Lady Chetwynd
(1820-1902)
1866

Volume 8, page 46, sitting number 9806.

[The sitter's name was recorded but no accompanying image was entered in the Silvy daybooks.]

Born in or about 1820, Mary Hussey was the eldest daughter of John Hussey of Lyme Regis in Dorset. 

She appeares on the 1861 census living with her younger brother Henry, the Perpetual Curate of Withycombe Raleigh in Devon, and their 70-year-old widowed mother. 

On 24 September 1861 at Withycombe Raleigh she became the second wife of Richard Walter Chetwynd, 6th Viscount Chetwynd of Bearhaven in County Kerry. He died on 6 December 1879 at the age of 78.

When the census was taken in 1881, the widowed Lady Chetwynd was living with her older brother Thomas at Teneriffe House in Littleham, an area of Exmouth in Devon. Thomas Hussey was a 'Colonel of Militia (retired)' and a Justice of the Peace for Devon. 

Lady Chetwynd died, aged 81, on 7 June 1901 at Highcliffe House, Lympstone, Devon. 

According to her obituary in the Western Times (11 June 1901), ‘up to a few months ago [she] enjoyed robust health. After Christmas, however, her ladyship was obliged to take to her bed, and Dr Barton has been in constant attendance. […] Lady Chetwynd was a well-known figure in the neighbourhood, and her death will be a loss to many poor people, in whom she took a kindly interest, and who have benefitted by her thoughtful and acceptable gifts. Before the death of the late Viscount, Lord and Lady Chetwynd lived for a few years at Carpool and Morton-crescent, Exmouth. It was at the latter place his lordship died. Two years later her ladyship removed to Highcliffe. Though her family are natives of Lyme Regis, members of them have resided for many years at Withycombe, where they were held in high esteem. She was a supporter of the Primrose League, and was a prominent and active member of the Exmouth Habitation. Her ladyship leaves no family.’ 

She left an estate valued at £11,981. 

[A portrait of her husband appears on page 33 of this section.]