19 This exchange is quoted in Geidel, ‘Forgotten Feminist’, PP. 753–54.
20 Maxwell, I Married the World, p. 174.
21 Geidel, ‘Forgotten Feminist’, p. 719.
22 Memo: General Statement, p. 20, DSUP.
23 Additional memorandum concerning events at Augerville, July 1931, p. 13, DSUP.
24 Additional memorandum concerning Mary Young, p. 10, DSUP.
25 Matter of Alva E. Belmont Deceased, Stenographer’s Minutes, New York, 19 May 1933.
26 Unidentified newspaper cutting, Alva Belmont’s Clippings Book, 1932.
27 Matilda Young to her mother, 25 August 1932. Matilda Young was the sister of Mary Young, Alva’s secretary from 1928. According to Doris Stevens, Mary Young was often very unhappy on account of Alva’s rages and Matilda seems to have joined her in Augerville out of solidarity, sometimes running errands for Alva and helping to push her round the grounds of the chateau. Matilda Young Papers.
28 Young to her mother, 13 August 1932, Matilda Young Papers.
29 Young to her mother, 12 September 1932, Matilda Young Papers.
30 Dr Edmund Gros to Matilda Young, 13 September 1932. Dr Gros sounds more fun than his colleague Dr Fuller who was described by Matilda as ‘a nice little man but he doesn’t row a boat as well as Dr Gros’.
31 Alice Paul, Regional Oral History Office, University of California, Berkeley, interview by Amerlia R. Fry, November 1972 and May 1973, in IV: ‘The Equal Rights Amendment: Coup D’Etat Within the Women’s Party 1946–1947’, p. 564.
32 Balsan, Glitter, p. 229.
33 The New York Times, Monday 13 February 1933.
34 Press release for Alva’s funeral on Sunday 12 February 1933, prepared by National Woman’s Party, Jane Norman Smith Papers.
35 Quoted by the Women’s Resource Project at www.ibiblio.org.
36 ‘Hymn to be sung at Mrs Belmont’s funeral’, Jane Norman Smith Papers.
37 The New York Times, 13 Monday 1933.
38 Memo: General Statement, p. 28, DSUP.
39 Eulogy given by Doris Stevens at Alva’s funeral, Sunday 12 February 1933, DSUP.
40 ‘Why Women Went to Jail’, draft of article by Alva Belmont, DSUP.
41 Alice Paul, Regional Oral History Office, University of California, Berkeley, interview by Amerlia R. Fry, November 1972 and May 1973, in III: ‘The Suffrage Campaign Reviewed’, p. 331.
42 Belmont Memoirs (Field), p. 61.
43 Chicago Tribune (French edition), 1 June 1926.
44 Maxwell, I Married the World, pp. 70, 80.
45 Alva Belmont’s Clippings Book, 1932.
46 Maxwell, I Married the World, pp. 84–5.
47 Quoted in Geidel, ‘Forgotten Feminist’, p. 748.
48 Maxwell, I Married the World, p. 84.
49 Alice Paul, Regional Oral History Office, University of California, Berkeley, interview by Amerlia R. Fry, November 1972 and May 1973, in IV: ‘The Equal Rights Amendment’, p. 564.
50 Auchincloss, Vanderbilt Era, p. 110.
51 Maxwell, I Married the World, p. 83.
52 Balsan, Glitter, p. 219.
53 Auchincloss, Vanderbilt Era, p. 110.
54 Auchincloss, Vanderbilt Era, p. 110.
55 Harold S. Vanderbilt, Contract Bridge: Bidding and The Club Convention (New York and London: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1929), p. II.
56 Robert N. Bavier, The America’s Cup: an Insider’s View: 1930 to the Present (New York: Bob Bauier Dodd Mead and Co. Inc., 1986) p. 12.
