The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-10-25

Miss Goelet will be the fifth British
American duchess, but her title will be
only the third of British ducal rank to
be conferred on an American, for, by a
curious coincidence, the present quar-
tette of American duchess shares only
two titles between them, those of Man
chester and Marlborough. In point
of seniority, Consuel, Dowager Duchess
of Manchester, comes first, and her
son paid her the compliment of shar-
ing his title with another American,
Miss Helena Zimmerman of Cincin-
natl. Lillian, Dowager. Duchess of
Marlborough, who is now the wife of
Lord William Beresford, and was for
merly Mrs. Hamersley, is said to be
the most British of American wearers
of strawberry leaves, and has settled
down as lady bountiful in the typ
ically English country town of Dork-
ing. The reigning Duchess of MARI
borough, who is a namesake and god
daughter of the Dowager Duchess of
Manchester, was, as all the world
knows. Miss Consuelo Vanderbilt of
New York.
There are only two American mar
chionesses, the Marchioness of Duffer-
in and Ava, who was Miss Flora Da-
Wis of New York, and the Dowager
Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, who
was Miss King of Georgia. Lady Duff
FERN married the marquis when he
was Lord Terence Blackwood and, be-
ing only a second son, was extremely
improbable that he would ever succeed
to his fathers title. 1t was through the
tragic death of his elder borther, the
Earl of Ava, in the South African war,
that he became, on the death of his ia
Their, Marquis of Dufferin and Ava.
The marchioness is considered clever
and accomplished, and is quite content
to live in her adopted country.
Quite number of British and belt
ed earls have welded American brides.
The Countess of Craven was still
schoolgirl when she became the wife
of the Earl. She was a daughter of
Mr.. and Mrs. Bradley Martin of New
York, who since their child's marriage
have made their home almost entirely
in Great Britain. Lady Essex, who is
her husbands second wife, was said to
be one of the loveliest American girls
ever seen in English society. AS Miss
Adela Grant, she was at one time en-
gagged to the late Lord Cairns. She is
the fortunate mistress of one of the
most beautiful and stately of English
country houses, Glastonbury Park. Yet
another American countess is Lady
Oxford; she married the peer who bears
the honored name of Horace Robert
Walpole fifteen years ago, being at the
time Miss Corbin of New York. The
youngest American countess is Lady
Donoughmore, once Miss Elena Grace.
She was before her marriage we'll
known in English society, for her ia
Their has made his home in that coun-
try for many years past, and is now
tenant of Battle Abbey. A future
countess is Lady Deerhurst, the wife
of the Earl of Coventry's eldest son
and heir. She was Miss Virginia
Bonynge of California. Cora, Countess
of Strafford, owes her immense wealth
to her first husband, S. Colgate. She
has continued since her widowhood to
make England her home.
ut is difficult to keep pace with the
barons who have crossed the Atlantic
for their wives" says The Sketch.
1.-The first woman so sought was Miss
Helen Magruder, whose wedding to
the late Lord Abinger took place just
forty years ago. the same year as that
of King Edward and Queen Alexandra.
Lady Abinger has always been popu-
lar in the more serious section of the
great world, and she was one of the
earliest and is one of the most fervent
of the Christian Scientists. Perhaps
the most prominent of American bar
onesses is the lovely Vieereine of India.
When she married her distinguished
husband, Miss May Victoria Letter be-
came plain Mrs. George Nathaniel
Curzon, but she has now been a peer
ess for six years. Lady Halkett was
Miss Phelps Stokes of New York. and
Lady Vernon also belonged before her
marriage to the New York four hun
dred. Curously enough, only one fair
Bostonian has married into the Brit
ish peerage-that is the charming
woman who became the third wife of
the celebrated Lord Playfair, and who
was before her marriage Miss Edith
Russell of Boston. Another reigning
American baroness is Lady Newbor-
ough, who was Miss Grace Bruce Carr
of Kentucky.
MANY of the most brilliant Ameri-
can women in society are not actually
peeresses though in some cases they