Charles Layard (priest)


Charles Peter Layard, F.R.S., D.D. was Dean of Bristol from 1800 until his death.

Early life

Layard was born on 19 February 1750 in London. He was the son of the former Susanne Henriette de Boisragon and Dr. Daniel Peter Layard, the physician to Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. Among his siblings were Lt.-Gen. John Thomas Layard, Lt.-Gen. Anthony Lewis Layard, Susanna Henrietta Layard and Charlotte Sophia Layard.
His paternal grandparents were Major Peter Layard and Marie Anne Crozé. His maternal grandparents were Lt.-Col. Louis Chevalleau de Boisragon and Marie Henriette de Rambouillet.

Career

Layard was educated at the Huntingdon School before attending St John's College, Cambridge with a Bachelor of Arts in 1770 and a Master of Arts in 1773 and a Doctor of Divinity in 1787.
He was ordained deacon on 21 December 1771; and priest on 27 February 1774. He was the Vicar at Kewstock between 1777 and 1799 and was appointed Fellow of the Royal Society in 1778. He held the office of Prebendary of Worcester Cathedral in 1793, Rector at Uffington between 1798 and 1803, and the office of Prebendary of Bangor Cathedral between 1799 and 1803.
He was the Minister at the Oxenden Chapel, a daughter church of St Martin-in-the-Fields before holding incumbencies in Wootton Bassett, Uffington and Kewstoke.

Personal life

On 1 December 1777, Layard was married to Elizabeth Ward, a daughter of Joseph Ward and Ruth Ward of Greenwich, Kent. Together, they were the parents of:
  • Brownlow Villiers Layard, the eldest son, an army officer who served as aide-de-camp and Chaplain to The Duke of Kent.
  • Charlotte Susanna Elizabeth, married, as his second wife, Albemarle Bertie, 9th Earl of Lindsey. After his death in September 1818, she married, the Rev. William Peter Pegus in April 1821.
  • Marianne Layard, who died unmarried.
  • Henrietta Margaret Layard, who died unmarried.
  • Henry Peter John Layard, of the Ceylon civil service who married Marianne Austen, a daughter of Nathaniel Austen, in 1814.
  • Sophia Catherine Layard, who died unmarried.
  • Charles Edward Layard, who married Barbara Bridgetina Mooyaart, a daughter of Gualterus Mooyaart, in 1804.
  • Caroline Bethia Layard, who married Lewis Gibson, a son of William Gibson, in 1806.
  • Louisa Frances Layard, who married Lt.-Col. Clement Martin Edwards in 1807.
  • Mary Sarah Sophia Layard, who died unmarried.
  • Elizabeth Frances Layard, who died unmarried.
  • Jane Isabella Layard, who died unmarried.
After the death of his first wife in 1796, he married, secondly, to Elizabeth Carver on 24 October 1798.
Layard died on 11 April 1803.

Descendants

Through his daughter Charlotte's first marriage, he was posthumously a grandfather of three: Lady Charlotte Guest, George Bertie, 10th Earl of Lindsey, and
Montague Bertie, 11th Earl of Lindsey. From her second marriage, he was, again posthumously, a grandfather of Maria Antoinetta Pegus, who married Charles Gordon, 10th Marquess of Huntly, in 1844.
Through his son Charles, he was a grandfather of Sir Charles Peter Layard, the first Mayor of Colombo and the Government Agent for the Western Provinces of Ceylon. Sir Charles was the father of Charles Peter Layard, the 18th Chief Justice of Ceylon, and the grandfather of Sir Herbert Layard Dowbiggin, the British colonial Inspector General of Police of Ceylon.
Through his son Henry, he was a grandfather of Austen Henry Layard, the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.