57 Balsan, Glitter, p. 230.
58 Quoted in Vickers, Gladys, p. 202.
59 Quoted in Vickers, Gladys, p. 205.
60 Vickers, Gladys, p. 223.
61 Vickers, Gladys, p. 223.
62 Quoted in Vickers, Gladys, p. 1.
63 Quoted in Vickers, Gladys, pp. 227–28.
64 Quoted in Vickers, Gladys, p. 228.
65 Quoted in Vickers, Gladys, p. 237.
66 Spencer-Churchill and Martindale, Charles IXth Duke of Marlborough, p. 7.
67 Balsan, Glitter, p. 202.
68 Balsan, Glitter, p. 225.
69 Balsan, Glitter, p. 233.
70 C to WSC, 12 October 1935, CHAR 2/237/111, CA.
71 C to WSC, 12 October 1935, CHAR 2/237/111, CA.
72 Balsan, Glitter, p. 227.
73 Balsan, Glitter, p. 227.
74 C to WSC, 20 September 1938, CHAR 8/596, CA, quoted in M. Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill, Vol V, Companion Part 3: Documents, The Coming of War 1936–1939 (London: Heinemann, 1982), pp. 1169–70.
75 C to WSC, 18 October 1938, CHAR 2/332, CA, quoted in Gilbert, Churchill, Vol V, Companion Part 3, p. 1232.
76 WSC to C, 20 October 1938, CHAR 2/332, CA, quoted in Gilbert, Churchill, Vol V, Companion Part 3, p. 1232.
77 Balsan, Glitter, p. 236.
78 Balsan, Glitter, pp. 235–36.
79 A. Lambert, 1939: The Last Season of Peace (London and New York: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1989), pp. 170–71.
80 Balsan, Glitter, p. 236.
81 Soames, Clementine, pp. 313–4.
82 Mary Soames to author, June 2002.
83 WSC, ‘Recollections’, 20 August 1939, 4/114, CA, quoted in Gilbert, Churchill, Vol V, Companion Part 3, p. 1591.
84 Paul Maze diary, 20 August 1939, from Maze Papers quoted in Gilbert, Churchill, Vol V, Companion Part 3, p. 1591.
85 Maze diary, 20 August 1939, from Maze Papers quoted in Gilbert, Churchill, Vol V, Companion Part 3, p. 1592.
86 Mary Soames to author, June 2002.
87 Soames, Clementine, p. 314.
88 W. H. Thompson, ‘Recollections (Sixty Minutes with Winston Churchill)’, 22 August 1939, quoted in Gilbert, Churchill, Vol V, Companion Part 3, p. 1592.
89 Balsan, Glitter, p. 238.
90 H. Molloy, The Lafayette Escadrille (New York: Random House, 1964), pp. 288–89.
91 Balsan, Glitter, pp. 225 and 230.
92 Balsan, Glitter, pp. 230–32, passim.
93 Balsan, Glitter, pp. 240–41.
94 Balsan, Glitter, p. 242.
95 Balsan, Glitter, pp. 244–45 passim.
96 H. R. Kedward, Resistance in Vichy France (Oxford: OUP, 1978), p. 8.
97 Balsan, Glitter, p. 247. All direct quotations to the end of the chapter now come from Balsan, Glitter, pp. 247–59 passim.
13 HARVEST ON HOME GROUND
1 Balsan, Glitter, p. ix.
2 US Naturalisation Certificate, 8 November 1940, CVBS.
3 Mackay et al (eds), Long Island Country Houses, p. 401. Old Fields was originally built by Treanor and Fatio for George Backer and was adapted from the design of a mid-eighteenth century Tidewater plantation house.
4 Diary entry for 5 January 1942 in Lord Moran, Winston Churchill: The Struggle for Survival 1940–1965 (London: Heron Books, 1966), p. 21.
5 Maxwell, I Married the World, p. 18.
6 Maxwell, I Married the World, p. 18.
7 Maxwell, I Married the World, p. 18.
8 Quoted in M. Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill 1941–45, Vol. VII: Road to Victory (London: Heinemann, 1986), p. 38.
