Mildred,_Countess_of_Gosford

Mildred, Countess of Gosford

Mildred, Countess of Gosford

American heiress


The image used for the Palazzo Salis is the wrong one, as this shows the one at Soglio. The Countess lived at the Palazzo Salis at Bondo. I would be happy to provide you with an image of the same. You will find quite a number of views on the internet, such as this one

Quick Facts The Right HonourableThe Countess of Gosford, Born ...

Mildred Acheson, Countess of Gosford (born Caroline Mildred Carter) (March 2, 1888 – September 7, 1965) was an American heiress who married into the British aristocracy.

Early life

Her father, John Ridgeley Carter, by John Singer Sargent, 1901.

Mildred was born on March 2, 1888, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[1] Millie, as she was also known, was the only daughter of diplomat John Ridgeley Carter (1864–1944) and Alice (née Morgan) Carter (1865–1933).[2] Her younger brother was banker Bernard Shirley Carter, a prominent banker with Morgan, Harjes & Co. who married Louise Hope Thacher.[3]

Her paternal grandparents were Mary Buckner (née Ridgely) Carter and Bernard Carter, a member of the prominent Carter and Lee families of Virginia and was a descendant of Henry Lee III, the 9th Governor of Virginia. Her maternal grandparents were David Pierce Morgan and Carolyn (née Fellowes) Morgan. Her maternal uncle was William Fellowes Morgan Sr. and among her first cousins was William Fellowes Morgan Jr.

Her father was a diplomat of the United States, serving as the First Secretary to the American Embassy in London.[4] Later, he served as the U.S. Minister at Bucharest from November 14, 1909, until October 24, 1911. He also concurrently served as the U.S. Minister to Serbia and Bulgaria.[5]

In May 1908, noted American portrait painter John Singer Sargent painted a portrait of Mildred in London that was described at the time by The New York Times as "in the painter's best manner and brings out all of the innate sweetness of nature which has endeared Miss Carter to her English as much as to her American friends, all of whom agree that she has the wonderful tact and urbanity of her father."[6] She was presented at the Court of St James's in 1909.[1]

Personal life

Lady Acheson's home in Switzerland, Palazzo Salis.

The picture shown is of the Hotel Plazzo Salis in nearby Soglio. My grandmother spent summers from 1949to 1965 in the Palazzo Salis in Bondo, which she rented from the Salis family.

On June 21, 1910,[7] Mildred was married to Archibald Acheson, Viscount Acheson at St George's Hanover Square Church in London followed by a reception at Dorchester House.[lower-alpha 1] The Viscount Acheson was the eldest son, and eventual heir, of Archibald Acheson, 4th Earl of Gosford and Lady Louisa Montagu, a Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Alexandra.[9] His paternal grandfather was Archibald Acheson, 3rd Earl of Gosford and his maternal grandparents were William Montagu, 7th Duke of Manchester and the former Countess Louisa von Alten.[9] Together, Mildred and Archibald were the parents of the five children:[9]

  • Archibald Alexander John Stanley Acheson, 6th Earl of Gosford (1911–1966), who married Francesca Cagiati, eldest daughter of Francesco Cagiati.[10] They divorced in 1960 and he remarried to Cynthia Margaret Delius, the widow of Maj. James Pringle Delius and daughter of Capt. Henry Cave West MC.[9]
  • Lady Patricia Acheson (1911–1915), a twin who died in childhood.[9]
  • Hon. Patrick Bernard Victor Montagu Acheson (1915–2005), who married Judith Gillette, a daughter of Earle P. Gillette.[9]
  • Lady Mildred Camilla Nichola Acheson (1917–1988), who married Baron Hans Christoph Freiherr Schenk von Stauffenberg in 1937. She later married Axel Freiherr von dem Bussche-Streithorst in 1950.[9]
  • Lady Mary Virginia Shirley Acheson (1919–1996), who married Fernando Corcuera in Mexico in 1941.[9]

Viscount Acheson's father died in 1922 (shortly after selling the family seat Gosford Castle) and he succeeded to the earldom of Gosford. Five years later in 1927, the couple separated and Lord Gosford went to New York City.[11] The Countess of Gosford obtained a divorce in December 1927,[12] and he remarried to Beatrice (née Claflin) Breese,[13] a granddaughter of merchant Horace Brigham Claflin, on October 1, 1928.[14]

Mildred died on September 7, 1965, at Palazzo Salis, her home in Bondo, Switzerland.[1]

Descendants

Through her youngest daughter, Lady Mary, he was a grandfather of Jaime Corcuera Acheson (born 1955),[15] who married Archduchess Myriam of Austria, a daughter of Archduke Felix of Austria and granddaughter of King Charles I of Austria, in 1983.[16]


References

Notes
  1. Mildred had seven bridesmaids at her wedding, Lady Theodosia Acheson, sister of the bridegroom (later the wife of Alexander Cadogan); Lady Victoria Stanley (a daughter of Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby, later the wife of Neil James Archibald Primrose), Miss Elsie Nicoll of New York (sister of Courtlandt Nicoll), Mlle. Irene de Lagrange, Miss Camilla Morgan, the Hon. Rhoda Astley, and Miss Marian Scranton.[8]
Sources
  1. "Mildred, Countess of Gosford, Daughter of Diplomat, Is Dead" (PDF). The New York Times. 11 September 1965. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  2. Times, Special to The New York (9 November 1961). "BERNARD CARTER, BANKER, 68, DEAD; Head of the European Policy' Unit of Morgan Guaranty" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  3. Adams, Henry (1992). Henry Adams, Selected Letters. Harvard University Press. p. 423. ISBN 978-0-674-38757-7. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  4. "Gosford, Earl of (I, 1806)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  5. Montgomery, Maureen E. (2013). 'Gilded Prostitution': Status, Money and Transatlantic Marriages, 1870-1914. Routledge. p. 190. ISBN 978-1-136-21494-3. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  6. MacColl, Gail; Wallace, Carol McD (2012). To Marry an English Lord: Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery in the Gilded Age. Workman Publishing. pp. 307–10, 326–27, 350, 362. ISBN 978-0-7611-7198-0. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  7. Montague-Smith, Patrick W. (1995). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage. Debrett's Peerage Limited. p. 539. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  8. Almanach de Gotha: Annual Genealogical Reference. Almanach de Gotha. 2004. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-9532142-5-9. Retrieved 2 March 2020.

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