Marie Georgina Gordon-Cumming (abt. 1850 - 1937)

Born about 1850 in India

Ancestors

Wife of Theophilus Thompson — married 24 Jul 1873 in Fulwood, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom

Wife of William Dawson Duckett — married 19 Nov 1895 in Dublin South, County Dublin, Ireland

Died 9 Mar 1937 at about age 87 in St Patrick's Home, Kingsbridge, Dublin, Ireland

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Catherine Rivera [send private message]

Biography

Marie (or Maria) Georgina Gordon Cumming was born in India or England about 1850. She was the eldest child of Robert Gordon Cumming and Georgiana Emma Ross-Lewin. Robert Gordon Cumming was a Captain in the 66th Regiment of Foot.^[1]

Marie Georgina married Theophilus Thompson at the Parish Church of Fulwood, Lancashire, England on 24 July 1873. Witnesses to the marriage were R G Cumming, John? Smith, Harry Cumming, Janie? Harriette Gordon Cumming and Frederick Flood? Moore. Her mother, Georgiana, had died in January of that year.^[1][2][3][4]

Theophilus and Marie Georgina had two children:

1. Olive Georgina Gordon Thompson m Captain Edward Stamer O'Grady
2. Maud Frances Helena Elizabeth Thompson died unmarried

Theophilus Thompson was of Ford Lodge, County Cavan, Ireland where he died on 28 July 1888.

On 19 November 1895 in Dublin South, Ireland, Marie Georgina married William Dawson Duckett.^[1] William Duckett was of Duckett's Grove, County Carlow, Ireland.

William and Marie Georgina did not have any children and William Duckett died on 22 June 1908.

Marie Georgina abandoned the Duckett's Grove property in 1916. She had a strained relationship with her only surviving daughter, Olive Georgina O'Grady, and eventually cut her out of her will in 1934, leaving her an "angry schilling".

Marie Georgina died at St Patrick's Home, Kingsbridge, Dublin, Ireland on 9 March 1937, leaving an estate valued at £100 000. Olive contested the will and declared that her mother had been mentally incompetent for the past thirty years. A sensational court case in 1939 aired all of the family's dirty laundry and kept the society gossips busy. It makes for very interesting reading.

Marie Georgina was Protestant and reportedly hated Catholics. She feared they were trying to persecute her and claims to have been threatened by the IRA. Whether this is true or not is uncertain but it was her reason for fleeing Duckett's Grove and never returning.

Research Notes

Her 1934 will, disputed in court, was one of seven made by Mrs. Duckett, dating back to 1912. Mrs. O’Grady did not seek to establish any of the wills on the basis that her mother suffered from insane delusions and she sought administration intestate of her mother’s estate. Throughout it was stressed, by Counsel for the defence that “Mrs. Duckett was not a mad woman”. Repeatedly, witnesses referred to her as erratic, difficult and eccentric, but spoke of an astute woman, who was careful with her money and a person well capable of looking after her financial affairs. Two doctors explained that the disease of insane delusion could remain dormant for years once nothing happened to ignite it, and the patient behaved as if it did not exist.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Walford, Edward. The County Families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, 1860. p402 Mrs Duckett of Duckett's Grove
2. ↑ Marriage: "Lancashire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1936"
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 2576 #43423436 (accessed 15 May 2022)
   Theophilius Thompson (of Full Age) marriage to Mary Georgina Gordon Cumming on 24 Jul 1873 in Lancaster, Lancashire, England.
3. ↑ Marriage: "England Marriages, 1538–1973"
   FamilySearch Record: NKKW-JM4 (accessed 15 May 2022)
   Theophilus Thompson marriage to Mary Georgina Jordon Cumming on 24 Jul 1873 in Lancashire, England, United Kingdom.
4. ↑ Marriage Registration: "England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005"
   Citing 1873, quarter 3, vol. 8E, p. 679, Preston, Lancashire, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.
   FamilySearch Record: 2DG4-QH9 (accessed 15 May 2022)
   Theophilus Thompson marriage Jul-Aug-Sep 1873 in Preston.

• Meehan, Niall. Mrs Duckett, Evangelical Protestantism and The Bethany Home; Slide Presentation at The History Festival of Ireland, 15-16 June 2013 Duckett's Grove, Carlow

See also:

• Wikipedia Duckett's Grove

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Catherine Rivera for creating WikiTree profile Gordon-Cumming-2 through the import of Duckett Family.ged on Apr 4, 2013.

Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Catherine and others.