Maria (St Paul) Butler

Maria was born in 1868. She was the only child of Sir Horace St Paul (1812-1891) and Lady Jane Eliza Grey (1842-1881). She was widely known as "Mia". She married George in 1893, George was actually her cousin via his mother and George's mother, Josephine was her godmother. Maria's family gifted them their estate in Northumberland: Ewart Park. She was an enthusiastic member of the Berwickshire Naturalist’s Club, and greatly enjoyed travelling the county, and talking to her tenants on the estate. This estate was their family home until George died in 1935. Maria passed away relatively young, in 1901, not long after the birth of their third child Irene. A diary kept by George after the birth of Irene in 1901 charts Mia’s short illness and death. It seems that she suffered from blood poisoning after childbirth, and suffered hallucinations for days before she died.