including "Autumn Leaves," "Spring (or Apple Blossoms)" and "Portrait of a Young Lady (or Sophie Gray)."^[2]

Marriage and Child

Sophy married James Key Caird on 16 July 1873 at Bowerswell House in Perth.^[3] He was a successful Dundee jute textiles entrepreneur and mathematician who later became a baronet in 1913.^[4]

The marriage was not an easy one, and Sophy's parents did not care for her husband. Sophy, who struggled with mental health and anorexia, divided her time between Dundee and Paris. ^[5]

Sophy and James had one child, born In Dundee, Scotland, who did not live past the age of 13:

1. Beatrix Ada Caird (1874-1888)^[6]

Death

Sophy died on 15 Mar 1882, aged 38, at Manor Farm House, in Chiswick in west London, under the care of her doctor, Dr. Thomas Harrington Tuke, a leading mental illness practitioner. She was buried in Brompton Cemetery in West Brompton, Kensington, London, England.^[7] At the time of her death, her daughter, Beatrix, was only 7 years old.

Her husband James died 34 years later, on 9 Mar 1916 at his Perthshire estate, Belmont Castle near Meigle, Perthshire. He was buried with his parents in Dean Cemetery in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. ^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ "Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X1V6-F24 : 11 February 2020), Sophia Margaret Gray born 28 Oct 1843, baptized 1 Dec 1843 in Kinnoul, Perthshire, Scotland, parents George Gray and Sophia Margaret Jameson
2. ↑ Wikipedia contributors. "Sophie Gray." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 6 Jan 2023.
3. ↑ "Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XY3K-8ZJ : 8 December 2014), James K. Caird and Sophie M. Gray, 16 Jul 1873; citing Perth, Perth, Scotland, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 6,035,516.
4. ↑ Wikipedia contributors. "Sir James Caird, 1st Baronet, of Belmont Castle." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 9 Jan 2023.
5. ↑ Cooper, Suzanne, Fagence. Effie: The Passionate Lives of Effie Gray, John Ruskin and John Everett Millais. St. Martin's Press, 2011
6. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #205732080
7. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #205732056
8. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #151271953