Millicent Fanny (St. Clair-Erskine) Hawes (1867 - 1955)

Born 20 Oct 1867 in Dysart, Fife, Scotland

Ancestors

Wife of Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower KG — married 20 Oct 1884 in Knightsbridge, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom

Wife of Percy Desmond FitzGerald — married Oct 1914 in Roehampton, Surrey, England, United Kingdom

Descendants

Died 20 Aug 1955 at age 87 in Orriule, Basses-Pyrénées, France

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Biography

MARRIAGE OF THE MARQUIS OF STAFFORD.

The Marquis of Stafford, M.P., eldest eon of the Duke of Sutherland, and Lady Millicent St. Claira Erskine, eldest daughter of the Earl of Rosslyn, were married in St. Paul's Knightsbridge, yesterday. Long before the arrival of the bride the church was crowded to excess. Amongst those who witnessed the ceremony were the Prince and Princess of Wales, the the Duchess of Westminster, the Marchioness Ormonde, the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, Lord Fife, Count Miinster, Sir Algernon and Lady Borthwick, Lord Rowton, Lord and Lady Chesham, Lord and Lady Howe, and the Baroness Burdett-Coutts. The bride was led to the altar by her father. She wore a magnificent costume of white satin, trimmed with rare old point-lace and garnished with sprays of orange blossom. A wreath of the same flowers surmounted the bridal veil, which was fastened by a diamond brooch. Lord Fife acted as best man. There were nine bridesmaids—Ladies Sybil and Angela St. Claire Erskine, Ladies Alexandra and Constence Leveson-Gower, Ladies Beatrice and Constance Butler, Miss Edith Chaplin, the Honourable Sibell Leveson-Gower, and Lady Mabel Gore. The service was fully choral, and the officiating clergymen were Canon Knox Little, Canon Capel Cure, and the Reverend G. Tufnell. At the conclusion of the ceremony the wedding party adjourned to the town house Of the Earl of Rosslyn, in Hamilton-place, Piccadilly, where the bridal breakfast was served. Later in the day the newlymarried couple left for Lilleshall, in Shropshire, where they will spend their honeymoon. The wedding presents included gifts from the Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and other members of the royal family. The tenants on the different estates of the two families also contributed handsome gifts. The bride's travelling dress was of dark Indienne red velvet over a dark myrtle-velvet green petticoat, trimmed with sable.^[1]

In 1914 Millicent married Percy Desmond FitzGerald in Roehampton. The marriage was annulled after World War I. ^[2]

WEDDING OF MILLICENT DUCHESS OF SUTHERLAND.,Duchess- of Sutherland and Major Percy Desmond Fitzgerald. D.S.O., 11th Hussars, staff officer to the 2nd Mounted Division, were married very quietly last week at St Joseph's, Roehampton. Millicent Duchess of Sutherland has returned to Red Cross work in France'.—- Daily-Mail."^[3]

Millicent worked with the Red Cross in France during WW1.

TITLED LADIES IN RED CROSS WORK.
British Duchess to Tend Wounded. Brussels, Thursday. At the head of the French Red Cross work in Brussels is an Englishwoman, Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland. The exquisite salons of the Cercle Artistique have been offered to the Duchess for the use of the French workers, and here the correspondent found her dressed simply in a, white gown and close-fitting cap superintending ar- rangements. "I was in Paris last week," she explained, "and offered my services to the Secours des Blesses. A few days after an urgent message for help was received from Brussels, and I was sent off.," Throughout the journey of 11 hours I was received with the most amazing kindness. People wept when they saw the little red cross on my arm and cried with bated breath, ' Voila la croix rouge.' " I confess I broke down myself I have one English lady with me, Miss Gavin, and eight French ladies, including the Comtesse do Pourtales and the Marquise de Chargore. I have telegraphed for eight English nurses and an English surgeon. The ladies of the Secours des Blesses are highly trained in ambulance work and first aid. I feel it essential that we should have some fully-qualified English nurses before we open the hospital, and I am hoping it will be ready in two days. La Croix Rouge de Belgique in supplying the beds and the equipment, and the Belgian doctors, especially Dr Depage, are enthusiastic about the scheme. "But we want funds badly." The Duchess is devoting all her time to the scheme, and is depending on British people to help her.^[4]

<i> ROMANCE OF THE WAR., <br\Duchess Nurse Weds Major, And Goes Back to Red Cross Work.

