The Honourable Mrs Hope Johnstone
(1819-1897)
15 July 1861
Volume 4, page 209, sitting number 4907.
Born at Thorpe Hall in Yorkshire in or about 1819, the Honourable Octavia Sophia Bosville Macdonald was the youngest daughter of Godfrey Bosville Macdonald, third Baron Macdonald of Slate. Her mother was Louisa Maria la Coast, the illegitimate daughter of William, 1st Duke of Gloucester, a younger brother of King George III.
On 7 December 1841 she married William James Hope Johnstone, son of John James Hope Johnstone of Raehills, co. Dumfries, who succeeded as 7th Earl of Annandale in 1818 but whose claim to the title was disallowed in 1844. Their marriage produced three sons and a daughter before the early death of William Hope Johnstone in 1850. According the Illustrated London News (2 March 1850): ‘This gentleman, so well known on the northern turf as a great rider of steeple-chaser, and the possessor of some famous race-horses, died recently of an injury to the spine, caused by a fall over a sunk fence, when looking for poachers.’
His widow and children appear on the 1851 census living at 22 Lansdowne Place in Hove. Also present on the night of the census were a governess and four servants. In 1861 the family were living at 51 South Street in Mayfair.
The Honourable Mrs Hope Johnstone died on 22 January 1897 at 22 Cadogan Place, London. She left an estate valued at £36,761.
An obituary appeared in the Carlisle Patriot (29 January 1897). ‘News of the death of the Honourable Mrs Hope Johnstone, of Annandale, was received in Moffat on Monday with feelings of the deepest sorrow. Mrs Hope Johnstone, who was seventy-seven years of age, died at her residence, Cadogan Place, London. The deceased lady was the Honourable Octavia Sophia, youngest daughter of Alexander, second [sic] Lord Macdonald. She married Mr William James Hope Johnstone of Annandale, who was for many years member of Parliament for his native county of Dumfriesshire. Her husband died in 1850, leaving three sons and a daughter. Her eldest son, Mr John James Hope Johnstone, succeeded his grandfather in the Annandale estates in 1876, and he and his two brothers survive, Miss Hope Johnstone having died suddenly some twelve years ago. The deceased lady was of an exceedingly kind and amiable disposition. By her consideration and generosity she warmly attached the kindly feelings of the great body of the tenantry and residents on her son’s estates, who mourn the loss of one who always proved a true friend.’
[From an album possibly compiled by the sitter's sister, the Honourable Marianne Bosville Turnor (née Macdonald), wife of Captain Henry Martin Turnor.]