Social Victorians/Timeline/1910s

1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s-30s

1910

May 1910

Friday, 1910, 6 May, Edward VII, King of England, died. Saturday, 1910, 7 May, The Abbey Theatre in Dublin did not close for Edward VII's death, so Annie Horniman cut them off.

June 1910

Summer 1910: W. B. Yeats summered with Lady Gregory at Coole Park 1897-1917 or so, until WBY bought the Tower at Ballylee. (I got this from Wade?).

September 1910

1910, 26 September, George Pollexfen died.

December 1910

Sometime in December 1910, Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot," illustrated by Gilbert Holiday, was published in the Strand (Baring-Gould II 509).

1911

June 1911

Summer 1911: W. B. Yeats summered with Lady Gregory at Coole Park 1897-1917 or so, until WBY bought the Tower at Ballylee. (I got this from Wade?).

November 1911

21 November 1911, Tuesday

The Duchess of Marlborough held an at-home that included a sale of work by the wives of prisoners:

The Duchess of Marlborough held an "At-home" on Tuesday at Sunderland House, when there was a sale of work executed by prisoners' wives, in whom her Grace is greatly interested, and for whose benefit she has founded a home in Endsleigh-street. The sale began in the morning, and in the afternoon tea-tables were set out and prettily decorated with flowers in the beautiful entrance-hall, where a buffet was arranged. The Duchess of Marlborough received her guests at the entrance to the ballroom, wearing a gown of purple velvet, of a rather light shade, trimmed with old rose, and she had a long string of pearls round her neck. Assisting her Grace in selling were the Marchioness of Blandford, dressed entirely in black, the Hon. Mrs. Rupert Beckett, in a black coat and skirt, with white feathers in a black hat, the Hon. Mrs. Arthur Crichton, the Hon. Mrs. Algernon Bourke, and Mrs. lan Malcolm, who was much admired in dull purple, with pretty pink flowers in her hat.

Another report:

The Duchess of Marlborough was at home to her friends yesterday at Sunderland House, where a miscellaneous collection of needlework made by the wives of prisoners, who are provided for in a home supported by her grace, was displayed for sale.

The duchess devotes a great deal of time and much money to the maintenance of this institution, her main object being to help the wives of men who are undergoing short sentences to keep the home intact, and to clothe and feed the children, so that when the men are released they may have some incentive to turn to honest pursuits.

In connection with the women’s home there is a crêche, where children too young for school are cared for. Nurees bathe, dress, and feed the children, teach them instructive games, and in the summer play with them in the garden, where there is a sandpit. The equipment includes 12 cots for infants under 12 months.

The duchess also supports a wood-chopping yard in Holloway, where many of the prisoners are given employment on their release.

In the beautiful ball-room at Sunderland House, constructed of multi-coloured marbles, costly buhl and lacquer tables were used as counters at which prisoners’ wives sold articles of clothing made by themselves, being assisted by Lady Blandford, Mrs. Algernon Bourke, Mrs. Ian Malcolm, and the Duke of Marlborough's sisters.

The duchess, who entertained her helpers to luncheon, wore amethyst velours intersocted with bands of cerise galon, and a diamond neckband, and Lady Blandford and Lady Derby were dressed in black charmeuse. Lady Wemyss arrived late from Lady Glenconner’s concert, and Lady Newborough and Lady Massereene came in towards tea-time. The duchess had the support of numerous compatriots.

1912

Sometime in 1912, Florence Farr moved to Ceylon "to accept a position as Principal of Ramanathan College for Hindu Girls. According to W. B. Yeats, in the words of 'All Souls' Night', she

Preferred to teach a school
Away from Neighbour or friend
Among dark skins, and there
Permit foul years to wear,
Hidden from eyesight, to the unnoticed end. (Harper 74 175, n. 17)

June 1912

Summer 1912: W. B. Yeats summered with Lady Gregory at Coole Park 1897-1917 or so, until WBY bought the Tower at Ballylee. (I got this from Wade?).

1913

Summer 1913: W. B. Yeats summered with Lady Gregory at Coole Park 1897-1917 or so, until WBY bought the Tower at Ballylee. (I got this from Wade?).

