Lady Ormonde

A carte-de-visite portrait of the Marchioness of Ormonde (1856-1928).

Born Lady Elizabeth Harriet Grosvenor, she was the daughter of Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster and Lady Constance Gertrude née Sutherland-Leveson-Gower. Her maternal grandfather was the 2nd Duke of Sutherland.

On 2 February 1876 she married James Edward William Theobald Butler, 3rd Marquess of Ormonde. The marriage produced two daughters.

Lady Ormonde died on 25 March 1928, aged 76, at 81 Duke Street, London. She left effects valued at £16,796.

According to her obituary in The Times (26 March 1928): ‘Elizabeth, Marchioness of Ormonde, who died in London yesterday, was a daughter of the first Duke of Westminster. She was married, in 1874, to the third Marquess of Ormonde and for many years she and her husband were among the foremost figures in the society of England and Ireland. At Kilkenny Castle, Lord Ormonde’s Irish seat, were entertained among many others, King Edward and Queen Alexandra. Her husband was famous as a patron of most forms of sport; two of his schooners, Gem and Mirage, are remembered to this day. He died in 1919, leaving two daughters, the Ladies Beatrice and Constance Butler, the former of whom is the widow of Lieutenant-General Sir Reginald Pole-Carew. During the War, the late Marchioness took an active part in leading the charitable efforts of Co. Kilkenny, as president of the county branches of the British Red Cross Society and the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Families’ Association, and as a member of other institutions. She also conducted a fund for prisoners of war of the Royal Irish Regiment. The funeral service will be at St Michael’s, Chester-square, on Wednesday, and the interment at Kilkenny Castle on Thursday.’

Photographed by Elliott and Fry of London.