Constance Crowninshield Coolidge (January 4, 1892 – April 30, 1973), was a Boston Brahmin (a member of Boston's upper society), socialite, heiress and a long-term American expatriate living in Paris. She had the pedigree of the most elite Boston Brahmin: she was a descendant of the Adams, Amory, Coolidge, Copley, Crowninshield, and Peabody families, all of them well-known in Boston's high society. She was a distant relative of

Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...

. A trust child and in adulthood a self proclaimed socialist, Constance rejected her Brahmin background early in life, replacing it with a Parisian life from 1923 onwards. Her friendships included the literati such as

Harry Crosby Harry Crosby (June 4, 1898 – December 10, 1929) was an American heir, World War I veteran, ''bon vivant'', poet, and publisher who for some epitomized the Lost Generation in American literature. He was the son of one of the richest banking fam ...

Hart Crane Harold Hart Crane (July 21, 1899 – April 27, 1932) was an American poet. Provoked and inspired by T. S. Eliot, Crane wrote modernist poetry that was difficult, highly stylized, and ambitious in its scope. In his most ambitious work, '' The Brid ...

, Robert Herrick,

Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

and

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Boston, Massachusetts on January 4, 1892. She was a daughter of landscape architect, David Hill Coolidge and Harriet Sears ( Crowninshield) Coolidge (1869–1905). She was the granddaughter of

Caspar Crowninshield Caspar Crowninshield (October 23, 1837 – January 10, 1897) was a volunteer officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Early life and education Caspar Crowninshield was born into one of Boston's elite families.Parson, 48. The C ...

, Commander of the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry during the

U.S. Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, and the niece of the music patron

Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge aka Liz Coolidge (30 October 1864 – 4 November 1953), born Elizabeth Penn Sprague, was an American pianist and patron of music, especially of chamber music. Biography Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge's father was a we ...

and Frank Crowninshield, editor of '' Vanity Fair''. Among her many first cousins was Ben Bradlee. She was also a distant relative of former U.S. President

. Her great-aunt, Fanny Crowninshield, was the wife of John Quincy Adams II, and the mother of George Caspar Adams and Charles Francis Adams III, who were like uncles to her.

Interests

Constance was known for her love of anything risky; she was addicted to horse racing, gambling and extramarital affairs. While married to the Count, she became prominent in the arts, as well as one of the most prominent racehorse owners in France. With her third husband, she attended the "Concours Hippique", the Paris Horse Show of 1932 and was described as an outstanding figure on the French turf. Passionate about horse racing, she owned a very large stable of horses and she would go to the racetrack every day. In 1933, her horse "Yarlas" came in fourth at Auteuil Track. In 1934 her horse "Jean-Victor", won the

Prix du Président de la République The Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged four years or older. It is run at Saint-Cloud over a distance of 2,400 metres (about 1½ miles), and it is s ...

at the Auteuil Hippodrome.

Personal life

While in Paris studying languages, eighteen year-old Constance met fellow Bostonian

Ray Atherton Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gra ...

who was studying architecture at the

Beaux-Arts de Paris The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Sciences ...

. Atherton asked her father for permission to marry, but Coolidge insisted they wait a year. Nevertheless, Atherton persisted and while the Coolidges were touring Germany, he obtained a marriage license and when they returned to Paris, Constance and Ray were married. The couple resided initially in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

before moving to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

returning a second time in 1917, when her husband entered the U.S foreign service. During their marriage, she accompanied her husband to China on a diplomatic posting, where she, a determined gambler, behaved wildly enough to earn herself the nickname "The Queen of Peking". Living there during American Prohibition in the early 1920s proved tantalizing for her. Constance wore dresses that were flamboyant and she spared little thought of what others might say about her. She engaged in extramarital liaisons, which placed a great deal of a strain on their marriage. Among her affairs were those with British diplomat Eric Brenan and American expat, Felix Doubleday, the adoptive son of publisher Frank Nelson Doubleday. Love letters from both Brenan and Doubleday have been preserved at the

Massachusetts Historical Society The Massachusetts Historical Society is a major historical archive specializing in early American, Massachusetts, and New England history. The Massachusetts Historical Society was established in 1791 and is located at 1154 Boylston Street in Bost ...