7 May 1913, Wednesday

A Drawing-room was held:

The first Court after Eaeter is always the one at which pretty débutantes make their appearance. This year of 1913 has provided no exception to the rule; indeed, seldom have so many charming girls passed through the Throne Room as upon Wednesday night of last week upon the occasion of Their Majesties’ third Court. Everyone remarked Lady Iris Campbell, who came with her pretty mother, the Countess of Essex. With the Countess of Huntingdon appeared her second daughter, Lady Norah Hastings, just launched in the gay world; Lady Elcho, herself a beautiful woman still, presented a débutante daughter, Miss Mary Charteris, as well as her daughter-in-law, Lady Violet Charteris; Lady St. Levan introduced a second daughter, Miss Hilaria St. Aubyn; Viscountess Goschen presented her débutante daughter as well as her niece, the Countess of Cranbrook, and with Mrs. Algernon Bourke (very handsome in blue and gold) came Miss Daphne Bourke. Miss Edith Winn, instead of coming with her mother, Lady St. Oswald, was presented by Mrs Lawrence Drummond. who was also responsible for her own daughter, Miss Stella Drummond; unluckily, Lady St. Oswald was taken ill with an attack of phlebitis at the very last moment. The Countess Ferrers, herself presented on becoming a peeress, brought her daughter, Lady Joan Shirley; and Mrs Heber Percy, a daughter of Viscount Portman, brought the daughter for whom she has arranged a ball at the Ritz. Other débutantes of last week were Miss Joyce Calverley, a niece of the late Duchess of Rutland; Miss Phyllis Compton, a granddaughter of Lady Brougham; Miss Mary Studd, the handsome daughter of Major Studd, of the Coldstream Guards; Miss Maude, whose mother, with her twin sister, Mrs Skeffington Smyth, were well-known beauties in the eighties, and quite a number of others. The prettiest bride was Mrs Percy Wyndham, presented by her mother-in-law, Countess Grosvenor, whose apricot-coloured toilette suited her to perfection. A resplendent matron (English by birth, but German by adoption) was Princess Münster, who wore a wonderful confection of plum colour and gold. Mrs Lowther, wife of the Speaker, also looked splendid in mauve and apple green; with her came Miss Mildred Lowther. Two other very handsome brides were Mrs Kay-Shuttleworth and Mrs Bulkeley. The latter wore her wedding dress of white and gold brocade, and was presented by the Duchess of Devonshire.

Other articles about this Drawing-room were published in the London Daily Chronicle, Pall Mall Gazette, and the London Evening Standard.

1914

Summer 1914: W. B. Yeats summered with Lady Gregory at Coole Park 1897-1917 or so, until WBY bought the Tower at Ballylee. (I got this from Wade?).

11 May 1914, Monday

Dance at the Ritz Hosted by Mrs. George Marjoribanks

Mrs. George Marjoribanks gave a dance last night at the Ritz for her daughter. The ballroom was decorated with gilt baskets filled with crimson rhododendrons, while in the supper-room and foyer were large masses of Dorothy Perkins roses and hydrangeas of the same colour, relieved with variegated maples and other foliage. Among those who gave dinner parties, afterwards taking their guests on to the dance, were the Duchess of Rutland, Lady Tweedmouth, the Hon. Mrs. Cecil Bingham, Mrs. Gerard Leigh, Mrs. Caverley, Mrs. Julian Steele, and Mrs. H. Samuelson. Among the guests present were the Spanish Ambassador and Mme. Merry del Val, the United States Ambassador, Mrs. Page, and Miss Page, the Belgian Minister, the Countess de Lalaing and Countess Isabella de Lalaing, the Netherlands Minister and Mme. van Swinderen, the Liberian Minister and Mme. Crommelin, the Duchess of Abercorn and Lady Mary Hamilton, Mrs. John Astor, Sir George and Lady Alexander, the Marquess of Bath and Lady Emma Thynne, General and Mrs. Cecil Bingham, Earl Curzon and Lady Irene Curzon, Lady Cunard and Miss Cunard, Mr. and Mrs. George Burroughes and Miss Pamela Burroughes, the Hon. Mrs. Algernon Bourke and Miss Bourke, Lord and Lady Binning and Miss Helen Baillie-Hamilton, and Viscountess Allendale and the Hon. Mary Beaumont.