9 Diary entry for 9 January 1942 in Lord Moran, Winston Churchill, p. 22.
10 H. R. Kedward, Resistance in Vichy France (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978), p. 16.
11 Maxwell, I Married the World, p. 292.
12 Jacques Balsan to Myron Taylor and Franklin D. Roosevelt, 17–19 May 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt Digital Archives (http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/archives/).
13 Catalogue: ‘French and English Art Treasures of the Eighteenth Century’, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 20–30 December 1942, Foreword by Francis Henry Taylor. The exhibition was in aid of the American Women’s Voluntary Services and the catalogue was presented by Consuelo to the Library of Congress on 16 June 1943.
14 C to WSC, 23 September 1943, CHAR 20/95A/74, CA.
15 Prime Minister’s Personal Minute to Desmond Morton (the Prime Minister’s Personal Assistant), Serial no DM9/3,
3 November 1943, CHAR 20/95A/77, CA.
16 Major Morton to WSC, 8 November 1943, CHAR 20/95A/79, CA.
17 See Foreign Office Minutes on visit by Colonel Balsan, 21 September 1943, FO/954/8B, National Archives.
18 Major Morton to WSC, 8 November 1943, CHAR 20/95A/79/ CA.
19 WSC to C, 16 November 1943, CHAR 20/95A/82, CA.
20 The Herald Tribune, 19 December 1943.
21 10th Duke of Marlborough to WSC, October 1944, saying that his mother has had ‘800 refugees billeted on her’ and asking whether he could accompany WSC on his next visit to France so that he could ‘motor from Paris to see her’. This suggests that Consuelo did return briefly to St Georges-Motel in October 1944 with Jacques. CHAR 1/380/35–36, CA.
22 French Consul General to C, New York, 30 July 1947, CVBS.
23 Maxwell, I Married the World, pp. 291–92.
24 V. Lawford, ‘Madame Jacques Balsan: Portrait of a Unique American’ was first published in Vogue, 1 February 1963 and then republished in Valentine Lawford, Vogue’s Book of Houses, Gardens, People – with photographs by Horst and an introduction by Diana Vreeland – (London: Bodley Head, 1968), p. 8.
25 Lawford, ‘Madame Jacques Balsan’, in Vogue’s Book of Houses, p. 8.
26 Sale catalogue: ‘Estate of Lady Sarah Consuelo Spencer-Churchill’, Tuesday 15 May 2001, Doyle New York, P. 49.
27 Margarette Blouin to author, 3 April 2001.
28 Lawford, ‘Madame Jacques Balsan’, p. 8.
29 Quoted in M. Soames, Winston Churchill: His Life as a Painter (London: Collins, 1990), p. 151.
30 Quoted in Soames, Churchill: His Life as a Painter, p. 151.
31 Louis Auchincloss to author, Wednesday 25 July 2001.
32 Green, Churchills of Blenheim, p. 164.
33 Green, Churchills of Blenheim, p. 185.
34 Green, Churchills of Blenheim, p. 180.
35 Green, Churchills of Blenheim, p. 163.
36 V. Lawford, Horst: His Work and His World (London: Viking, 1985) P. 353.
37 C. Vanderbilt Jr, Queen of the Golden Age: The Fabulous Story of Grace Wilson Vanderbilt (Maidstone, Kent: George Mann, 1999; first published New York: McGraw-Hill, 1956), p. 268.
