Social Victorians/People/Goelet

Also Known As

• Family name: Goelet, Göelet

Organizations

• May Wilson Goelet in New York: Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred," the "Ultra-fashionable 150"

Timeline

1877, May Wilson and Ogden Goelet married in New York.

1897 July 2, Friday, Mr. Ogden Goelet, Mrs. May Goelet, and Mary Goelet attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball at Devonshire House. (Ogden Goelet is #502 in the list of people who attended; Mrs. May Goelet is #503; and Miss Mary Goelet is #228.)

1903 November 10, Henry John Innes-Ker and Mary Goelet married.

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

Mr. Ogden Goelet, Mrs. May Goelet, and Mary Goelet, called Miss Ogden Göelet, attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball.

Mary Goelet as Scheherazade. ©National Portrait Gallery, London.

John Thomson's portrait (right) of "Mary (née Goelet), Duchess of Roxburghe as Scheherazade" in costume is photogravure #243 in the album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire and now in the National Portrait Gallery. The printing on the portrait says, "Miss Goelet as Scheherazade," with a Long S in Miss.

Another image of her in costume appeared in the Queen (top right of the page, the numeral 15 below the line drawing, full front, the drawing is similar to her costume in her photograph, headdress and bare arms emphasized; the drawing apparently signed by "Rook").

Miss Mary Göelet was among the Suite of Ladies in the "Oriental" procession.

Newspaper Accounts

• According to the Pall Mall Gazette, "Miss Ogden Goelet, as a lady of the Assyrian court, was attired in a beautiful robe of golden gauze, glittering with multi-coloured jewels, and draped at the waist with soft sashes of crêpe de chine in pale shades of mauve, pink, and blue."
• "There were two queens of Sheba, one of whom, the Princess of Pless, was most lovely. Her dress was one of the most superb things ever seen. It must have cost several hundred pounds. She was followed by five black attendants and six maidens, one of whom was Miss Goelet, whose dress was another marvellous triumph."
• "Miss Goelett (Assyrian Queen), gold embroidered gauze with pink, blue, and mauve sashes."
• Accompanying the line drawing in the Queen is this description:

  Made by Mrs Mason, 4, New Burlington Street, W. … No. 15. MISS GORLET [sic], Lady of the Assyrian Court. — Gown of gold-striped / gauze over gold tissue, richly embroidered with gold and jewels; three sushes [s/b: sashes?] in pink, lilac, and blue, also embroidered; Assyrian headdress in jewels, with aigrette.

• Lady Violet Greville says that Miss Mary Goelet, "a very pretty girl, made quite a sensation at the Duchess of Devonshire's ball."

The costume worn by Mrs. May Goelet, Mary's mother, is mentioned in one American newspaper:

• "Mrs. Goelet in the character of Night shone in a blaze of diamonds."

Demographics

• Nationality: both, American

Residences

• Roxburghe: Floors Castle, Scotland
• Goelets, in London: Wimbourne House

Family

• Ogden Goelet (11 June 1851 – 27 August 1897)
• May (Mary Rita) Wilson Goelet (December 12, 1855 – February 23, 1929)

1. Mary Goelet (6 October 1878 – 26 April 1937)
2. Robert Wilson Goelet (1880–1966)

• Mary Goelet (6 October 1878 – 26 April 1937)
• Henry John Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe (24 July 1876 – 29 September 1932)

1. George Victor Robert John Innes-Ker (7 September 1913 – 26 September 1974)

Relations

• Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt
• Duke of Marlborough
• Winston Churchill

Demographics

• Nationality: both, American

Residences

• Roxburghe: Floors Castle, Scotland
• Goelets, in London: Wimbourne House

Family

• Ogden Goelet (11 June 1851 – 27 August 1897)
• May (Mary Rita) Wilson Goelet (December 12, 1855 – February 23, 1929)

1. Mary Goelet (6 October 1878 – 26 April 1937)
2. Robert Wilson Goelet (1880–1966)

• Mary Goelet (6 October 1878 – 26 April 1937)
• Henry John Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe (24 July 1876 – 29 September 1932)

1. George Victor Robert John Innes-Ker (7 September 1913 – 26 September 1974)

Relations

• Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt
• Duke of Marlborough
• Winston Churchill

Questions and Notes

1. "At the time of her marriage to the Duke of Roxburghe, [Mary Goelet] was the wealthiest American heiress, with a dowry of twenty million dollars, exceeded only by Consuelo Vanderbilt in the wealth brought to the transatlantic marriages of the pre-1914 era" ("Mary Goelet." Wikipedia).
2. The Suite of Ladies in the Oriental procession at the Duchess of Devonshire's 1897 fancy-dress ball included the following: a Miss West, Mary Goelet, Lady C. Grosvenor, and Miss Oppenheim. The identity of Miss West is even more uncertain than that of Lady C. Grosvenor or Hon. R. Grosvenor. Mary Goelet was 18 years old at the time of the ball; Lady Constance Grosvenor almost 22; Miss Rosalind Oppenheim's age is uncertain, but she cannot be younger than about 30 (her father remarried in 1868).