Earl of Essex
(1803-1892)

Volume 7, page 239, sitting number 9202 [no date given].

Born at Holmbush, near Horsham, on 28 January 1803, Arthur Algernon Capell was the first son of John Thomas Capell (1769-1819), whose surname changed to Capel-Coningsby in 1781, and his wife Lady Caroline Paget.

Educated at Eton, he succeeded his uncle on 23 April 1839, becoming the 6th Earl of Essex.

He married firstly, on 14 July 1825, Lady Caroline Janetta Beauclerk, third daughter of William Beauclerk, 8th Duke of St Albans. She died in August 1862 and the following year he married secondly, on 3 June 1863, Louisa Caroline Elizabeth Boyle, daughter of Charles Boyle, Viscount Dungarven, and sister of the Earl of Cork. He again became a widower in 1876 and five year later he married thirdly, on 25 April 1881, Louisa Elizabeth Paget, youngest daughter of Charles Heneage, and widow of Lord Augustus Paget. 

He died at Cashiobury Park, near Walford in Hertfordshire on 11 September 1892, at the age of 89. 

An obituary appeared in the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser (14 September 1892). 'The death of the Earl of Essex took place on Sunday, at Cashiobury park, Watford, Herts, at the great age of 89 years. [...] He succeeded to the family honours on the death of his uncle, George, fifth Earl, in 1839. [...] The late Earl is succeeded in the title by his grandson.'

According to the Dover Express (16 September 1892): 'The late peer resumed by Royal license, in 1880, the ancient orthography of his family name - Capell, in lieu of Capel.'