Elizabeth de la Poer Beresford, Baroness Decies (April 22, 1868 – June 13, 1944), was an American author and

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

socialite.

Birth

She was born on April 22, 1868, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania, to Lucy Wharton and

Joseph William Drexel Joseph William Drexel (January 24, 1833 – March 25, 1888) was a banker, philanthropist, and book collector. Early life Joseph William Drexel was the son of Francis Martin Drexel (1792–1863) and Catherine Hookey (1795–1870). His siblings wer ...

. Joseph was the son of

Francis Martin Drexel Francis Martin Drexel (April 7, 1792 – June 5, 1863) was a Philadelphia (Pennsylvania, United States) banker and artist. He was the father of Anthony Joseph Drexel, the founder of Drexel University and the grandfather of Saint Katherine Drexe ...

, the immigrant ancestor of the Drexel banking family in the United States.

Career

Elizabeth was an author, who published two books, ''"King Lehr" and the Gilded Age'' (1935) and ''Turn of the World'' (1937). Her first novel, published after the death of her second husband, tells the story of her unhappy marriage to Lehr, which was referred to as a "tragic farce" of a 28-year marriage. It was described as follows in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine, Her second book, and first as Lady Decies, ''Turn of the World'', was also a semi-autobiographical history of American high society during the

Gay Nineties The Gay Nineties is an American nostalgic term and a periodization of the history of the United States referring to the decade of the 1890s. It is known in the United Kingdom as the Naughty Nineties, and refers there to the decade of supposedly ...

up through 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 fightin ...

. Upon the book's publication, ''

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'' wrote,

Personal life

First marriage

On June 29, 1889, Elizabeth married John Vinton Dahlgren (1869–1899), a graduate from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

and the son of Admiral John Adolph Dahlgren (1809–1870) at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. Together, they had two sons: * Joseph Drexel Dahlgren (1890–1891), who died as an infant * John Vinton Dahlgren Jr. (1892–1964), who married Helen Broderick in 1946, was a graduate of

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and Georgetown. During this marriage, she made generous donations to Roman Catholic charities and to

, including funds for the construction of Dahlgren Chapel, named for her first son. The latter asked for her portrait, which was painted in 1899 by the Swiss-born American artist

Adolfo Müller-Ury Adolfo Müller-Ury, KSG (March 29, 1862 – July 6, 1947) was a Swiss-born American portrait painter and impressionistic painter of roses and still life. Heritage and early life in Switzerland He was born Felice Adolfo Müller on 29 March ...

(1862–1947). Dahlgren died August 11, 1899, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he had gone in hopes of recovering from an illness."John Vinton Dalhgren Dead"
''The New York Times'', August 12, 1899.

Second marriage

In June 1901, Elizabeth married Henry Symes Lehr (1869–1929), aka Harry Lehr. The marriage was never consummated. According to her, on her wedding night, her husband told her that he loathed her and could not stand the thought of touching her ever, although he wanted her to understand she was to be cordial to him in public and he might in turn occasionally call her "darling". He had, he admitted, married her for her money because poverty terrified him. In 1915, the Lehrs were in Paris, and Elizabeth worked for the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

. They remained in Paris after

World War I 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 fightin ...

, where they bought in 1923 the ''Hôtel de Cavoye'' at 52, rue des Saints-Pères in the 7th arrondissement. Harry Lehr died on January 3, 1929, of a brain malady in

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Third marriage

On May 25, 1936, she married The Rt Hon. The 5th Baron Decies (1866–1944), a widower and

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

peer who had previously been married to

Helen Vivien Gould Helen Vivien Beresford, Baroness Decies, formerly Helen Vivien Gould (May 2, 1893 – February 3, 1931) was an American socialite and philanthropist. She was one of the two Jay Gould descendants to marry into European aristocracy. Early l ...

(1893–1931). Upon this marriage, she became The Rt Hon. Baroness Decies. Lord Decies filed suit for divorce in 1942, which Lady Decies contested. Lord Decies died on January 31, 1944, at his Ascot home.

Death

Elizabeth, Lady Decies, died at the Hotel Shelton in London on June 13, 1944. She was buried in the crypt below Dahlgren Chapel at

, which she and her first husband had built as a memorial to their son, Joseph Drexel Dahlgren, who died in infancy.

Published works

*''"King Lehr" and the Gilded Age'' (1935) *''Turn of the World'' (1937)

References

External links

*
''Great Day in the Morning''
is a play by

Thomas Babe Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

, based on Elizabeth Wharton Drexel's life (archived 7 March 2006). {{DEFAULTSORT:Drexel, Elizabeth Wharton 1868 births 1944 deaths American people of Austrian descent American socialites

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

Elizabeth Wharton Gilded Age Irish baronesses