IX 
some biographical 
Accordingly, one 
only slight verbal 
’ngs of the Royal 
of the lectures 
to Cambridge in 
ARTHUR CAYLEY. 
FORSYTH. 
[From the Obituary Notices in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. lviii. 1895.] 
Arthur Cayley was the second son of Henry Cayley and Maria Antonia Doughty; 
he was born at Richmond, in Surrey, on 16 August, 1821. 
The family, to whose fame so much honour has been added by one of the greatest 
mathematicians of all time, is of old origin and illustrious descent. Its name, like not 
a few’ English names, is derived from a locality in Normandy; there was a Castellum 
Cailleii, near Rouen, held by baronial tenure. The head of the house appears to 
have come to England with William the Conqueror and to have settled in Norfolk, 
becoming Lord of Massingham, Cranwich, Brodercross, and Hiburgh in that county. The 
influence of the family increased and, by the time of Edward II., Sir Thomas de Cailli 
possessed estates also in Yorkshire. On his decease without issue, the Yorkshire 
property was transferred to a younger branch of the family and was inherited by a 
long succession of Cayleys who made their home at Thormanby. One of these was 
knighted, as Sir William Cayley, in 1641; in 1661 he was created a baronet in 
recognition of his services during the Civil Wars, the title surviving to the present 
day. The fourth son of Sir William, Cornelius, settled at York; and the eldest son 
of the latter, also Cornelius, born in 1692, was a barrister and in 1725 was appointed 
Recorder of Kingston-upon-Hull, an office which he held until a few years before his 
death in 1779. Probably the advantages offered by Hull, then, as now, the greatest 
port on the northern coast of England, suggested commerce as an occupation for some 
members of the Recorder’s large family; two of his sons became Russia merchants, 
settling in St Petersburg. The younger of these, being the fifth son of the Recorder, 
was Henry Cayley, born in 1768; he married, in 1814, Maria Antonia Doughty, a 
daughter of William Doughty. The eldest son of this marriage died in infancy. The 
youngest son, Charles Bagot, was a scholar, possessed of linguistic genius; he was 
particularly interested in the Romance Languages and he made verse-translations of 
Homer’s Iliad, Dante’s Divine Comedy, and the Sonnets of Petrarch. The second son 
w r as Arthur, the subject of the present sketch; he was born during a visit of his 
parents to England. Before passing to the details of his life, it may be added that 
the second of his father’s sisters married Edward Moberly—also a Russia merchant 
living in St Petersburg—and was the mother of the late Dr. George Moberly, Bishop 
of Salisbury. 
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