Mildred, Countess of Gosford

Mildred Acheson, Countess of Gosford (born Caroline Mildred Carter) (March 2, 1888 – September 7, 1965) was an American heiress who married into the British aristocracy.

The Right Honourable

The Countess of Gosford
Portrait of Mildred, by John Singer Sargent, 1908
Born
Caroline Mildred Carter

(1888-03-02)March 2, 1888
Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedSeptember 7, 1965(1965-09-07) (aged 77)
Bondo, Switzerland
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1910; div. 1927)​
Children5, including the 6th Earl of Gosford
Parent(s)John Ridgeley Carter
Alice Morgan Carter
RelativesBernard Carter (brother)

Early life
Her father, John Ridgeley Carter, by John Singer Sargent, 1901.

Mildred was born on March 2, 1888, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[1] Millie, as she was also known, was the only daughter of diplomat John Ridgeley Carter (1864–1944) and Alice (née Morgan) Carter (1865–1933).[2] Her younger brother was banker Bernard Shirley Carter, a prominent banker with Morgan, Harjes & Co. who married Louise Hope Thacher.[3]

Her paternal grandparents were Mary Buckner (née Ridgely) Carter and Bernard Carter, a member of the prominent Carter and Lee families of Virginia and was a descendant of Henry Lee III, the 9th Governor of Virginia. Her maternal grandparents were David Pierce Morgan and Carolyn (née Fellowes) Morgan. Her maternal uncle was William Fellowes Morgan Sr. and among her first cousins was William Fellowes Morgan Jr.

Her father was a diplomat of the United States, serving as the First Secretary to the American Embassy in London.[4] Later, he served as the U.S. Minister at Bucharest from November 14, 1909, until October 24, 1911. He also concurrently served as the U.S. Minister to Serbia and Bulgaria.[5]

In May 1908, noted American portrait painter John Singer Sargent painted a portrait of Mildred in London that was described at the time by The New York Times as "in the painter's best manner and brings out all of the innate sweetness of nature which has endeared Miss Carter to her English as much as to her American friends, all of whom agree that she has the wonderful tact and urbanity of her father."[6] She was presented at the Court of St James's in 1909.[1]

Personal life
Lady Acheson's home in Switzerland, Palazzo Salis.

The picture shown is of the Hotel Plazzo Salis in nearby Soglio. My grandmother spent summers from 1949to 1965 in the Palazzo Salis in Bondo, which she rented from the Salis family.

On June 21, 1910,[7] Mildred was married to Archibald Acheson, Viscount Acheson at St George's Hanover Square Church in London followed by a reception at Dorchester House.[lower-alpha 1] The Viscount Acheson was the eldest son, and eventual heir, of Archibald Acheson, 4th Earl of Gosford and Lady Louisa Montagu, a Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Alexandra.[9] His paternal grandfather was Archibald Acheson, 3rd Earl of Gosford and his maternal grandparents were William Montagu, 7th Duke of Manchester and the former Countess Louisa von Alten.[9] Together, Mildred and Archibald were the parents of the five children:[9]

  • Archibald Alexander John Stanley Acheson, 6th Earl of Gosford (1911–1966), who married Francesca Cagiati, eldest daughter of Francesco Cagiati.[10] They divorced in 1960 and he remarried to Cynthia Margaret Delius, the widow of Maj. James Pringle Delius and daughter of Capt. Henry Cave West MC.[9]
  • Lady Patricia Acheson (1911–1915), a twin who died in childhood.[9]
  • Hon. Patrick Bernard Victor Montagu Acheson (1915–2005), who married Judith Gillette, a daughter of Earle P. Gillette.[9]
  • Lady Mildred Camilla Nichola Acheson (1917–1988), who married Baron Hans Christoph Freiherr Schenk von Stauffenberg in 1937. She later married Axel Freiherr von dem Bussche-Streithorst in 1950.[9]
  • Lady Mary Virginia Shirley Acheson (1919–1996), who married Fernando Corcuera in Mexico in 1941.[9]

