Social Victorians/People/Goelet

Also Known As

• Family name: Goelet, Göelet

Overview

• Father died on his yacht at Cowes in August 1897

Miss Mary Goelet, like her mother, went by the name May. Her mother engineered her entry into the marriage market beginning in 1895 when May was a bridesmaid in Consuelo Vanderbilt's wedding in New York and in the UK in May 1897, when May was presented to the queen. About 20 men were said or rumored to have proposed to her, although the parties denied it for some of the newspaper reports.

She was successful in finding a place in the British aristocracy in large part because of her wealth and familiarity with public life. At the end of the 19th century she was the wealthiest American heiress after Consuelo Vanderbilt.

Matthew Thomas describes May Goelet as a hostess after she married and was Duchess of Roxburghe:

She was into entertaining in the same way that the Astors were into entertaining. Lady Astor reputedly had solid gold cutlery. She was world famous for it, the best hostess in the world, and I think that May had almost been brought up to be that, to emulate that and entertaining with a bit of panache was something very American – that whole sort of society impactful event hosting. But I can’t help but think that Henry was just trying to hide all the time. I don’t think he would have liked it. I think he would have really struggled with it. I think he was quite private and quite sort of you know, not introverted as such, but I just get this sense that he would’ve always been tried to be reigning her in and you know ‘do we have to?’ I feel that sort of question would have been asked a lot. But I think she was great, she fitted in really really well. Fishing – there’s a couple of miles of the River Tweed on the estate here, one of the best, if not the best, salmon fishing river in Scotland and she could fish with the best of them.

Acquaintances, Friends and Enemies

Matthew Thomas says that he has compiled a list of 20 men who were reported to have proposed to Miss May Goelet:

1. 1897: William Montagu, 9th Duke of Manchester, 20 years old at the time the rumor was printed in the Daily Telegraph. May "been to the theatre with his mother," so it is possible he "misconstrue[d] the signals."
2. Late December 1898: Henry, Viscount Crichton, eldest son and heir of the 4th Earl Erne. They knew and liked each other, but they were not social equals.
3. Hugo von Hohenlohe, "a German Prince, aged around 50 at the time he was pursuing May Goelet," who "agreed to pay [Lucius O’Brien, an Irish lawyer] the sum £10,000" to "secure him a marriage contract with May Goelet." He could not afford to pay, which caused a scandal that was widely reported in the German newspapers.
4. "Captain Oswald Ames of the Lifeguards six feet, eight inches of cavalryman."
5. Prince Francis of Teck
6. 1899: Henry, Duke of Roxburghe
7. Prince Heinrich of Bavaria
8. "Prince Henri of Orléans , grandson of King Louis Philippe of France"
9. "Viscount Ingestre, heir to the Earl of Shrewsbury"
10. "Grand Duke Boris Romanov, the Tsar’s cousin"
11. 1901: Michael Myers writing from San Jose, Colorado, completely out of the blue; he calls her Princess May, says he is going to inherit $15 million and wonders if she wants to marry.

Organizations

Mrs. May Wilson Goelet in New York

• Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred," the "Ultra-fashionable 150"
• The "marrying Wilsons," named for large family of sisters she came from who married well

Timeline

1877, May Wilson and Ogden Goelet married in New York.

1895 November 6, Sunny (Charles Richard John) Spencer-Churchill and Consuelo Vanderbilt married at St. Thomas Church, New York City, New York. Miss May Goelet was a bridesmaid. Henry, Duke of Roxburghe was first-cousin of Sunny Spencer-Churchill, and if he attended this wedding in New York, they might have met.

1897 May, Miss May Goelet was presented to Queen Victoria.

28 June 1897, Monday, Queen Victoria hosted an enormous garden party at Buckingham Palace that included many royals and foreign dignitaries who were in London for the Diamond Jubilee. Both Miss May Goelet and Henry, Duke of Roxburghe were present. Even though the party was so large, the fact that she was so wealthy and eligible and that he was so high status and eligible means they could have met if they had not met before.

1897 July 2, Friday, Mr. Ogden Goelet, Mrs. May Goelet, and Mary Goelet attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball at Devonshire House. (Ogden Goelet is #502 in the list of people who attended; Mrs. May Goelet is #503; and Miss Mary Goelet is #228.)

