Wilhelmina FitzClarence

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The Countess featured on the cover of her autobiography

Wilhelmina FitzClarence, Countess of Munster (born June 27, 1830  in Dun House , Montrose, Scotland as Wilhelmina Kenedy-Erskine, † October 9, 1906 ) was a British nobleman and writer.

She was the daughter of Lady Augusta FitzClarence , an illegitimate daughter of Wilhelm IV. Wilhelmina, also called Mina, was born the day after Wilhelm IV ascended the throne. As a young girl she traveled through Europe and visited the farms in France and Hanover . In 1855 she married her cousin William FitzClarence, 2nd Earl of Munster . She was the mother of nine children. Among other things, the third and fourth Earl of Munster.

The Earl and Countess of Munster lived in Palmeira Square in Brighton . Later in her life she wrote novels and short stories, and published her first novel Dorinda and the second A Scotch Earl two years later in 1889. In 1896, Ghostly Tales , a collection of supernatural stories, appeared. In 1904 she published her autobiography My Memories and Miscellanies .

Life

Wilhelmina (right) with her mother Augusta and her two sisters.

Wilhelmina "Mina" Kennedy-Erskine was the second daughter of John Kennedy-Erskine and his wife Lady Augusta FitzClarence , an illegitimate daughter of Wilhelm IV. [1] [2] Her father was the second son of the 13th Earl of Cassilis, Captain the 16th Lancers and Equerry of King William. He died in 1831 at the age of 28.

Mina lived with her widowed mother and two sisters in a charming brick house on the Thames called Railshead, which was right next to her grandparents. King William visited the family frequently. When she was three or four years old, she had a very dangerous brain fever.

Five years after her father's death, her mother married Lord Frederick Gordon-Hallyburton. This displeased her first in-laws and they left Railshead. In 1837 her mother became housekeeper at Kensington Palace, succeeding her late sister Lady De L'Isle . Mina lived there until she got married. She and her sister Millicent liked music especially the Italian soprano Marietta Alboni .

From 1847 Mina traveled with her family through Europe to learn languages ​​and to finish her education. First they traveled to Dresden . Until 1849 they lived in Paris by the Arc de Triomphe . They were also received by Louis Philippe I and Queen Marie Amelie . They left the city after the February Revolution of 1848 . In 1850 they visited the court in Hanover and were received by Ernst Augustus, King of Hanover and his families. Then they returned to Kensington Palace and Mina and Millicent were introduced into society.

marriage

A caricature of her husband the Earl of Munster

Mina married her cousin William FitzClarence on April 17, 1855 in Wemyss Castle in a double wedding with her sister Millicent. His father George was her mother's brother. In her later years she became a writer. Their first child Edward was born within a year. Four of the nine children survived their mother:

  • Edward FitzClarence, Viscount FitzClarence (March 29, 1856–1870)
  • The Hon. Lionel Frederick Archibald FitzClarence (July 24, 1857– March 24, 1863)
  • Geoffrey George Gordon FitzClarence, 3rd Earl of Munster (July 18, 1859– February 2, 1902)
  • Hon. Arthur Falkland Manners FitzClarence (October 18, 1860– April 20, 1861)
  • Aubrey FitzClarence, 4th Earl of Munster (June 7, 1862– January 1, 1928)
  • Hon.William George FitzClarence (September 17, 1864 - October 8, 1899)
  • Hon. Harold Edward FitzClarence (November 15, 1870– August 28, 1926); Father of Geoffrey FitzClarence, 5th Earl of Munster
  • Lady Lillian Adelaide Katherine Mary FitzClarence (December 10, 1873– July 15, 1948), married Captain William Arthur Edward Boyd
  • Lady Dorothea Augusta FitzClarence (May 5, 1876– January 28, 1942), married Major Chandos Brydges Lee-Warner

The couple lived in Palmeira Square in Brighton . According to contemporary magazine The Lady's Realm , the couple had a harmonious marriage.

Literary career

Lady Munster later became a novelist and short story writer and wrote under the title Die Gräfin von Munster. At the age of almost sixty, she published two novels. Her first, Dorinda , in 1889, and her second, A Scotch Earl , in 1891. The storyline of Dorinda revolved around a young woman who eventually killed herself after stealing art from her friends. In 1888 she published an article on ballad singing in The Woman's World , a Victorian women's magazine. A Scotch Earl , a novel about a vulgar Scottish nobleman named Lord Invergordon, was less well received by contemporaries.

In 1896 she published the story collection Ghostly Tales .

In 1904 Lady Munster published her autobiography called My Memories and Miscellanies . When she died, the Manchester Guardian called this her major work.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Queen's Third Drawing Room . In: The Observer , March 27, 1831, p. 1. 
  2. ^ The Peerage: A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe http://www.thepeerage.com/p2438.htm#i24371 . Accessed February 11, 2015.

literature

  • Addison, Henry Robert; Oakes, Charles Henry (1901). Who's who. London: Adam & Charles Black.
  • Brooke, Douglas; Sladen, Wheelton (1907). Who's Who: An Annual Biographical Dictionary. London: Adam & Charles Black.
  • Cook, John Douglas; Harwood, Philip; Harris, Frank; Pollock, Walter Herries; Hodge, Harold (1897). " Fiction" . Saturday Review. London. 83 : 230.
  • Mosley, Charles, ed. (1999). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage (106th ed.). Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd.
  • Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage (107th ed.). Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd.
  • " Recent Novels" The Spectator. London: John Campbell. 66-67: 297,1891.
  • Reynolds, KD (2004). "FitzClarence, George Augustus Frederick, first earl of Munster (1794-1842)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 9542 .
  • " Short Notices" . The Academy and Literature. London. 66 : 454. April 23, 1904.

Web links

Commons : Augusta FitzClarence Kennedy-Erskine  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME FitzClarence, Wilhelmina
ALTERNATIVE NAMES FitzClarence, Countess of Munster, Wilhelmina (full name); Kenedy-Erskine, Wilhelmina (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British noblewoman and writer
DATE OF BIRTH June 27, 1830
PLACE OF BIRTH Dun House , Montrose, Scotland
DATE OF DEATH October 9, 1906