Subject

Wife of Sir Horatio Regnart. Lady Regnart was an active member of the Managing Committee of the St Pancras Almshouses 1894-1940, donating and raising funds and also providing for the residents' needs with such things as coal, blankets and hot water bottles.

On eBay we found a Middlesex Regt. shooting medal cup medal, named for her, we are guessing. "Winners of the Lady Regnant Cup".

Andrew Behan found the image and has kindly provided this research: Lady Mary Regnart was born as Mary Makepeace on 31 July 1845 in Rochester, Kent, the eldest of the ten children of William Makepeace and Charlotte Makepeace née Woodward. Her father was a lay clerk at Rochester Cathedral. She was baptised on 11 August 1845 in Rochester. 

The 1851 census shows she was living at 3 Morden Street, Rochester with her parents, two paternal uncles and three siblings, whilst the 1861 census informs that she was living within the precinct of Rochester Cathedral with her parents and eight siblings.

In 1870 she married Horatio Grece Regnart (1841-1912) in Leicester and the 1881 census shows them living at 207 Camden Road, St Pancras, with a cook and a housemaid.

The 1891 census states that they were residing at Highgate Lodge, West Hill, Highgate, with a coachman, a groom, a gardener and three female domestic servants and the 1901 census records them at Frith Manor, Hendon, with a housekeeper, a cook and a housemaid. Telephone directories from 1904 show her husband listed at 29 Gordon Square, London, WC.

On 15 July 1907 her husband was created a Knight Bachelor by King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace and she became Lady Mary Regnart.

Her husband died on 8 March 1912 and when she was granted probate on 10 April 1912 his estate totalled £323,653-3s-3d. Telephone directories for 1914 show her listed at 29 Gordon Square, but from 1915 at 74 Portland Place, London, W1. Electoral registers from 1926 to 1939 confirm the address as Flat 5, 74 Portland Place, London, W1. These registers show she was also entitled to vote in local elections in Holborn as she has property interests at 8 Gower Mews, Holborn from 1923 to 1936.

The 1939 England and Wales Register shows her at her country house of 'Tanleys', Tylers Green, Cuckfield, Haywards Heath, Sussex and this was where she died, aged 94 years, on 21 April 1940. She was buried with her husband at Islington and St Pancras Cemetery, 278 High Road, East Finchley, London, N2 9AG. When probate was granted on 7 June 1940 her estate totalled £41,427-12s-5d.