The Tragic Fate of Florence Munnings

Sir Alfred James Munnings, Portrait of Florence Munnings, at sunset (1912),

oil on canvas, 21 x 24 in. (53.4 x 61 cm.), via Christie’s.

Florence Carter-Wood and Sir Alfred Munnings (1878-1959) married in 1912, but the marriage ended tragically.

"When not in pursuit of the hunt, Munnings was in demand elsewhere, traveling up and down to London and Suffolk after their marriage. Florence, left in Cornwall, was neglected. Her friendship with a young captain in the Monmouthshire Regiment, Gilbert Evans, drew closer in these years – to the point in April 1914 when he realized the potential seriousness of their growing affection and decided that his only recourse was to leave England by joining a Royal Engineers Survey of Nigeria. Amid suspicions that she was pregnant by Gilbert, she took her own life on 24 July 1914. Munnings thereafter left Cornwall, and never mentioned her again."

Quote from Christie’s via the Sunnyside blog