An interesting romance of the war is revealed by the announcement that Millicent Duchess of Sutherland has just been married to Major Percy Desmond Fitzgerald, D.S.0., of the 11th Hussars. To-day she leaves England to devote herself to Red Cross work at the front. Major Fitzgerald also leaves on active service in a few days' time.
Authoress, playwright, philanthropist, social reformer, and sportswoman—such are a few of the many roles played by the versatile Millicent Duchess of Sutherland. It was only quite recently that she returned to England after having faced German shells in Namur. Together with eight British nurses she was in charge of a hospital in the town during the whole bombardment. Several shells fell into the courtyard of the Convent which had been fitted up as a hospital. The building was subsequently burnt, and the German authorities allowed the Duchess and her party to go to Brussels, where for some time they were kept under surveillance. Finally, through the kind offices of the American Legation in Brussels, they were sent to the frontier, whence they made their way to the Hague.
The Bridegroom. Major Percy Fitzgerald was born on 18th April, 1813, and is the son of the Hon. N. FitzGerald , County Galway, Ireland. He was educated at Oscott Roman Catholic College, and joined the 11th Hussars in 1883, and was gazetted a lieutenant in 1886. He served in the South African War in 1889 and 1900 he was four times mentioned in despatches, and received the Queen's medal with four clasps. He was decorated for distinguished service in Ladysmith and the Transvaal.

An Earlier Romance. This is not the first romance in which Lady Millicent St Clair Erskine has figured. Her marriage to the Duke of Sutherland is a very pretty story. Lady Millicent was a mere child of sixteen when she first met the Duke of Sutherland, then the Marquis of Stafford. Her Ladyship's mother was giving a dinner party at which fourteen guest were to have been present. At the last moment one was unavoidably detained, and the number at the table was reduced to thirteen. The hostess sent to the schoolroom for Lady Millicent, who was hastily arrayed in her best party frock and hustled downstairs to take the vacant place at the dinner table. The vacant seat happened to be next to the chair on which the Marquis of Stafford was seated, and on turning round to see the cause of the slight commotion at his side he came face to face with his future wife, with whom he fell in love at first sight She wedded the Marquis of Stafford in I884 on her seventeenth birthday. He died in June, 1913.

Many-Sided Woman, She is a many-sided woman, and the key note of her life is sympathy with suffering and an endeavour to promote the welfare of the toiling army of workers. The Duchess is a strong temperance advocate, and has studied socialistic and labour problems. She has the pen of a ready writer. Her nature is that of an artist, she is musical, sketches prettily, and cares much for literature and for the society of clever, cultured people. Her democratic tendencies are amply testified by the fact that her two young sons were sent to a public school at Golspie for the usual course of instruction. The Duchess of Sutherland is a beautiful woman—tall, fair, and distinguished, with a happy touch of the picturesque. But the lovely Duchess never appeared to more brilliant advantage than at the great fancy dress ball at Devonshire House in 1897. She had adopted the historic costume of Charlotte Corday. consisting of a red woollen gown and a white cap and apron, and this simple attire worn by an aristocratic beauty in a ballroom crowded with gorgeous gowns and priceless jewels, produced a striking and never-to-be-forgotten effect. It was she who founded the Potteries' Cripples' Guild, assisted to found the Scottish Home Industries Association, and established the Sutherland Nursing Institute. Several books have come from her clever pen, among them. " How I Spent My Twentieth Year," "The Winds of the World, and " Seven Love Stories." Several of her stories and articles were published in maga-zines under the name of R. E. Fyffe.^[5]

Millicent married for the third time in France in October 1919. The marriage was unhappy, George Hawes was homosexual which was disclosed in one of her books. They divorced in 1925.
Marriage of Millicent Duchess of Sutherland,Parics October 27th. in the strictest privacy, the marriage took place on Monday at the British Consulate in Paris of Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland, to Lieut-Colonel Dawes, D.5.0., M.C., Royal Fusiliers, Knight of the Legion of Honour. The bride wore black with sables.^[6]

Millicent lived in France during the 1920s and 1930s and was captured but escaped the German Army in 1940.

She died in France in 1855.

Sources

1. ↑ "Births, Deaths, Marriages and Obituaries." Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, October 21, 1884, 5+. British Library Newspapers (accessed February 11, 2022).
2. ↑ "Duchesses Petition for Divorce." Aberdeen Journal, June 16, 1919, 4. British Library Newspapers (accessed February 11, 2022).
3. ↑ "Wedding of Millicent Duchess of Sutherland." Aberdeen Journal, October 20, 1914, 5. British Library Newspapers (accessed February 11, 2022).
4. ↑ "Britain at War with Austria." Evening Telegraph, August 13, 1914, 2. British Library Newspapers (accessed February 11, 2022).
5. ↑ "Romance of the War." Evening Telegraph, October 20, 1914, 1. British Library Newspapers (accessed February 11, 2022). https://link-gale-com.rp.nla.gov.au/apps/doc/JE3236918325/BNCN?u=nla&sid=bookmark-BNCN&xid=05c37863.
6. ↑ "Marriage of Millicent Duchess of Sutherland." Western Times, October 29, 1919, 4. British Library Newspapers (accessed February 11, 2022).

• "Scotland, Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XYPT-G2S : accessed 09 Nov 2014), Francis Robert St. Clair Erskine in entry for Millicent Fanny St. Clair Erskine, 20 Oct 1867; citing DYSART,FIFE,SCOTLAND, reference ; FHL microfilm 6035516.
• Wikipedia: Lady Millicent Hawes
• Wikidata: Item Q1935518, en:Wikipedia