Mary Curzon

Artist Info

Mary CurzonChicago, 1870 - 1906, London

Curzon [née Leiter], Mary Victoria, Lady Curzon of Kedleston (1870–1906), vicereine of India, was born on 27 May 1870 at 924 Indiana Avenue, Chicago, the second of the four children of Levi Ziegler Leiter (1834–1904), merchant and millionaire, and his wife, Mary Theresa (1845–1913), daughter of Benjamin Carver and his wife, Nancy. Her parents were American; her father was neither Jewish nor a Dutch Calvinist as has sometimes been claimed, but was from Swiss Mennonite stock. She had an elder brother, Joseph, and two sisters, Nancy (Nannie), and Marguerite (Daisy). In 1881 the Leiters moved to Washington, and during her formative years Mary accompanied her family to London several times. Her beauty was fêted on both sides of the Atlantic, especially after her formal launching into American society during the 1888 season.

In 1890, while the guest of Lady Brownlow at Ashridge, Hertfordshire, Mary Leiter was introduced to George Curzon and fell in love with him. The ambitious George Nathaniel Curzon (1859–1925), eldest son of Lord Scarsdale and heir to Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, was thirty-one years old. Their subsequent meetings and letters were intermittent, for his preoccupation was with affairs of state rather than of the heart. However, they were secretly engaged in March 1893. The engagement was formalized six weeks before the wedding, which took place on 22 April 1895, in Washington. The couple then returned to England; she never set foot on American soil again.

The first three years of marriage were very difficult. Curzon, by now under-secretary of state at the Foreign Office, was dedicated to his work, and Mary saw little of him. She soon found that living in London was quite different from being a visitor, especially after the birth of her first child, Mary Irene, on 20 January 1896. The vibrant social life of her earlier visits gave way to domestic routine. She mixed uneasily with her husband's friends, particularly the social circle known as the Souls (of which her husband was a prominent member) who resented her presence.

Curzon offered himself for the viceroyalty of India in 1898 when Lord Elgin's term expired, and after some hesitation Lord Salisbury agreed. The appointment was formally announced on 11 August 1898. On 28 August Mary gave birth to their second daughter, Cynthia Blanche (who eventually married Sir Oswald Mosley). The new viceroy was created Baron Curzon of Kedleston in the Irish peerage, and in December 1898 the Curzons and their children left for India.

As vicereine Mary Curzon flowered. Some had doubted—unnecessarily—whether an American could fulfil such an exacting role. Her natural beauty and elegance were enhanced by great charm. She was the perfect counterpoise to Curzon, whose aloof manner often disguised extreme physical discomfort from a back injury. Soon the Curzons were thrown into the routine of entertaining in Calcutta and Simla, dictated by complex rules of imperial protocol. Part of the year was spent ‘on tour’ where life was more relaxed, but still subject to considerable formality, especially when visiting the princely states. The Indian climate soon took its toll of Mary's health, which was never strong; she now suffered serious migraines. Government House in Calcutta, modelled on Kedleston, and the viceregal lodge at Simla were both built on a grand scale, but were highly inconvenient as residences, although Curzon effected some improvements.

The high point of Curzon's viceroyalty was the 1902 coronation durbar at Delhi. Every detail of the vast two-week extravaganza was planned by Curzon himself, and while some used the occasion to criticize his diplomacy, the vicereine's grace and elegance won universal acclaim. The climax of the celebrations was the state ball in the Mughal Palace at which nearly 4000 guests, including fifty Indian princes, were received by the Curzons. But the memory which remained long after the festivities was of Lady Curzon wearing the spectacular dress in cloth of gold, designed by Worth and embroidered with peacock feathers and emeralds, a reminder of the peacock throne of the Mughal rulers.

Failing health, exacerbated by the Indian climate, darkened the last years of Mary Curzon's life. She returned to London in January 1904 and her third daughter, Alexandra Naldera, was born there on 20 March. Curzon returned in May before taking the unprecedented step of a second term as viceroy, but during his time in England Mary became very seriously ill at Walmer Castle. Torn between his two loves, his work and his wife, Curzon did not return to India until she was out of danger. Mary was determined to join him, and on 9 February 1905 left for India. She remained with him during the stormy months of office which culminated in Curzon's resignation and subsequent return to England in December 1905. By then she was seriously ill. She died in Curzon's arms, in their London home in Carlton House Terrace, from a heart attack on 18 July 1906. Her body was taken to Kedleston, where she was buried on 23 July after a private funeral service. If their courtship had been cool, it was recompensed by the deepening of their mutual love, particularly during the Indian years. Although Curzon later remarried, he was buried beside Mary in the memorial chapel he had built and embellished at Kedleston after her death.

Valerie Bonham

Sources

N. Nicholson, Mary Curzon (1977) · D. Gilmour, Curzon (1994) · M. Fowler, Below the peacock fan: first ladies of the raj (1987) · Lady Curzon’s India, ed. J. Bradley (1985) · M. Bence-Jones, The viceroys of India (1982) · The Times (19 July 1906) · J. Abdy and C. Gere, The Souls (1984)