Lady Lettice Lygon (16 June 1906 – 18 July 1973) was an English socialite and aristocrat who was one of the

Bright Young Things __NOTOC__ The Bright Young Things, or Bright Young People, was a group of Bohemian young aristocrats and socialites in London during the Roaring Twenties. The name was given to them by the tabloid press. They threw flamboyant fancy dress part ...

Early life

Lady Lettice Lygon was born on 16 June 1906, the daughter of

William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp (20 February 1872 – 14 November 1938), styled Viscount Elmley until 1891, was a British Liberal politician. He was Governor of New South Wales between 1899 and 1901, a member of the Liberal administrations of ...

and Lady Lettice Mary Elizabeth Grosvenor, a daughter of Victor Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor.

Bright Young Things

Lady Lettice Lygon was "one of the tallest and prettiest members of the younger set". She was "the tallest débutante of her year". She was a friend of

Daphne Fielding The Hon. Daphne Winifred Louise Fielding (''née'' Vivian, formerly Thynne; 11 July 1904 – 5 December 1997) was a British author. Early life Daphne Vivian was born on 11 July 1904 in Westminster, London, the elder child of George Vivian, ...

. In 1931, Lady Lettice's portrait was painted by

Philip de László Philip Alexius László de Lombos (born Fülöp Laub; ; 30 April 1869 – 22 November 1937), known professionally as Philip de László, was an Anglo-Hungarian painter known particularly for his portraits of royal and aristocratic personages. ...

. In the portrait, she is seated "Seated half-length slightly to the right, head turned in three-quarter profile to the left, wearing a pale off the shoulder evening gown, with a chiffon stole round her shoulders, her left elbow resting on the arm of the sofa with her hand raised to her neck, holding a string of pearls in her right hand resting on a blue stole in her lap".

Personal life

On 16 June 1930 she married Sir Richard Charles Geers Cotterell, 5th Baronet (1907–1978), the only son of Sir John Cotterell, 4th Baronet and his wife, Lady Evelyn Amy Gordon-Lennox (the eldest daughter of the former Amy Gordon-Lennox, Countess of March and

Charles Gordon-Lennox, 7th Duke of Richmond Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 7th Duke of Richmond, 2nd Duke of Gordon (27 December 1845 – 18 January 1928), styled Lord Settrington until 1860 and Earl of March between 1860 and 1903, was a British politician and peer. Early life Styled Lord ...

). Before their divorce in 1958, they had four children: * Rose Evelyn Cotterell (1932–2006), who married

Charles Hambro, Baron Hambro Charles Hambro, Baron Hambro (24 July 1930 – 7 November 2002) was a British merchant banker and political fundraiser. He was the Chairman of Hambros Bank from 1972 until its merger with Société Générale in 1998. He was the senior honor ...

, heir to the

Hambros Bank Hambros Bank was a British bank based in London. The Hambros bank was a specialist in Anglo-Scandinavian business with expertise in trade finance and investment banking, and was the sole banker to the Scandinavian kingdoms for many years. The bank ...

fortune. * Anne Lettice Cotterell (b. 1933) * Sir John Henry Geers Cotterell, 6th Baronet (1935–2017), who married Alexandra Bridgewater in 1959. * Thomas Richard Geers Cotterell (b. 1939). They divorced in 1958. Later that same year, Richard married Hon. Molly Patricia Berry, daughter of

William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose William Ewart Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose, DL (23 June 1879 – 15 June 1954) was a British peer and newspaper publisher. Life and career Berry was born in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, the second of three sons of Mary Ann (Rowe) and John Mathias Be ...

.Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.''

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

, U.S.A.:

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

(Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, page 916. She died on 18 July 1973 aged 67.

References

External links

Portrait of Lady Lettice Cotterell
1931, by

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lygon, Lettice 1906 births 1973 deaths British debutantes English socialites Wives of baronets Daughters of British earls Lettice