Mary Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn

Mary Anna Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn (née Lady Mary Curzon-Howe; 23 July 1848 – 10 May 1929), was an English courtier and aristocrat. She served as Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Alexandra.^[2]

The Duchess of Abercorn
Born	Mary Anna Curzon-Howe (1848-07-23)23 July 1848 Gopsall, Leicestershire, England[1]
Died	10 May 1929(1929-05-10) (aged 80) London, England
Spouse(s)	James Hamilton, 2nd Duke of Abercorn ​ ​ (m. 1869; died 1913)​
Issue	James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn Lady Alexandra Phyllis Hamilton Gladys, Countess of Wicklow Lord Arthur John Hamilton Lord Claud Nigel Hamilton
Father	Richard Curzon-Howe, 1st Earl Howe
Mother	Anne Gore

Life

Lady Mary was born at Gopsall Hall in Leicestershire, the daughter of Richard Curzon-Howe, 1st Earl Howe, and his second wife, Anne Gore, daughter of Admiral Sir John Gore. She had two brothers, Montagu Curzon and Admiral Sir Assheton Curzon-Howe, and 10 half-siblings by her father's first marriage.^[3]

The Duchess held the office of Lady-in-Waiting to Alexandra, Princess of Wales.^[2]

She suffered a fall and broke her arm in January 1929. She died a few months later at her residence at 115 Park Street, Mayfair.^[2]

Marriage and issue

Lady Mary married James Hamilton, Marquess of Hamilton, eldest son of James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn, and Lady Louisa Jane Russel on 7 January 1869^[4] at St. George's Church, St. George Street, Hanover Square, London, England.

They had seven sons and two daughters. A son and daughter were killed during the First World War.^[2]

• James Albert Edward Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn (1869–1953)
• Lord Claud Penn Alexander Hamilton (1871–1871, on the same day)
• Lord Charlie Hamilton (1874–1874, on the same day)
• Lady Alexandra Phyllis Hamilton (1876–1918), who had The Princess of Wales as sponsor at her baptism; she was lost at sea when the RMS Leinster was torpedoed. She died unmarried.
• Lord Claud Francis Hamilton (1878–1878, on the same day)
• Lady Gladys Mary Hamilton (1880–1917), who in 1902 married Ralph Howard, 7th Earl of Wicklow (1877–1946). She was his first wife; and they had one son.
• Lord Arthur John Hamilton (1883–1914), who was Deputy Master of the Household from 1913, Captain in the Irish Guards and was killed in action at the First Battle of Ypres.
• Lord unnamed Hamilton (1886–1886, on the same day)
• Lord Claud Nigel Hamilton (1889–1975), Captain in the Grenadier Guards, fought in the First World War and served in the household of King George V, his widow and Queen Elizabeth II as Deputy Master of the Household, as Extra Equerry, as Equerry in Ordinary and as Comptroller, Treasurer and Extra Equerry. In 1933 he married Violet Ruby Ashton. They had no issue.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Mary Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn
8. Assheton Curzon, 1st Viscount Curzon 4. The Hon. Penn Curzon 9. Esther Hanmer 2. Richard Curzon-Howe, 1st Earl Howe 10. Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe 5. Lady Sophia Howe, 2nd Baroness Howe 11. Mary Hartopp 1. Lady Mary Anna Curzon-Howe 12. Col. John Gore 6. Adm. Sir John Gore 13. Bellamira Munbee 3. Anne Gore 14. Adm. Sir George Montagu 7. Georgiana Montagu 15. Charlotte Wroughton

References

1. 1861 England Census
2. "Obituary: Mary, Duchess of Abercorn". The Times. 10 May 1929. p. 8.
3. Burke, Bernard (1885). Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage. Burke's Peerage Limited. p. 707. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
4. Jackson, Alvin (2004). "Hamilton, James, second duke of Abercorn (1838–1913)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33669. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)