1903 August 20 and 25 and September 3, the Goelets attended the America's Cup in New York; Henry, Duke of Roxburghe was present as well.

1903 November 10, Mary Goelet and Henry John Innes-Ker, Duke of Roxburghe married in St. Thomas Church, New York City, New York, the same church used by Consuelo Vanderbilt. Because of mourning in the Goelet family, a firm decorated the church to reduce its apparent size, making this a more intimate wedding. The public interest in the wedding meant that crowds followed the couple, even on their way to the wedding. Matthew Thomas describes the scene at the church:

Her carriage pulls up. There’s already been scuffles with a number of, a large number of women who tried to gain entry to the church uninvited. So the police are actively fighting with women keeping them out of the church. Some women find a manhole that they end up going underneath the church, coming up in a part of the church that isn’t guarded from everybody. So there’s these women literally crawling out from underneath the ground to try to get in to this great event. ... But yes the carriage gets mobbed. She gets kind of rushed in under guard almost. People want to touch her. They’re grabbing hold of her wedding dress. She’s a, you know, total celebrity. But scary I would think.

Costumes at the Duchess of Devonshire's 2 July 1897 Fancy-dress Ball

Mr. Ogden Goelet, Mrs. May Goelet, and Mary Goelet, called Miss Ogden Göelet, attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball.

Mary Goelet as Scheherazade. ©National Portrait Gallery, London.

John Thomson's portrait (right) of "Mary (née Goelet), Duchess of Roxburghe as Scheherazade" in costume is photogravure #243 in the album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire and now in the National Portrait Gallery. The printing on the portrait says, "Miss Goelet as Scheherazade," with a Long S in Miss.

Another image of her in costume appeared in the Queen (top right of the page, the numeral 15 below the line drawing, full front, the drawing is similar to her costume in her photograph, headdress and bare arms emphasized; the drawing apparently signed by "Rook").

Miss Mary Göelet was among the Suite of Ladies in the "Oriental" procession.

Newspaper Accounts

• "Miss Ogden Goelet, as a lady of the Assyrian court, was attired in a beautiful robe of golden gauze, glittering with multi-coloured jewels, and draped at the waist with soft sashes of crêpe de chine in pale shades of mauve, pink, and blue."
• "There were two queens of Sheba, one of whom, the Princess of Pless, was most lovely. Her dress was one of the most superb things ever seen. It must have cost several hundred pounds. She was followed by five black attendants and six maidens, one of whom was Miss Goelet, whose dress was another marvellous triumph."
• "Miss Goelett (Assyrian Queen), gold embroidered gauze with pink, blue, and mauve sashes."
• Accompanying the line drawing in the Queen is this description:

  Made by Mrs Mason, 4, New Burlington Street, W. … No. 15. MISS GORLET [sic], Lady of the Assyrian Court. — Gown of gold-striped / gauze over gold tissue, richly embroidered with gold and jewels; three sushes [s/b: sashes?] in pink, lilac, and blue, also embroidered; Assyrian headdress in jewels, with aigrette.

• Lady Violet Greville says that Miss Mary Goelet, "a very pretty girl, made quite a sensation at the Duchess of Devonshire's ball."

Mrs. May Goelet

The costume worn by Mrs. May Goelet, Mary's mother, is mentioned in one American newspaper, the Providence [Rhode Island] Evening Telegram:

• "Mrs. Goelet in the character of Night shone in a blaze of diamonds."

Commentary on Mary Goelet's Costume

• Mary Goelet's headdress is made up of a plume on top, a crown-like cap, a circlet around her forehead with a large jewel attached and hanging from the center over her eyes, with flowers, perhaps on both sides above her ears. Strings of pearls hang from the headdress on either side.
• Her dress is of a light fabric striped with gold.
• She is wearing two sashes with complex knots made of a soft, light silk, with heavily jeweled ends. The knot on the left may have a flower tied or sewn into it.
• She is lying on a velvet pillow with at least 2 separate types of fabric behind her. The one on the bottom appears to be an embroidered brocade, perhaps her train. Above that and behind the pillow is a lighter fabric with a border, which may be part of one of the sashes.
• She is wearing a number of bracelets on her arms and two substantial necklaces.