38 Patterson, Vanderbilts, p. 281.
39 Patterson, Vanderbilts, p. 248.
40 Auchincloss, Vanderbilt Era, p. 105.
41 See, for example, Stasz, The Vanderbilt Women p. 364: ‘a highly sanitized, ghostwritten view of her life’.
42 C to Cass Canfield, 10 July 1951, HRP.
43 Cass Canfield to C, 4 January 1952, HRP.
44 Cass Canfield to C, 17 July 1951, HRP.
45 C to Cass Canfield, 27 July 1951, HRP.
46 Green, Churchills of Blenheim, p. 176.
47 Telegram from C to Cass Canfield, 28 December, 1951.
48 WSC to C, 27 June 1952, HRP.
49 WSC to Cass Canfield, 30 June 1952, HRP.
50 C to Marguerite S. Hoyle, 23 October 1952, HRP.
51 C to Marguerite S. Hoyle, 5 August 1952, HRP.
52 M. S. Hoyle to C, 11 August 1952, HRP.
53 Balsan, Glitter, pp. 229–30.
54 John O’London’s Weekly, 1 May 1953.
55 Punch, 13 May 1953.
56 Punch, 13 May 1953.
57 New York Herald Tribune, interview with Consuelo by John K. Hutchens, 28 September 1952.
58 D. Fielding, The Face on The Sphinx: A Portrait of Gladys Deacon, Duchess of Marlborough (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1978), p. 47.
59 See jacket cover of Balsan, The Glitter and the Gold (1973 edition).
60 Cass Canfield to C, 7 October 1952.
61 WSC to C, London, 8 June 1953, CVBS.
62 The Times, Obituary, Tuesday 18 September 1956.
63 The Times, Harold Nicholson, Wednesday 19 September 1956.
64 Press cutting, November 1956, CVBS.
65 Serena Balfour to author, 23 April 2001.
66 V. Lawford, ‘Madame Jacques Balsan’, in Vogue’s Book of Houses, p. 9.
67 R. H. Pilpel, Churchill in America 1895–1961: An Affectionate Portrait (London: New English Library, 1977; first published Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976), p. 270.
68 Diplomat, October 1960. According to the article, she outclassed ‘Mrs “Chessy” Lewis Amory, Mrs Donald Leas, Mrs Byrnes McDonald’ and ‘any of the deb contingent’.
69 The New York Journal-American, undated cutting, CVBS.
70 C to Katherine Warren, Preservation Society of Newport County, 2 October 1964.
71 Lawford, Horst, p. 354.
72 V. Lawford, ‘Madame Jacques Balsan’, p. 7.
73 V. Lawford, ‘Madame Jacques Balsan’, p. 10.
74 V. Lawford, ‘Madame Jacques Balsan’, p. 11.
75 V. Lawford, ‘Madame Jacques Balsan’, p. 10.
76 V. Lawford, ‘Madame Jacques Balsan’, p. 10.
77 Diplomat, October 1960.
78 Serena Balfour to author, 23 April 2001.
79 The New York Times, 10 December 1964.
80 Oxford Times, 18 December 1964.
81 New York Herald Tribune, interview with Consuelo by J. Hutchens, 28 September 1952.
AFTERWORD
1 D. Vreeland, ‘American Women of Style’, exhibition catalogue (New York: Costume Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975), with an introduction by curator, S. Blum (no page nos).
2 See http://www.canadianinteriordesign.com/: Diana Vreeland 1906–1989.
3 See http://www.canadianinteriordesign.com/: Diana Vreeland 1906–1989.
4 See D. Silverman, Selling Culture: Bloomingdale’s, Diana Vreeland and the New Aristocracy of Taste in Reagan’s America (New York: Pantheon Books, 1986), passim.
5 See www.Bartleby.com/63/89/6o89.html: ‘Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations’, compiled by James B. Simpson, 1988.
6 S. Blum introduction to Vreeland, ‘American Women of Style’, exhibition catalogue.
7 Viscount Churchill, All My Sins Remembered (London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1964), pp. 33–4.