Viscount Acheson's father died in 1922 (shortly after selling the family seat Gosford Castle) and he succeeded to the earldom of Gosford. Five years later in 1927, the couple separated and Lord Gosford went to New York City.[11] The Countess of Gosford obtained a divorce in December 1927,[12] and he remarried to Beatrice (née Claflin) Breese,[13] a granddaughter of merchant Horace Brigham Claflin, on October 1, 1928.[14]

Mildred died on September 7, 1965, at Palazzo Salis, her home in Bondo, Switzerland.[1]

Descendants

Through her youngest daughter, Lady Mary, he was a grandfather of Jaime Corcuera Acheson (born 1955),[15] who married Archduchess Myriam of Austria, a daughter of Archduke Felix of Austria and granddaughter of King Charles I of Austria, in 1983.[16]

References
Notes
  1. Mildred had seven bridesmaids at her wedding, Lady Theodosia Acheson, sister of the bridegroom (later the wife of Alexander Cadogan); Lady Victoria Stanley (a daughter of Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby, later the wife of Neil James Archibald Primrose), Miss Elsie Nicoll of New York (sister of Courtlandt Nicoll), Mlle. Irene de Lagrange, Miss Camilla Morgan, the Hon. Rhoda Astley, and Miss Marian Scranton.[8]
Sources
  1. "Mildred, Countess of Gosford, Daughter of Diplomat, Is Dead" (PDF). The New York Times. 11 September 1965. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  2. "American Heiress Millie Carter, A Future Countess Marries Her Viscount With Pomp & Circumstance At St. George's, Hanover Square!". The Esoteric Curiosa. 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  3. Times, Special to The New York (9 November 1961). "BERNARD CARTER, BANKER, 68, DEAD; Head of the European Policy' Unit of Morgan Guaranty" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  4. Adams, Henry (1992). Henry Adams, Selected Letters. Harvard University Press. p. 423. ISBN 978-0-674-38757-7. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  5. "John Ridgely Carter - People". history.state.gov. Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute United States Department of State. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  6. "NEW SARGENT PAINTING.; Portrait of Miss Mildred Carter in the Artist's Best Style" (PDF). The New York Times. 31 May 1908. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  7. "VISCOUNT ACHESON TO WED MISS CARTER; Daughter of American Minister Carter Will Be Married in London in June. MET THREE YEARS AGO Fiance, Heir of the Earl of Gosford, Fought with Coldstream Guards In South African War" (PDF). The New York Times. 22 February 1910. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  8. "MISS CARTER WEDS VISCOUNT ACHESON; Daughter of American Minister to Roumania the Bride of Lord Gosford's Heir. GIFTS FROM KING AND QUEEN And the Queen Mother--Reception at Dorchester House Follows the Ceremony In St. George's" (PDF). The New York Times. 22 June 1910. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  9. "Gosford, Earl of (I, 1806)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  10. "FRANCESCA CAGIATI TO WED PEER'S HEIR; New York Girl Is Affianced to Viscount Acheson, Son of Earl of Gosford" (PDF). The New York Times. 7 June 1935. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  11. Montgomery, Maureen E. (2013). 'Gilded Prostitution': Status, Money and Transatlantic Marriages, 1870-1914. Routledge. p. 190. ISBN 978-1-136-21494-3. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  12. "DIVORCES EARL OF GOSFORD; Countess Obtains a Decree Nisi in London Court" (PDF). The New York Times. 6 December 1927. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  13. MacColl, Gail; Wallace, Carol McD (2012). To Marry an English Lord: Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery in the Gilded Age. Workman Publishing. pp. 307–10, 326–27, 350, 362. ISBN 978-0-7611-7198-0. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  14. "MRS. BREESE WEDS EARL OF GOSFORD; New York Woman Becomes a British Countess in South- ampton Ceremony" (PDF). The New York Times. 2 October 1928. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  15. Montague-Smith, Patrick W. (1995). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage. Debrett's Peerage Limited. p. 539. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  16. Almanach de Gotha: Annual Genealogical Reference. Almanach de Gotha. 2004. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-9532142-5-9. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
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