GENERAL MEETING
The next meeting is on Wednesday 19 November at 6pm when Bernice Barry
will present a talk titled ‘The Capel Conundrum’
The subject of this talk, Elizabeth Capel Carter, is known in WA for her connection with the Bussell family and her part in raising funds for the building of St Mary’s Church, Busselton, but she has always remained a shadowy figure and details of her life have been elusive. How and when was Capel orphaned? Why did her guardian, ‘Grandpapa Joseph’, send her to live with his son and daughter-in-law? What was the nature of her relationship with her Bussell cousins? How did she acquire and then lose her fortune?
This paper connects two different places: the Capel/Coolingup area in WA, and the county of Devon in England, where the patriarch of the Bussell family married in 1766, uniting the names ‘Bussell’ and ‘Capel’. It fills gaps in the history of the Carters and Bussells, and details the unusual circumstances of Capel Carter’s childhood, including the distressing occurrences that affected her for the rest of her life, the relationship that ruined her financially, and the suspicious events in her final months that impacted on her adopted family in WA.