1915

Summer 1915: W. B. Yeats summered with Lady Gregory at Coole Park 1897-1917 or so, until WBY bought the Tower at Ballylee. (I got this from Wade?).

1915 January 1, Friday

The Conservative and Unionist Women's Franchise Review dedicated an entire page to announcing the Emergency Food Fund, an association "Originated under the auspices of the Women's Emergency Corps." At the bottom of the page is a paragraph describing its purpose:

The National Food Fund is an Association formed for the purpose of undertaking certain work for the alleviation of distress caused by the war. In order not to interfere with or overlap the activities of other societies, it is confining its own activities to two main channels, neither of which encroaches in any way on ground already covered by other organisations. These two branches of activity are (1) the collection and distribution of food, and (2) the prevention of waste of the national food resources by means of a scheme of educational propaganda on a wide scale.

The people involved take up the rest of the page:

National Food Fund.

President ... ... CHRISTOPHER TURNOR. Esq.
Vice-Presidents:
Charles Bathurst. Esq.. M.P.
Rowland Prothero, Esq., M.P., M.V.O.
The Lord Henry Bentinck.
C. V. Sale. Esq.
The Lord Hugh Cecil, M.P.
The Lord Saye and Sele.
Professor Dunstan, Principal of Wye College.
The Countess of SeIborne.
The Lord Farrer.
J. St. Loe Strachey, Esq.
The Rt. Hon. Sir Ailwyn Fellowes, K.C.V.O.
The Hon. Edward Strutt.
Miss Hamilton, M.D., Warden of Studley College.
Mrs. G. F. Watts.
Miss F. R. Wilkinson, Principal of Swanley College.
The Rt. Hon. Henry Hobhouse.
Miss Gertrude Jekyll, V.M.H.
The Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of Winchester.
The Lady MacDonnell.
The Viscountess Wolseley, Citizen and Gardener of London.
Her Grace the Duchess of Marlborough.
Miss More, Principal of Glynde College.

Executive Committee:
Chairman ... ... J. A. Eshelby, Esq.
Hon. Treasurer: The Countess Brassey.
Hon. Press and County Organising Secretary: Lady Chance.
General Superintendent: Miss C. F. C. Philpotts.
Miss Cawthra (Transport).
Eustace Miles, Esq. (Chairman of Public Meetings Sub-Committee).
F. Beckham. Esq.
W. F. Bonser, Esq.
Mrs. Eustace Miles.
The Hon. Algernon Bourke.
G. Stevenson, Esq. (Representative of Billingsgate Fish Market).
Sir William Chance, Bt. (Chairman of Investigation Sub-Committee).
R. D. Ashbee, Esq. (Representative of Covent Garden Market).
The Lady Emmott.
H. S. Fitter, Esq. (Representative of Central Meat Market).
Hon. Solicitors: Messrs. Watkins, Baylis & Chidson, 11, Sackville Street, W.
Hon. Auditors: Messrs. Tansley, Witt & Co., Chartered Accountants, 5, Chancery Lane. E.C.
Bankers: Capital & Counties Bank (Piccadilly Branch).
Secretary and General Manager: MR. H. Parker (to whom all communications should be addressed).
Offices: 1a, Dover Street, W.
TeI. — REGENT 1019

Contributions of Food should be sent to the Offices. Cheques and Postal Orders should be made payable to the National Food Fund and crossed, and sent to the Secretary.

1916

Summer 1916: W. B. Yeats summered with Lady Gregory at Coole Park 1897-1917 or so, until WBY bought the Tower at Ballylee. (I got this from Wade?).

1917

1917, Florence Farr died, in Ceylon.

Summer 1917: W. B. Yeats summered with Lady Gregory at Coole Park 1897-1917 or so, until WBY bought the Tower at Ballylee. (I got this from Wade?).

