Social Victorians/People/Belper

Also Known As

• Family name: Strutt
  • Hers: Coke, Earl of Leicester
• Baron Belper
  • Henry Strutt, 2nd Baron Belper (30 June 1880 – 26 July 1914)
• Hon. Henry Strutt (1856 – 30 June 1880)

Organizations

• Harrow
• LLB and MA, Trinity College, Cambridge
• Marylebone Cricket Club (1863–1865)
• Member of Parliament for East Derbyshire (1868–1874)
• House of Lords (1880–1914)
• Liberal party, then Unionist
• Captain, the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (1895–1905)
• Aide-de-Camp, Households of Queen Victoria, Edward VII and George V (1894–1914)

Timeline

1874 May 2, Lady Margaret Coke and Henry Strutt married.

1897 July 2, Friday, Baron and Lady Belper as well as Hon. Miss Strutt attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball at Devonshire House. (Margaret, Lady Belper is #513 on the list of people who were present; Henry, Lord Belper is #512; Hon. Miss Norah Strutt is #514.)

1901 January 10, Hon. Lilian Strutt and Vernon Austen Malcolmson married.

1906 October 23, Hon. Hilda Strutt and Charles Israel Loraine Allix married.

1911 November 20, Hon. Norah Strutt and Major Robert Lee Morris married.

Costume at the Duchess of Devonshire's 2 July 1897 Fancy-dress Ball

Margaret, Lady Belper. ©National Portrait Gallery, London.

Margaret, Lady Belper

At the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball, Margaret, Lady Belper was present. John Thomson's portrait of "Margaret (née Coke), Lady Belper" in costume is photogravure #195 in the album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire and now in the National Portrait Gallery. The printing on the portrait says, "Lady Belper."

• "Lady BeIper was Mistress Ann Page, her dress copied from an old edition of Shakespeare in the Belper family; the dress blue and white with lisse and silver trimmings."

Costumer Brenda Wentworth says that Lady Belper's costume looks like an over-decorated late-1890s matronly ball gown. Possibly Lady Belper didn't wear a costume, or more likely, her idea for the dress was vague and whoever made it lacked artistry or skill: "There are too many ruffles and frou-frou on the top half of the gown in contrast to the lack of trim on the bottom half which is stiff and puffy with no flow or drape. The dress is unbalanced."

Henry Strutt, Baron Belper

Henry, Lord Belper was a "Gentleman at Arms," time of "Charles II.", wearing "leather tunic, trimmed velvet, velvet sleeves, full trunks, high leather boots, baldrick, sash round waist, linen collar and cuffs of the period."

The Hon. Miss Strutt

The Hon. Miss Strutt, likely the Hon. Norah Strutt, also attended (see Notes and Questions #1).

Demographics

• Nationality: British

Family

• Henry Strutt, 2nd Baron Belper (20 May 1840 – 26 July 1914)
• Lady Margaret Coke (24 April 1852 – 2 August 1922)

1. Hon. William Strutt (8 February 1875 – 5 October 1898)
2. Hon. Norah Strutt (17 June 1876 – 14 September 1948)
3. Hon. Lilian Strutt (31 October 1877 – 22 February 1956)
4. Hon. Hilda Strutt (25 May 1879 – 28 April 1923)
5. Hon. Reginald Edward Strutt (12 July 1881 – 10 May 1888)
6. Algernon Henry Strutt, 3rd Baron Belper (6 May 1883 – 20 May 1956)
7. Hon. Margaret Strutt (4 February 1886 – 23 April 1980)
8. Hon. Muriel Strutt (30 October 1890 – 8 August 1976)

Notes and Questions

1. The Hon. Norah Strutt — unmarried at the time of the ball, 21 years old and as eldest daughter properly called Miss Strutt — seems most likely to be the Miss Strutt who attended.