Louisa Acheson, Countess of Gosford

Louisa Augusta Beatrice Acheson, Countess of Gosford, DBE (née Lady Louisa Montagu; 17 January 1856 – 3 March 1944) was the wife of the 4th Earl of Gosford.

The Countess of Gosford
Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Alexandra
In office
1901 – 20 November 1925
Personal details
Born
Lady Louisa Augusta Beatrice Montagu

17 January 1856
Died3 March 1944(1944-03-03) (aged 88)
Spouse
(m. 1876; died 1922)
Children
Parents

Early life

edit

Lady Gosford was the third of five children born to Countess Louisa van Alten by her first husband, William Montagu, 7th Duke of Manchester.[1] Her older brother, George, became the 8th Duke of Manchester and married Cuban-American heiress Consuelo Yznaga.[1] Her elder sister, Lady Mary Louisa Elizabeth Montagu, married William Douglas-Hamilton, 12th Duke of Hamilton, and her younger siblings were Lord Charles William Augustus Montagu (husband of the Hon. Mildred Cecilia Harriet Stuart, daughter of Henry Sturt, 1st Baron Alington), and Lady Alice Maude Olivia Montagu (wife of Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby).[1]

After her father's death in 1890, her mother remarried to Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire, becoming the Duchess of Devonshire, and was known in society as the "Double Duchess".[2]

Personal life

edit
 
The Acheson Sisters (Ladies Alexandra, Mary and Theo Acheson), Lady Gosford's daughters, by John Singer Sargent, 1902

On 10 August 1876, Lady Louisa was married to Archibald Acheson, 4th Earl of Gosford in Market Hill, County Armagh, Ireland. Lord Gosford was the son of the 3rd Earl of Gosford and Lady Theodosia Brabazon (a daughter of John Brabazon, 10th Earl of Meath). Together, they were the parents of:[3]

From 1901 to 1925, she served as a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Alexandra, the wife of King Edward VII.[7]

During the First World War Lady Gosford was president of the Central Workrooms of the British Red Cross Society, and for this work she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 1920 civilian war honours.

Lord Gosford died on 11 April 1922. Lady Gosford lived another twenty two years until her death on 3 March 1944.[8]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c "Manchester, Duke of (GB, 1719)". cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
  2. ^ "The Cavendish Story: The Double Duchess". www.chatsworthblog.org. Archived from the original on 15 April 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2017.[third-party source needed]
  3. ^ "Gosford, Earl of (I, 1806)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  4. ^ "Mildred, Countess of Gosford, Daughter of Diplomat, Is Dead" (PDF). The New York Times. 11 September 1965.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ "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.
  7. ^ "No. 27292". The London Gazette. 8 March 1901. p. 1648.
  8. ^ Obituary, The Times, 7 March 1944
edit