Edith Peers-Williams

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Lady Aylesford (around 1890)

Edith Finch, Countess of Aylesford (born Peers-Williams ; † June 23, 1897 in London ), was a British noblewoman who was mainly influenced by her affair with Eduard, Prince of Wales and later her involvement in the Aylesford affair named after her got known.

Life

Her father was Thomas Peers Williams, a longtime Lower House member and Father of the House of Commons . In 1871 she married Heneage Finch, 7th Earl of Aylesford (1849-1885), which made her Countess of Aylesford and a social advancement meant for her; henceforth it was part of the British upper class. She and her husband had two daughters.

Like her husband, she now moved in the social circle called Marlborough House Set , which also included Eduard, Prince of Wales . With this she began an affair, which her husband dutifully overlooked and tolerated.

In 1875 she began a love affair with the Marquess of Blandford , heir to the 7th Duke of Marlborough , which led to the Aylesford Affair . She informed her husband of her intention to run away with Blandford. Her husband, who was unwilling to tolerate this, initially tried to initiate divorce proceedings, but was prevented from doing so by the Disraeli government ; Given the past affair with the Prince of Wales, divorce proceedings would have drawn much wider circles and turned into a far bigger scandal.

Instead, her husband tacitly separated and withdrew his wife from any contact with their children. He moved to America to avoid the rumors. On the other hand, Lady Aylesford, now ruined in the upper classes of the Victorian age , continued the affair with Lord Blandford and went with him to Paris , where they lodged together as Mr. and Mrs. Spencer. A son (Guy Bertrand) emerged from the affair in 1881. Widely known as an unreliable bon vivant, Blandford left them at this time. He returned to his wife for a short time, and soon began to entertain other affairs again.

Lord Aylesford tried (also under pressure from his family for inheritance reasons) to get a divorce again in view of the illegitimate child, but was instead found guilty of infidelity himself. He died in America in 1885, leaving her with only a small pension. Socially ostracized and with no money of her own, Lady Aylesford spent the last years of her life in poverty. She died in London in 1897.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edith Peers-Williams. In: The Peerage. Retrieved November 13, 2019 .
  2. ^ Anne Jordan: Love Well the Hour: The Life of Lady Colin Campbell (1857-1911). Matador, Leicester 2010, p. 44.
  3. ^ Robert Blake: Disraeli. Faber and Faber, London 2010, p. 692 ff.
  4. ^ Mary S. Lovell: The Churchills: In Love and War. WW Norton & Company, London 2011. p. 74.
  5. ^ Anne Jordan: Love Well the Hour: The Life of Lady Colin Campbell (1857-1911). Matador, Leicester 2010, p. 100.
  6. ^ Mary S. Lovell: The Churchills: In Love and War. WW Norton & Company, London 2011. p. 75.
personal data
SURNAME Peers-Williams, Edith
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Finch, Edith Countess of Aylesford
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British nobles
DATE OF BIRTH before 1871
DATE OF DEATH June 23, 1897
Place of death London