Mary Victoria (Leiter) Curzon (1870 - 1906)

Born 27 May 1870 in Chicago, Illinois, United States

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 18 Jul 1906 at age 36 in Carlton House Terrace, Westminster, London, England

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Biography

Mary Victoria Leiter, born in Chicago, was the daughter of Levi Leiter and Mary Carver. Her father was the wealthy co-founder of Field and Leiter dry goods business, and later partner in the Marshall Fields retail empire. On her father's side, she was of Swiss-German descent. Her family moved to Washington, D.C. in 1881 and entered the exclusive circle of official society there. They lived for several years in the former home of James G. Blaine on Dupont Circle. She was taught dancing, singing, music, and art at home by tutors and learned the French language from her French governess. A Columbia University professor taught her history, arithmetic, and chemistry.

The United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, Thomas F. Bayard, introduced Mary to London society in 1894. She met George Curzon, a Conservative Member of Parliament and heir to the Barony of Scarsdale. They were married on 22 April 1895 at St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., by Bishop Talbot, assisted by the Rev. Dr. Mackay Smith, the pastor of the church.

Mary played an important role in the reelection of her husband to Parliament that autumn and many thought that his success was due more to the charm of his wife than to his own speeches. They had three daughters, Mary Irene (later Lady Ravensdale), in 1896, Cynthia Blanche (first wife of Sir Oswald Mosley), on 23 August 1898, lastly, Alexandra Naldera, on 20 April 1904 (wife of Edward "Fruity" Metcalfe, the best friend, best man, and equerry of Edward VIII), best known as Baba Metcalfe.

Her husband accepted the position of Viceroy of India and was elevated to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Curzon of Kedleston in the summer of 1898 at age thirty-nine. On 30 December they arrived in Bombay. She gained the title vicereine, as wife of the viceroy, a title of the British aristocracy. They were greeted in Calcutta a few days later with great enthusiasm. The Indian poet Ram Sharma referred to her in his welcome address to Lord Curzon of Kedleston, as:

"A rose of roses bright A vision of embodied light."

Another declared her to be:

"Like a diamond set in gold the full moon in a clear autumnal sky."

Lady Curzon contributed to the design of the beautiful coronation robe of Queen Alexandra of Great Britain, made from gold fabric woven and embroidered in the same factory in Chandni Chauk, Delhi, where she ordered all the materials for her own state gowns. The factory owner said that she was the best dressed woman in the world—an opinion shared by others. She was an invaluable commercial agent for fabric manufacturers in India. She wore Indian fabrics, and as a result many of them became fashionable.

When they returned to England after Curzon's resignation in August 1905, Mary's health was failing. She died on 18 July 1906 at home at 1 Carlton House Terrace, Westminster, London, at age thirty-six.

She was decorated with the award of the Imperial Order of the Crown of India and with the Kaisar-i-Hind Gold Medal.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ http://www.thepeerage.com/p14314.htm#i143134

• Wikipedia