Ethel Anne Priscilla Grenfell, Baroness Desborough (née Fane; 27 June 1867 – 28 May 1952) was a British society hostess.

Life

Ettie Fane by Lord Battersea (he died 1907)

Ethel (Ettie) Fane was born into an aristocratic family. However, at the age of three she was orphaned when her father, Julian Fane, the younger son of an earl, died at the age of 42, soon after the death of Ettie's mother. Fane married William Grenfell in 1887. He was at the time untitled but he was a

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 bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

, first for the Liberal Party and then for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. William and Ethel had a happy marriage, but Ethel also had male admirers. One of those was Archie Ian Gordon who was the son of John Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair. He was devoted to her and she lost him when he died in a car crash in 1909. From 1911, Ettie was periodically in waiting as Lady of the Bedchamber to

Mary of Teck Mary of Teck (Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes; 26 May 186724 March 1953) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 6 May 1910 until 20 Janua ...

, Queen Consort to

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born duri ...

. When she was appointed, her son was surprised as the idea of a Lady of the Bedchamber seemed anachronistic. Three of her sons predeceased her. Julian Grenfell, a war poet, was killed in 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 ...

. News of his being wounded was given to her via one of her daughters who was serving as a nurse in France. Julian's elder siste
Monica Margaret Grenfell
had undertaken three months 'special training' in nursing at

The London Hospital The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and spe ...

under Matron Eva Luckes just after the outbreak of war.Monica, Grenfell, Register of Probationers; RLHLH/N/1/23, 145; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museum, London Ethel travelled to France to see her son who had a splinter in his brain. Julian took 13 days to die. Another son, Gerald William (Billy) Grenfell, was killed only months later in July 1915. A third son, Ivo Grenfell, who became a farmer, died in a car accident in 1926. She was a well known hostess;

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

and

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

". Visitors included

Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ( ...

Vita Sackville-West Victoria Mary, Lady Nicolson, CH (née Sackville-West; 9 March 1892 – 2 June 1962), usually known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English author and garden designer. Sackville-West was a successful novelist, poet and journalist, as wel ...

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 an ...

when

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

, Patrick Shaw-Stewart,

Edith Wharton Edith Wharton (; born Edith Newbold Jones; January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and interior designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray ...

and

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desborough, Ettie Grenfell 1867 births 1952 deaths Grenfell family British socialites British baronesses

Life

Further reading

References

External links