. It was also during this time that she became friends with

Wallis Simpson Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986), was an American socialite and wife of the former King Edward VIII. Their intention to marry and her status as a divorcée caused ...

and Katherine and Herman Rogers. She had multiple admirers and received regular relationship advice from her relative and financial guardian, Charles Francis Adams III, written on his "Secretary of the US Navy" stationery. When Atherton was recalled to the State Department, she remained in China on the plea that her horses needed attention. Later, Atherton was assigned to head up the U.S. Embassy in Athens and Constance moved to Paris. In Paris, she became intimately involved for a time with fellow Boston Brahmin, hedonistic poet and publisher

, whose wife

Caresse Crosby Caresse Crosby (born Mary Phelps Jacob; April 20, 1892 – January 24, 1970) was the first recipient of a patent for the modern bra, an American patron of the arts, publisher, and the "literary godmother to the Lost Generation of expatriate writ ...

was the first recipient of a patent for the modern bra. In 1924, Constance obtained a divorce, reportedly in China, from Atherton who later married Maude Hunnewell, with whom he had two children before his death in 1960.

Second marriage

Following her divorce from Atherton, she became engaged to the former polo player, Antoine Clément Marie ''Pierre'' Chapelle de Jumilhac, also known as Count Pierre de Jumilhac, a member of one of the oldest noble families of Brittany. They married on October 11, 1924, and she became Comtesse de Jumilhac. The marriage to the Count did not last, and they divorced in Paris in May 1929.

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

, the English writer, wrote to Harry Crosby and mentioned Constance: Constance remarried twelve months later and Count de Jumilhac died two years later on October 18, 1932, following a long illness.

Third marriage

After her second divorce, Constance visited her parents who had relocated to Santa Barbara. Shortly after, she met Eliot Rogers and their marriage was announced by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' on February 26, 1930, with the headline "Countess Wed on Coast". Eliot was the brother of author Cameron Rogers and a nephew of Chicago banker Charles Fernald and Reginald Fernald, the owner of the Santa Barbara Morning Press. She returned to France with Eliot, however, by November 1933, the papers referred to Constance by her maiden name, since her marriage to newspaper owner Eliot had ended in divorce. In 1934, she met the writer H.G. Wells, twenty-five years her senior, with whom she conducted a passionate affair in the last decade of his life. By the time she was forty years of age, she was juggling multiple relationships with H.G. Wells,

Philippe Barrès Philippe Barrès (8 July 1896, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine – 14 April 1975) was a French journalist and the son of Maurice Barrès. He fought in World War I. He was a member of the editorial staff of the right-wing newspaper ''Le Nouve ...

, the editor of ''Paris Match'' and ''Paris Soir'', and the recently widowed William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp who asked her hand in marriage in 1936. During the abdication of

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...

in 1936, she invited Wallis Simpson to stay with her in Paris, and was a guest at their wedding. Constance remained at the center of social events and was friends with

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

and

. In 1938, her father was terminally ill, she returned to California and was with him at the time of his death. She returned to France spending Christmas in the company of the Windsor’s and accompanied them to Monte Carlo.

Fourth marriage

In the 1950s she married André William Magnus (March 13, 1908 – April 21, 2001), a public relations manager in the French Film Industry and spent most of the rest of her life in Paris. Constance died at the American Hospital in Paris on April 30, 1973, and her husband, André scattered her ashes in a vault situated on the top of a hill in the Père Lachaise Cemetery. Although she was a distant relative of

, a range of U.S. regional newspapers from Alabama to Meriden, Connecticut published her obituary erroneously describing her as one of his daughters.

Collection of photography

The Southern Illinois University, Carbondale holds a series of photographs of her life as part of the Caresse Crosby Collection.

Ancestry

References

External links

Mrs. Ray Atherton (Constance Coolidge)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coolidge, Constance 1892 births 1973 deaths Coolidge family Crowninshield family French countesses People from Boston American expatriates in France