Mrs Robert Mitford

Identified in the Silvy daybooks as ‘Mrs Robert Mitford,’ this is probably the wife of Admiral Robert Mitford (1781-1870).

Born Margaret Dunsmure in Edinburgh in or about 1808, she was the eldest daughter of James Dunsmure of Edinburgh. On 7 December 1830 she married Robert Mitford of the Royal Navy.

According to Admiral Mitford’s memorial plaque in Hunmanby All Saints’ Church in Yorkshire, the marriage produced one daughter, Margaret Susan, who married William Amhurst Tyssen Amhurst of Didlington Hall, Norfolk.

The couple appear on the 1861 census living at 1 Pleydell Gardens in Folkestone. Admiral Mitford was 80 years old and his wife was 53. Also present on the night of the census were their three young granddaughters: Mary, Sibyl and Florence Amhurst; two nieces, Fanny and Louisa Bigge; and seven servants.

Mrs Margaret Mitford died at Buckenham House in Norfolk on 24 June 1878, aged 70. She left a personal estate valued at £20,000.

Photographed by Camille Silvy of London on 22 July 1862.