8 Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan: ‘Last Will and Testament’.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. WORKS BY CONSUELO (in chronological order)
Marlborough, the Duchess of, ‘The Position of Women’, I, II and III, North American Review: Vol. 189: no. 1 (January 1909); Vol. 189: no. 2 (February 1909); Vol. 189: no. 3 (March 1909)
—‘Hostels for Women’, The Nineteenth Century and After, May 1911, Vol. IX
—‘Saving The Children,’ Lady Priestley Memorial Lecture, National Health Society, 29 June 1916
Balsan, Consuelo Vanderbilt, The Glitter and the Gold (Maidstone: George Mann, 1973; first published New York: Harper & Brothers, 1952; London: William Heinemann, 1953)
II WORKS BY ALVA (in chronological order)
Printed Works
Belmont, Alva Erskine, Log of the Seminole (New York: privately printed, 1916)
—Melinda and Her Sisters, with Elsa Maxwell, music and lyrics by Elsa Maxwell (New York: Robert J. Shores, 1916)
Selected Articles
Belmont, Mrs O. H. P., ‘Woman’s Right to Govern Herself’, North American Review, November 1909, Vol. 190
—‘Belief in Women is Belief in Women’s Suffrage,’ Women’s Magazine, December 1909
—‘Woman and the Suffrage,’ Harper’s Bazaar, March 1910
—‘Woman Suffrage as it Looks Today,’ Forum, March 1910
—‘How Can Women Get the Suffrage?’ Independent, 31 March 1910
—‘Why I Am a Suffragist,’ World Today, October 1911, Vol. XXI
—Chicago Sunday Tribune series, April-November 1912:
‘How Suffrage Will Protect Women From Men Who “Sow Wild Oats”’, 28 April 1912; ‘Why Women Need the Ballot’, 12 May 1912; ‘Votes For Women Will Improve Existing Conditions’, 26 May 1912; ‘A Son Loses Respect For His Mother the Day He Votes’, 2 June 1912; ‘A Girl? What a Pity It Was Not a Boy!’, 9 June 19x2; ‘In What Respect Do Women Differ From Slaves or Serfs?’, 16 Ju
ne 1912; ‘Woman’s Suffrage Raises the Quality of the Electorate’, 30 June 1912; ‘Woman Suffragists Ask For Progressive Constitution’, 7 July 1912; ‘Do Not Let the Women Vote – Slogan of Political Bosses’, 14 July 1912; ‘In Nonvoting States Women are Classed with Lunatics’, 21 July 1912; ‘Man Has Failed to Care For Women and Children’, 28 July 1912; ‘Are Politicians Seeking a Flirtation with Suffragists?’, 4 August 1912; ‘What Place Will Women Take in Our Political Life?’, 15 September 1912; ‘We Must Not Be Made the Laughing Stock of the Voters’, 27 October 1912
—‘The Liberation of a Sex’, Hearst’s Magazine, April 1913, Vol. 23
—‘Jewish Women in Public Affairs’, American Citizen, May 1913, Vol. 232
—Foreword to Christabel Pankhurst, ‘Story of the Woman’s War,’ Good Housekeeping, November 1913, Vol. 57
—‘New Standards for Business Women’, Business Woman’s Magazine, January 1915
—‘Women as Dictators’, Ladies Home Journal, September 1922, Vol. 39
—‘Are Women Really Citizens?’, Good Housekeeping, September 1931, Vol. 93
III MANUSCRIPT SOURCES CONSULTED
Alva Belmont Clippings Books, Sewall-Belmont House and Museum, Washington DC
Alva Belmont Correspondence Scrapbook, National Woman’s Party Papers: 1913–1972, Microfilming Corporation of America c.1981, Women’s Library, London Metropolitan University
Asquith Papers, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
Bedford College Archives, Royal Holloway, University of London
Belmont Family Papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University
Belmont Memoirs (Field), Papers of Sara Bard Field, in Charles Erskine Scott Wood Papers, Huntington Library, San Marino, California
Belmont Memoirs (Young), Papers of Matilda Young, Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Church Army Papers, Cambridge University Library
Churchill Papers, Churchill Archives, Churchill College, University of Cambridge
Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan Scrapbook and Photograph Album, courtesy of Serena Balfour
Curzon Papers, British Library
D’Abernon Papers, British Library
Desborough Papers, Hertfordshire County Council Record Office
Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt Page 62