Social Victorians/People/John Milton Hay

Also Known As

• Family name: Hay
• A Mr and Mrs. Alistair Hay and a Mr. Claude Hay attended social events at this time, may not be related.

Acquaintances, Friends and Enemies

Friends

• Abraham Lincoln
• John George Nicolay
• William McKinley
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Alvey A. Adee

Organizations

• U.S. Union Army
• N.Y. Tribune
• U.S. Department of State
  • Ambassador to the Court of St. James's (3 May 1897 – 3 September 1898)

Timeline

1874, John Milton Hay and Clara Stone married.

1876 December 29, the collapse of the bridge over Ohio's Ashtabula River holding a train that crashed, killing 92 people, was blamed on Clara Stone's father, Amasa Stone.

1883, Amasa Stone killed himself.

1897 May 3, John Hay was appointed ambassador to the Court of St. James's.

1897 July 2, Mr. and Mrs. Hay and Miss Hay attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball at Devonshire House. (Clara Hay is #153 on the list of people who were present; John Hay is #187; Helen Hay is #508.)

1898 August 14, John Hay received a telegram from William McKinley, asking him to be Secretary of State. According to John Taliaferro, he accepted and took his leave from Queen Victoria, who "invited him again the following day, and subsequently pronounced him, 'the most interesting of all the Ambassadors I have known.'"

1902, Helen Hay and Payne Whitney married.

USA — John Hay — by "Spy," Vanity Fair 24 June 1897

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

Mr. John and Mrs. Clara Hay

At the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball, John Hay sat at Table 9 and Clara Hay sat at Table 4 in the first seating for supper. The Westminster Gazette says, "Mrs. John Hay was one of the various Princesses de Lamballe."

We know nothing about John Hay's costume, although perhaps he is the unnamed person who was dressed as George Washington. In its 24 June 1897 issue, Vanity Fair published a caricature portrait (right) of John Hay as Number 684 in its "Men of the Day" series. The title of the portrait, by Leslie Ward ("Spy") is USA, a reference to Hay's role as ambassador from the US to the Court of St. James's.

Miss Helen Hay

Miss Hay is probably Helen Hay (later Whitney).

• She was dressed as a "lady of the Court of Louis XV.," in a "Louis XV. bodice of cerise satin, opening over a waistcoat of Pompadour brocaded silk, trimmed bows and ruches of muslin; short skirt of Pompadour brocaded silk, paniers of cerise satin."
• "MISS HAY, as Lady of the Court of Louis XV., wore a bodice of cerise satin, opening to show the waistcoat of Pompadour brocaded silk, and trimmed with bows and ruches of muslin; the sleeves were puffed with lace; the short skirt was of Pompadour brocaded silk, the lower part trimmed with a large ruche of the same material, while the upper half was covered with paniers of cerise wain, which at the back reached to the ground; the headdress consisted of red plumes and a cerise bow."

Demographics

• Nationality: American

Residences

• London: "a Georgian house on Carlton House Terrace, overlooking Horse Guards Parade, with 11 servants"

Family

• John Milton Hay (October 8, 1838 – July 1, 1905)
• Clara Stone (1849–1914)

1. Helen Hay Whitney (11 March 1875 – 24 September 1944)
2. Adelbert Barnes Hay
3. Alice Evelyn Hay Wadsworth Boyd
4. Clarence Leonard Hay

Notes and Questions

1. The Morning Post says "the Speaker and Mrs. J. Hay" came to the ball. The Speaker of the House of Commons was not Mr. J. Hay, of course, who was Ambassador to the Court of St. James, but William Court Gully, who went to the ball with his wife and daughter.

Hay's Works

• The Bread-Winners, 1883 (anti-labor?)