Constance Edwina Lewis, (formerly Grosvenor, née Cornwallis-West; 16 May 1877 – 21 January 1970), also known as Shelagh, was an English socialite and peeress.

Early life

Constance Edwina Cornwallis-West was the youngest child of

William William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conq ...

and Mary "Patsy" FitzPatrick. Her father was

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

for Denbighshire West and served as

Lord-Lieutenant of Denbighshire This is an incomplete list of people who served as Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire in Wales. After 1733, all Lord Lieutenants were also Custos Rotulorum of Denbighshire. The office was abolished on 31 March 1974, being replaced by the Lord Lieu ...

from 1872 to 1917 and his mother was known as a great beauty and leading socialite. She was very close to her sister,

Daisy, Princess of Pless Daisy, Princess of Pless (Mary Theresa Olivia; ''née'' Cornwallis-West; 28 June 1873 – 29 June 1943) was a noted society beauty in the Edwardian period, and during her marriage a member of one of the wealthiest European noble families. Daisy a ...

(wife of

Hans Heinrich XV von Hochberg Hans Heinrich XV von Hochberg ( pl, Jan Henryk XV; 23 April 1861 – 31 January 1938) was Prince of Pless (Pszczyna), Count von Hochberg and Baron of Fürstenstein ( Książ). He was the husband (1891–1923) of Mary Theresa Olivia Hochberg von P ...

). Her brother was

George Cornwallis-West Major George Frederick Myddleton Cornwallis-West (14 November 1874 – 1 April 1951) was a British officer of the Scots Guards. George Cornwallis-West was noted primarily for his marriages, the first to Jennie Jerome, mother of Winston Church ...

, the second husband of Lady Randolph Churchill, mother of Winston Churchill. Her maternal grandfather was Reverend Frederick Fitzpatrick and her paternal grandfather was Frederick Richard West (son of the Hon. Frederick West, younger son of

John West, 2nd Earl De La Warr John West, 2nd Earl De La Warr (9 May 1729 – 22 November 1777) was a British peer, politician and army officer. Early life Born The Honourable John West, he was the son of John West, 7th Baron De La Warr and his first wife, the former Lady Cha ...

Olympic career

The Duchess was one of only two women to compete in sailing at the 1908 Summer Olympics as owner and extra crewmember of the 8-metre bronze medal-winning yacht ''Sorais''. She distributed the diplomas of special merit to the competitors of the other Olympic sports on 25 July 1908.

Personal life

At a party at

Blenheim Palace Blenheim Palace (pronounced ) is a country house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and the only non-royal, non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, one ...

, Mary asked the Prince of Wales (later King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

) to convince

Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, (familiarly " Bendor"; 19 March 1879 – 19 July 1953) was a British landowner and one of the wealthiest men in the world. He was the son of Victor Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor, son of the ...

, to marry her daughter. The pair were married on 16 February 1901 and moved into

Grosvenor House Grosvenor House was one of the largest townhouse (Great Britain), townhouses in London, home of the Grosvenor family (better known as the Dukes of Westminster) for more than a century. Their original London residence was on Millbank, but after ...

Park Lane Park Lane is a dual carriageway road in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north. It separates Hyde Park to the west from M ...

, a mansion that the Duke had inherited from his grandfather. Later they lived together at

Eaton Hall, Cheshire Eaton Hall is the country house of the Duke of Westminster. It is south of the village of Eccleston, in Cheshire, England. The house is surrounded by its own formal gardens, parkland, farmland and woodland. The estate covers about . The fi ...

. The Duke was one of the richest men in the world. Together, they had three children: * Lady Ursula Mary Olivia Grosvenor (1902–1978), whose descendants are the only descendants of the Duchess and of the Duke. * Edward George Hugh Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor (1904–1909), who died young. * Lady Mary Constance Grosvenor (1910–2000), who never married and became a motor racing and rally driver. The marriage was happy at first and the couple shared many interests, including yachting and motor racing. However, her parents' expectation of personal financial gain through the marriage and her own long absence from home affected her marriage to the conservative Duke. BeautifulDuchessGets

Constance Edwina Cornwallis-West, later Duchess of Westminster

In 1909, the couple's only son and heir apparent to the dukedom died following an operation for

appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these typical symptoms. Severe complications of a r ...

while the Duchess was away. The Duke accused her of neglecting the child, and the Duchess did not attend the boy's funeral. It was rumoured that the Duchess was having a secret liaison with the

Duke of Alba Duke of Alba de Tormes ( es, Duque de Alba de Tormes), commonly known as Duke of Alba, is a title of Spanish nobility that is accompanied by the dignity of Grandee of Spain. In 1472, the title of ''Count of Alba de Tormes'', inherited by G ...

, whilst her husband had what he described as his own "nocturnal adventures". Nonetheless, the couple appeared together at social events until the birth of their youngest child, Lady Mary. In 1913, the Duke requested separation but, with the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

, the couple turned their attention to war service – the Duke joined his regiment and the Duchess sponsored a military hospital in

Le Touquet Le Touquet-Paris-Plage (; pcd, Ech Toutchet-Paris-Plache; vls, 't Oekske, older nl, Het Hoekske), commonly referred to as Le Touquet (), is a commune near Étaples, in the Pas-de-Calais department, northern France. It has a population of ...

, housed in a local casino. In 1918, the Duchess was created a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for her service in the war. The couple were divorced – on the grounds of the Duke's adultery and desertion – the following year, with the decree being made absolute 19 December 1919. The alimony settlement of £13,000 a year he made upon her was then the largest in British legal history. This record stood as late as the 1970s. According to National Archives currency converter, this figure in 1920 (nearest year to the divorce) was worth £275,730 a year in 2005. After their divorce, the Duke married three more times, including to Violet Cripps, Baroness Parmoor, Loelia, Lady Lindsay, and Anne Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster. The couple remained on friendly terms after 1919, hosting their daughters' debut balls together. Because their subsequent interactions were amicable, it has been surmised that both parties collaborated to achieve the divorce because each wanted to end the marriage and to remarry.

Second marriage

On 14 January 1920, less than one month after her divorce from the duke was finalized, Constance Lewis, then aged 44, secretly married her private secretary and agent, the much younger Captain John Fitzpatrick Lewis, then in his thirties, at

Lyndhurst, Hampshire Lyndhurst is a large village and civil parish situated in the New Forest National Park in Hampshire, England. Serving as the administrative capital of the New Forest, it is a popular tourist attraction, with many independent shops, art gallerie ...

. She had met Lewis early in the war, while he was being treated at her hospital in Le Touquet. They had no children. The former duchess died on 21 January 1970, aged 94.

In popular culture

Dennis Wheatley Dennis Yeats Wheatley (8 January 1897 – 10 November 1977) was a British writer whose prolific output of thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors from the 1930s through the 1960s. His Gregory Sallust series w ...

dedicated his 1961 thriller ''Vendetta in Spain'' to her.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Constance 1877 births 1970 deaths Constance Constance Wives of knights Commanders of the Order of the British Empire British women in World War I British female sailors (sport) Sailors at the 1908 Summer Olympics – 8 Metre Olympic sailors of Great Britain Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in sailing English socialites Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics Constance