Grace Curzon, Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston

Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston, by Sargent

Grace Elvina, Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston, GBE (née Hinds, formerly Duggan; 1879–1958) was a United States-born British marchioness. a daughter of J. Monroe Hinds, former United States Minister to Brazil. Her mother was Lucy Trillia, from Montevideo, Uruguay.

Personal life

1st marriage

Born Grace Elvina Hinds in Alabama, she grew up in Decatur. Her first husband was Alfred Huberto Duggan of Buenos Aires, Argentina, with whom she had three children, including two sons – Alfred Duggan, historical novelist, and Hubert Duggan, later a British Member of Parliament. Her daughter Grace Lucille Duggan (Marcella Rice) (1907–1995) was mother of Caroline Helen Rice (b. 1931), wife of Robert Windsor-Clive, 3rd Earl of Plymouth.

Grace Duggan was a wealthy woman after her husband's death, inheriting large estancias in South America. In 1916, Philip Alexius de László painted her as a widow.

2nd marriage

Portrait by Laszlo before her 2nd marriage in 1916 in nurse's uniform

In 1917 (aged 38) she became the second wife of Lord Curzon. In 1923, when Curzon was passed over for the office of Prime Minister partly on the advice of Arthur Balfour, Balfour joked that Curzon 'has lost the hope of glory but he still possesses the means of Grace".

Curzon had three daughters from his first marriage to Mary Victoria Leiter, Baroness Curzon of Kedleston: Mary Irene, Lady Ravensdale in 1896; Cynthia Blanche (first wife of Sir Oswald Mosley), on 23 August 1898; and Alexandra Naldera, on 20 April 1904 (wife of Edward Dudley Metcalfe, the best friend, best man and equerry of King Edward VIII).

Despite fertility-related operations and several miscarriages, the second Lady Curzon was unable to give Curzon the male heir he desperately desired, a fact that eroded their marriage, which ended in separation, although not divorce. Letters from Curzon to Grace in the early 1920s indicate, however, they remained devoted to each other.

In 1925, soon before she was again widowed, her portrait was painted by the American artist John Singer Sargent. This oil on canvas painting, which measures 129.22 × 92.39 cm (50.9 × 36.4 in), was Sargent's last oil portrait. The painting was purchased in 1936 by the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, New Hampshire.

GBE

She was named GBE in the 1922 New Years Honours List for "services rendered during the War to the British Red Cross Society, and to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Association, the Belgian -Soldiers' Club, and Queen Alexandra's Nursing' Association.

Portraits by Laszlo

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  c.1913

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  1916

Portraits by Sargent

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  1925

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  1914