7 June 1917, Thursday

Daphne Bourke and John Grenville Fortescue married:

June lived up to her promise as a record month of interesting marriages last week, and almost every day saw more than one such function. For sheer prettiness the palm would probably go to that which turned Miss Daphne Bourke into the bride of Mr John Fortescue, of the Coldstream Guards. True, it took place in the Guards’ Chapel, and this in iteelf is a big factor in the [image of the Queen] picturesque effect, for the chapel with its exquisite mosaics glittering golden in the sunlight when the wide west door opened, the romance of its honoured banners, the beauty of its architecture, lends a charm all its own in ordinary times. How much more so now, when the sounds of martial steps from the parade ground mean so much, when the roll of the drums from the band heralding the wedding march, the earnest chanting of “God Save the King” have a thrill all their own. The Dowager Lady Leconfield, who lent her house in Great Stanhope-street for the reception of the wedding, came to the church with the bride's mother, Mrs Algernon Bourke, and both stopped to speak to the group of little bridesmaids and pages who waited in the wide-spaced porch. And truly they made a charming picture, both then and later when the two small boys holding Lady Mainwaring's baby girl by the hand between [Col. 2c–3a] them stood, the picture of decorum throughout the service, with the bride’s train like a silver waterfall and placid pool before them and the two taller little maids behind. The small Lord Elcho with Humphrey Whitbread were the pages, their pale apple-green tunics finished with soft falling frills; while the bridesmaids were in short full dresses of chiffon of the same shade, and the baby Diana Mainwaring in a very bunchy frock of the same. Wreaths of apple blossom rested on the little girls' curly heads, and there were minute buds of the same in the baby’s golden curls, while sheaves of pale purple sweet peas tied with apple-pink ribbon completed a pretty colour scheme. The bride, with her wonderful train of silver, amidst the gleam of which silver fern leaves could be traced, had a short dress of foamy chiffon and lace, a spray of orange blossom extending almost all round her waist on a girdle of silver tissue, and a narrow chaplet of the same pressed low upon her brow to hold her fairy-like tulle veil in place. Lady Elcho stayed with her small son at the back of the church, a beautiful Latin cross of diamonds suspended on a chain of pearls being conspicuous on the heavy black silk of her coat frock, with which she wore a high-crowned, untrimmed hat, of black silk too. Lady Diana Manners was also with her small nephew, though she left when the ceremony was in full swing. Her frock of sunny yellow muslin had a fichu bodice, into the folds of which a purple orchid was thrust; while her hat was of pale heliotrope straw trimmed with faint sea-green beads and embroidery, and finished with a floating dark blue veil. Lady Desborough's little daughter Imogen, with Lady Maud Ramsden's little girl, were the two “big” bridesmaids; the former is becoming quite an experienced exponent of such functions, and was one of the pretty group who attended Lady Mary Cecil to the altar when, in the village church of Hatfield, she was transformed into Lady Hartington the other day. Lady Desborough brought an elder daughter with her, and Lady Jane Combe came with her two schoolgirl daughters, the one in fawn colour voile, her sister in the same pretty stuff in a yellow shade, and both wearing high square-crowned hats of stretched black silk wreathed with tiny silken flowers. Mrs Bourke, who came a few minutes before the pretty, tall young bride, was in a diaphanous gown of dark blue, the faint grey of an underdress showing through it matching the dull silver embroideries of its adornment. The Dowager Lady Leconfield came with her, and was wearing black with an ostrich feather ruffle. Lady Maud Ramsden, in a soft black gown mounted over white and worn with a rose-crowned hat, came with her little bridesmaid daughter, arriving almost simultaneously with Lord and Lady Mayo, the bride's uncle and aunt. Lady Yarborough, in black with a black tulle toque, was there too, as were Lady de Trafford with Miss de Trafford. Lady Mary Conynghame came early, as did Lady Chichester and Lady Wentworth-Fitzwilliam; but Lady St. Germans preceded the bride by only a few minutes, while Lord Desborough joined his wife after the ceremony had begun.

Works Cited

• Ashbrook, William, and Harold Powers. Puccini's Turandot: The End of the Great Tradition. Princeton Studies in Opera. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991.
• Baring-Gould
• Johnson, Frank. "Puccini Scores," National Review 23 July 1990: 39.