Millicent Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Singer Sargent : Millicent Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland, oil on canvas, 1904

Millicent Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland CBE (born October 20, 1867 in Dysart , Fife as Lady Millicent Fanny St. Clair-Erskine ; † August 20, 1955 ibid) was a British society lady and social reformer .

Life

Lady Millicent Fanny St. Clair-Erskine was the eldest daughter of the wealthy landowner and politician Robert Francis St. Clair-Erskine, 4th Earl of Rosslyn (1833-1890) and his wife Lady Blanche Adeliza Fitzroy (1839-1933), a daughter by Henry Fitzroy and Jane Elizabeth Beauclerk.

On October 20, 1884, in Knightsbridge, London, Lady Millicent married the Scottish aristocrat Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Earl of Sutherland , the eldest son of George Granville Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 3rd Duke of Sutherland and Anne Hay-Mackenzie, Countess of Cromartie ( Peeress in her own right ). The couple lived at Dunrobin Castle , where their husband died in 1913 after a long illness. The marriage, which all reports said was a happy one, had four children:

  • Victoria Elizabeth (1885-1888)
  • George Granville (1888–1963), 5th Duke of Sutherland
⚭ 1912 Lady Eileen Gwladys Butler (1891–1943)
⚭ 1944 Clare Josephine O'Brian (1903–1998)
  • Alastair (1890–1921) ⚭ 1918 Elizabeth Hélène Gardner Demarest (1892–1931)
  • Rosemary Millicent (1893–1930 in a plane crash) ⚭ 1919 William Humble Eric Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley (1894–1969). Before she married, she was the lover of Edward, Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VIII .
King George V and Queen Mary inspect the hospital in Calais

During their marriage, Lady Millicent was involved in several charitable organizations, including Highland Home Industries ( Harris Tweed ) - a major concern was education and health. In addition to nursing the sick, she also took care of people's social needs. She campaigned for the abolition of lead-containing and thus toxic colors (glazes) in ceramic production . These activities earned her the nickname "Meddlesome Millie" (roughly: intrusive Millie).

During the First World War , Lady Millicent, as sister Millicent , founded and directed a hospital for wounded soldiers , first in Wimereux and later in Calais . Here she also met doctor Louisa Garrett Anderson .

Name in different phases of life

  • 1867-1884 Lady Millicent St. Clair-Erskine
  • 1884-1892 Millicent Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Countess of Sutherland
  • 1892–1913 Millicent Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland
  • 1913-1914 Millicent Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Dowager Duchess of Sutherland
  • 1914–1919 ( canceled ) Lady Millicent FitzGerald (Brig.-Gen. Percy Desmond FitzGerald)
  • 1919–1955 (canceled 1925) Lady Millicent Hawes (Lt.-Col. George Ernest Hawes)

Awards

Worth mentioning

literature

  • Denis Stuart: Dear Duchess: Millicent Duchess of Sutherland, 1867-1955 , David & Charles (1982) ISBN 0-575-03020-8
  • KD Reynolds: Aristocratic Women and Political Society in Victorian Britain (1998)
  • Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden: The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom , Gloucester, UK: Alan Sutton Publishing (2000)
  • Peter W. Hammond: The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times , Gloucestershire, UK: Sutton Publishing (1998)
  • Charles Mosley: Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage , Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd (2003)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rachel Trethewey (The History Press, 2018) Before Wallis: Edward VIII's other women
personal data
SURNAME Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Millicent Fanny St. Clair-Erskine; Millicent FitzGerald; Millicent Hawes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British society lady and social reformer
DATE OF BIRTH October 20, 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH Dysart , Fife , Scotland
DATE OF DEATH 20th August 1955
Place of death Dysart , Fife , Scotland