Social Victorians/People/Kilmorey

Also Known As

• Family name: Needham
• Earl of Kilmorey
  • Francis Charles Needham, 3rd Earl of Kilmorey (20 June 1880 – 28 July 1915)
• Viscount of Kilmorey
• Viscount Newry and Mourne (a courtesy title for the heir presumptive and eldest son of the Earl of Kilmorey)
  • Francis Needham (1832 – 6 May 1851)
  • Francis Charles Needham (6 May 1851 – 20 June 1880)
  • Francis Charles Adelbert Henry Needham (26 November 1883 – 28 July 1915)
• Viscountess Newry
  • Anne Amelia Colville Needham (1839 – 6 January 1900)

Acquaintances, Friends and Enemies

Nellie (Ellen Constance) Needham, Countess of Kilmorey

• Prince Francis of Teck, the son not the duke, who bequeathed the Teck emeralds to her
• Albert Edward, Prince of Wales

Organizations

Francis Charles Needham, 3rd Earl of Kilmorey

• Eton College
• Christ Church, Oxford
• Captain, South Down Militia (1868 – 1880)
• Member of Parliament, Conservative, for Newry (1871 – 1874)
• Representative Peer, Ireland (1881 – 1915)
• Knight, Order of St. Patrick (1890)
• Yeomanry Aide-de-Camp to King Edward VII (1901)

Timeline

1839, Francis Needham, Viscount Newry, and Anne Amelia Colville married.

1881 June 23, Francis Charles Needham, 3rd Earl of Kilmorey and Ellen Constance Baldock married.

1897 July 2, Friday, Nellie, Countess of Kilmorey attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball at Devonshire House.

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

Portrait de la comtesse Du Barry en Flore, 1769 (reproduced by Jean-Pol Grandmont)

Nellie (Ellen), Countess of Kilmorey in costume as Comtesse du Barri. ©National Portrait Gallery, London.

At the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball, Nellie (Ellen Countess of Kilmorey (at 207) sat at Table 11 and was dressed as Madame du Barry in the Louis XV and XVI period quadrille.

John Thomson's portrait of "Ellen Constance ('Nellie') Needham (née Baldock), Countess of Kilmorey as Comtesse du Barri" in costume is photogravure #252 in the album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire and now in the National Portrait Gallery. The printing on the portrait says, "The Countess of Kilmorey as Comtesse du Barri," with a Long S in Countess and Comtesse.

Madame du Barry (19 August 1743 – 8 December 1793) — Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry — was in the court of Louis XV, his last "official" mistress, and guillotined during the Reign of Terror.

The portrait (left) of Madame du Barry, painted by François-Hubert Drouais in 1769, is not the original for the Countess of Kilmorey's costume, if an original exists. It is in the collections at the Versailles musée de l'Histoire de France.

Francis, Earl of Kilmorey was still alive at the time of the ball; where was he?

Demographics

• Nationality: Anglo-Irish

Family

• Francis Jack Needham, Viscount Newry and Mourne (2 February 1815 – 6 May 1851)
• Anne Amelia Colville Needham (– 6 January 1900)

1. Lucy Jane Needham (– 19 May 1917)
2. Frances Aline Catherine Mary Needham (– 3 Mar 1929)
3. Francis Charles Needham, 3rd Earl of Kilmorey (3 August 1842 – 28 July 1915)
4. Henry Colville Needham (20 Feb 1844 – 2 Aug 1917)
5. Edward Thomas Needham (6 Jan 1847 – 9 Jan 1916)
6. Margaret Needham (c. 1849 – 31 Jul 1940)

• Francis Charles Needham, 3rd Earl of Kilmorey (3 August 1842 – 28 July 1915)
• Ellen Constance Baldock ( – April 1920)

1. Francis Charles Adelbert Henry Needham, 4th Earl of Kilmorey (26 November 1883 – 11 January 1961)
2. Major Hon. Francis Edward Needham (6 March 1886 – 24 October 1955)
3. Lady Cynthia Almina Constance Mary Needham (7 November 1889 – 12 January 1947)

Notes and Questions

1. Francis Needham, Earl of Kilmorey is not listed as having attended the Duchess of Devonshire's 1897 fancy-dress ball.