Mary Carolyn Campbell McCreery (née Cuyler, formerly Lady Grey-Egerton) (23 December 1871 – 25 November 1958) was an American socialite.

Early life

May was born on 23 December 1871 in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

. She was a daughter of Alice (née Holden) Cuyler and Maj. James Wayne Cuyler (1841–1883) of

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. Her father, a West Point graduate and engineer, fought for the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

in 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 ...

. Her paternal grandparents were physician and Bvt. Brig.-Gen. John Meck Cuyler (son of Judge

Jeremiah La Touche Cuyler Jeremiah La Touche Cuyler (June 4, 1768 – May 7, 1839) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Georgia. Early life Cuyler was born on June 4, 1768, in New York City, Province of New York, Bri ...

) and Mary Campbell (née Wayne) Cuyler (a daughter of

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States An associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is any member of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the chief justice of the United States. The number of associate justices is eight, as set by the Judiciary Act of 18 ...

James Moore Wayne James Moore Wayne (1790 – July 5, 1867) was an American attorney, judge and politician who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1835 to 1867. He previously served as the 16th Mayor of Savannah, Geo ...

). A first cousin of her grandfather was

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

Rudolph Bunner Rudolph Bunner (August 17, 1779 – July 16, 1837) was an American lawyer, businessman, and trade merchant who served one term as a U.S. Representative from New York from 1827 to 1829. He was married to the granddaughter of Revolutionary War Gen ...

. Her maternal grandparents were

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

man and avid abolitionist

Edward Dwight Holton Edward Dwight Holton (April 28, 1815 – April 21, 1892) was a nineteenth century Wisconsin political and business leader. Holton was Milwaukee's first sheriff and was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, but despite never holding a high ...

and Lucinda Caroline ( Millard) Holton (a second cousin of

Millard Fillmore Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853; he was the last to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House. A former member of the U.S. House of Represen ...

). Her aunt, Mary Holton, married Robertson James, the youngest brother of novelist

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

Personal life

On 4 January 1893, May was married to

Sir Philip Grey Egerton, 12th Baronet Sir Philip Henry Brian Grey-Egerton, 12th Baronet JP DP (29 April 1864 – 4 July 1937) was a British soldier and aristocrat who was a member of the Grey and Egerton families. Early life Philip Henry Brian Grey-Egerton was born on 29 April 186 ...

in London. Sir Philip was the only son of Sir Philip Grey-Egerton, 11th Baronet and Hon. Henrietta Denison (eldest daughter of

Albert Denison, 1st Baron Londesborough Albert Denison Denison, 1st Baron Londesborough, KCH, FRS, FSA (21 October 1805 – 15 January 1860) was a British Whig Party politician and diplomat, known as Lord Albert Conyngham from 1816 to 1849. Early life and career Born Albert Denison ...

). Their engagement had been announced in ''

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 29 October 1892, and the "wedding received extensive press coverage, featuring lists of the jewels received as gifts, including a diamond tiara." After their marriage, "she became as great a belle in London society as she had been" in the United States. Before their divorce in May 1905, they were the parents of twin sons and a daughter: * Philip de Malpas Wayne Grey-Egerton (1895–1918), a Captain in the

19th Royal Hussars The 19th Royal Hussars (Queen Alexandra's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, created in 1858. After serving in the First World War, it was amalgamated with the 15th The King's Hussars to form the 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars ...

who was killed in action at Brancoucourt Farm. * Rowland le Belward Grey-Egerton (1895–1914), a Second Lieutenant in the

Royal Welsh Fusiliers The Royal Welch Fusiliers ( cy, Ffiwsilwyr Brenhinol Cymreig) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, and part of the Prince of Wales' Division, that was founded in 1689; shortly after the Glorious Revolution. In 1702, it was designated ...

who was also killed in action. * Cecily Alice Grey Grey-Egerton

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(d. 1981), who married Lt. Col. Denys Edward Prideaux-Brune DSO (d. 1952), second son of Hon. Katharine Hugessen (daughter of

Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen, 1st Baron Brabourne Edward Hugessen Knatchbull-Hugessen, 1st Baron Brabourne (29 April 1829 – 6 February 1893), known as E. H. Knatchbull-Hugessen, was a British Liberal and later Conservative politician. He served as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Departm ...

) and Col. Charles Robert Prideaux-Brune of Prideaux Place, in 1918. After their divorce, May married Richard Stephen McCreery (1866–1938) on 2 March 1907 at May's residence on

Hallam Street Hallam Street is a road situated in the Parish of St Marylebone and London's West End. In administrative terms it lies within the City of Westminster's Marylebone High Street Ward as well as the Harley Street Conservation Area. Formerly name ...

in London. McCreery, who was divorced from Edith Kip, was a son of Andrew Buchanan McCreery and Isabel ( Swearingen) McCreery. His maternal aunt, Mary Swearingen, was the wife of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Johnson Field, and his nephew was Gen. Sir Richard McCreery, Commander of the

British Eighth Army The Eighth Army was an Allied field army formation of the British Army during the Second World War, fighting in the North African and Italian campaigns. Units came from Australia, British India, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Free French Forces, ...

. With her second husband, she was the mother of: * Isobel McCreery, who married Augustus Taylor, Jr. in 1937. Her first husband, Sir Philip, died on 4 July 1937, and her second husband died in 1938. As both of their sons predeceased their father, the baronetcy passed to the Rev. Sir Brooke de Malpas Egerton, Sir Philip's first cousin once removed. May died at her home, 2202 Forest Drive in

Burlingame, California Burlingame () is a city in San Mateo County, California. It is located on the San Francisco Peninsula and has a significant shoreline on San Francisco Bay. The city is named after diplomat Anson Burlingame and is known for its numerous eucalyp ...

on 25 November 1958.

Descendants

Through her daughter Cecily, she was a grandmother to three: Cynthia Mary Denise Prideaux-Brune (b. 1919), Philip Egerton Edmund Prideaux-Brune (b. 1921), and Rowland Denys Charles Prideaux-Brune (1925–2008).Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.''

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

U.S.A. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great Br ...

(Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 2, pages 1669-1679.

In popular culture

During the 2014 to 2015 exhibition at London's

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...

, May was featured among the high-profile American heiresses to marry into British aristocracy. Included in the exhibition were Jeanette ('Jennie') Churchill (née Jerome), Lady Randolph Churchill, Mary Victoria (née Leiter), Lady Curzon of Kedleston, Cornelia Craven (née Martin), Countess of Craven,

Consuelo Montagu, Duchess of Manchester Consuelo Montagu, Duchess of Manchester (1853 – 20 November 1909), née María Francisca de la Consolación "Consuelo" Yznaga (also spelled Iznaga by some sources), was a Cuban American heiress who married George, Viscount Mandeville, in ...

, Consuelo (née Vanderbilt), Duchess of Marlborough (later Mrs. Balsan), John Spencer-Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough, Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill, Marguerite Hyde ('Daisy', née Leiter), Countess of Suffolk.

References

;Notes ;Sources

External links

Mary Carolyn Campbell ('May', née Cuyler), Lady Grey-Egerton
at

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

Mary Carolyn Campbell Cuyler, Lady Grey-Egerton
photograph by

Alice Hughes Alice Mary Hughes (1857–1939) was a leading London portrait photographer specializing in images of fashionable women and children. Biography Hughes was the eldest daughter of the portrait painter Edward Hughes (1832-1908). After studying pho ...

at the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuyler, May 1871 births 1958 deaths

May May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...

May Cuyler May Cuyler