Social Victorians/People/Goelet

Also Known As

• Family name: Goelet, Göelet

Overview

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.

Miss May Goelet 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.

Interviewed for the podcast Past Loves, 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 [sic] 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.

Ogden Goelet died on his yacht the Mayflower at Cowes, Isle of Wight, having been attended by William Broadbent, physician to the Prince of Wales.

Mrs. Mary Wilson Goelet, May's mother, was also called May. A taint of unsavoriness accompanied her, not only because of her cold, competitive nature but also because her father had made his fortune — perhaps $500,000 — profiteering after the U.S. Civil War by selling blankets made of cotton but supposed to have been made of wool.

Acquaintances, Friends and Enemies

According to Matthew Thomas, 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. Lord Shaftesbury
12. George Cornwallis-West
13. 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.
14. Christmas 1902: American William (Billy) Woodward

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.)

1897 August 27, Ogden Goelet died on his yacht the Mayflower at Cowes, Isle of Wight, having been ill for two months. His body was taken back to New York and his funeral held on the yacht.

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. For the podcast Past Loves 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.

The New York newspapers described the chaos at the church in more detail:

A mob of 5,000 'well-dressed' women had descended upon the church and thrown the neighborhood into an uproar. Hastily Police Captain Murphy had sent for 125 reinforcements for his original detail of 15 patrolmen but the law remained powerless to deal with the more determined of the mob.

They raged about, shouting "I want to see the Duke," and "I've seen the bride," and generally cluttering the way of more genteel folk. Dozens of women lifted the canopy to the church door and crawled under it in an attempt to see the bride. Police dragged them out by the ankles. Others invaded the coal cellar of the church, climbed over piles of coal and sought to made their way to the nave. Some even battled their way into the church house and a few got as far as the vestry room.

... /

It was, said the Herald, an opinion held unanimously: "That such an assemblage of ill behaved persons should be permitted to obstruct the approaches to a church so that the bridal party and the guests were subjected to most unpleasant experiences was universally conceded to be disgraceful."

Police Commissioner Green wearily noted that if the horde had been composed of men: "We'd have used very different tactics."

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.

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

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 "C Rook").

A posting in Reddit shows a different view of May Goelet in costume, probably copied from an illustration in a newspaper, possibly in an American newspaper announcement of her engagement to Henry, Duke of Roxburghe in 1903. (A slightly better version of the same image appears in the "Social Encyclopedia" Alchetron, with the caption "Our New American Duchess, Miss May Goelet Who is engaged to be married to the Duke of Roxburgh; she is shown here in fancy dress.") The photograph in the Reddit post and the one published in the commemorative album were both taken by the photographer John Thomson with the same backdrop, so probably in the same session.

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."
• The Princess of Pless "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

• The only source that identifies Miss May Goelet as Scherezade is the commemorative album: none of the newspapers gets more specific than "Assyrian Queen." Dressing as a very well-known fictional character was clever on May Goelet's part: she is recognizable, but she is not claiming connections to the historical, especially England's or Europe's past.
• May's well-designed dress is of a light silk fabric striped with gold. The heavy trim stiffens the hem of the dress, making it hang in a kind of A-line. May's foundation garments give this costume its distinctive Victorian look and exaggerate her already small waist. The heavy trim at the top of the bodice and the jewelry at her neck are balanced by the heavily embroidered hem of the dress and the ends of the sashes. Except for the trim and the flowers attached to the knots of the sash, this dress is actually quite simple, with a much more modern look for this young woman than what, say, the House of Worth might have made for her. Her wealth is in the trim rather than frou-frou on the dress.
• She is wearing 3 sashes made of a soft, light silk, with complex knots and heavily jeweled ends. Although we cannot see it in the black-and-white photographs, the sashes were in 3 light colors, pink, lilac and blue. The knot on her left hip may have a flower tied or sewn into it. Rather than adding bulk, the sashes and light fabric of the dress emphasize her tiny waist.
• In the photograph from the commemorative album, she is lying on a chaise, holding her head up with her left arm. Behind and below a velvet pillow are at least 2 separate types of fabric, which are likely her train and the 3rd sash. The embroidered brocade train is draped to cover the chaise. Above the train and behind the pillow is a translucent, light-weight fabric similar to what was used in the other sashes. It is spread open to show the hem and decorative stitching. The borders at the bottom of the sashes are the same size but the patterns of the embroidery and beading are different.
• May Goelet's headdress is made up of an extravagant curled plume on top, a crown-like cap, a filet around her forehead holds an enormous cabochon jewel framed with diamonds. The cap and filet are covered with jewels. Hanging below the cabochon is another large ornament that falls between her eyes. Attached to the sides of the headdress above her ears are large flowers. Strings of pearls hang below the flowers on either side. The Queen describes and shows an aigrette, but the photographs clearly show a curled plume.
• She is wearing a number of bracelets on her arms and three substantial necklaces, although we can see only two in the album portrait. She is wearing some kind of beaded belt that falls below below the sash tied around her waist.

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. Mary Wilson Goelet's sister Grace married Cornelius Vanderbilt III
• Duke of Marlborough
• Winston Churchill
• Mrs. Mary Wilson Goelet's sister Belle married Sir Michael Henry Herbert, whose older brother was the 13th Earl of Pembroke
• Mrs. Mary Wilson Goelet's brother Marshall Orme Wilson married Carrie Astor, whose parents were William and Caroline Astor

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. Ogden Goelet had 3 boats at the time of the ball: his schooner the Norseman, his yacht the Mayflower, and the White Ladye, which he had leased from Lillie Langtry beginning in 1893.
3. 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. Miss West was Shelagh Cornwallis-West. 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).