Ferdinand Keller, Scheherazade und Sultan Schariar, 1880

Scheherazade

Scheherazade, Sophie Anderson

Brangwyn, Arabian Nights, 1896

By the end of the 19th century in the UK, the collection of stories called or based on One Thousand and One Nights would have been familiar to anyone with more than the most basic literacy.

In this famous example of a framing narrative — of stories within stories — Scherazade (the German spelling has been preserved in English from early 19th-century translations) saves her own life by telling the sultan her husband a story every night for 1,001 nights. The framing narrative as well as a number of the stories were treated by artists in the 19th century and would likely have been recognizable images.

For example, Scheherazade (left), a portrait by Sophie Gengembre Anderson, dates from the 2nd half of the 19th century. Anderson (1823 – 10 March 1903) was born in Paris, grew up in France and the US but is identified as a British painter because the family moved to London in 1854.

The painting of Sherazade telling one of the stories with a large gesture with her left arm is Ferdinand Keller's 1880 Scheherazade und Sultan Schariar (top right).

"Sheherazade Telling the Stories" (bottom right) is Frank Brangwyn's illustration from Edward William Lane's 6-volume translation of the stories, published in 1896.

The collection of stories has also been called Arabian Nights since a translation into English c. 1706–1721 used that name, followed by subsequent translations that used that title as well, including Edward William Lane's 1896 translation.

Some of the stories commonly associated with the Arabian Nights — particularly "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp" and "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" — were not part of the collection in the original Arabic versions, but were instead added to the collection by French translator Antoine Galland after he heard them from Syrian writer Hanna Diyabduring the latter's visit to Paris. ... Other stories, such as "The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor", had an independent existence before being added to the collection.

Demographics

• Nationality: both, American

Residences

• Roxburghe: Floors Castle, Scotland
• Goelets, in London: Wimbourne House

Family

• Ogden Goelet (11 June 1851 – 27 August 1897)
• May (Mary Rita) Wilson Goelet (December 12, 1855 – February 23, 1929)

1. Mary Goelet (6 October 1878 – 26 April 1937)
2. Robert Wilson Goelet (1880–1966)

• Mary Goelet (6 October 1878 – 26 April 1937)
• Henry John Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe (24 July 1876 – 29 September 1932)

1. George Victor Robert John Innes-Ker (7 September 1913 – 26 September 1974)

Relations

• Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt
• Duke of Marlborough
• Winston Churchill

Demographics

• Nationality: both, American

Residences

• Roxburghe: Floors Castle, Scotland
• Goelets, in London: Wimbourne House

Family

• Ogden Goelet (11 June 1851 – 27 August 1897)
• May (Mary Rita) Wilson Goelet (December 12, 1855 – February 23, 1929)

1. Mary Goelet (6 October 1878 – 26 April 1937)
2. Robert Wilson Goelet (1880–1966)

• Mary Goelet (6 October 1878 – 26 April 1937)
• Henry John Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe (24 July 1876 – 29 September 1932)

1. George Victor Robert John Innes-Ker (7 September 1913 – 26 September 1974)

Relations

• Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt
• Duke of Marlborough
• Winston Churchill

Questions and Notes

1. "At the time of her marriage to the Duke of Roxburghe, [Mary Goelet] was the wealthiest American heiress, with a dowry of twenty million dollars, exceeded only by Consuelo Vanderbilt in the wealth brought to the transatlantic marriages of the pre-1914 era" ("Mary Goelet." Wikipedia).
2. The Suite of Ladies in the Oriental procession at the Duchess of Devonshire's 1897 fancy-dress ball included the following: a Miss West, Mary Goelet, Lady C. Grosvenor, and Miss Oppenheim. The identity of Miss West is even more uncertain than that of Lady C. Grosvenor or Hon. R. Grosvenor. Mary Goelet was 18 years old at the time of the ball; Lady Constance Grosvenor almost 22; Miss Rosalind Oppenheim's age is uncertain, but she cannot be younger than about 30 (her father remarried in 1868).