- Lady Cynthia Colville
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Lady Helen Cynthia Colville, née Crewe-Milnes, DCVO, DBE (20 May 1884 - 15 June 1968) was both a courtier and social worker, serving as a Woman of the Bedchamber to Queen Mary, while at the same time devoting her energies to alleviating the suffering of Shoreditch, one of the poorest areas of the East End of London.
Contents
Family
Helen Cynthia was the third daughter of Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe[1] by his first wife, the former Sibyl Graham, daughter of Sir Frederick Graham (of the Graham Baronets of Netherby) and Lady Jane St Maur.
Her mother died young. Cynthia and her siblings then lived for a time with their unmarried uncle Hungerford Crewe, 3rd Baron Crewe, rejoining their father, a Liberal politician, when he was posted to Dublin as Gladstone's lord lieutenant of Ireland (1892–1895). Her father re-married, choosing Margaret (Peggy) Primrose, daughter of Lord Rosebery, Liberal Prime Minister in 1894-1895, and his wife Hannah, heiress to the Rothschild fortune. Cynthia's stepmother was only three years older than her. Her half-sister is Mary Innes-Ker, Duchess of Roxburghe.
Her mother's siblings, Cynthia's uncles and aunts, included Violet Hermione, who married Douglas Graham, 5th Duke of Montrose; Margaret Frances, who married as her second husband James Grimston, 3rd Earl of Verulam; and Hilda Georgina, who married Tory politician George Faber, 1st Baron Wittenham.
Helen Cynthia married the Hon. George Charles Colville, younger son of the 1st Viscount Colville of Culross and the Hon. Cecile Carrington, on 21 January 1908. Their children were:
- David Richard Colville (b. 11 May 1909 - d. 9 February 1987)
- Major Philip Robert Colville (b. 7 November 1910 - d. 11 April 1997)
- Sir John Rupert Colville (b. 28 January 1915 - d. 1987), the diarist
Work
She started her work in Shoreditch, which her son describes as a "socially derelict square mile", before World War I. One of her areas of concern was infant mortality, so she ran an infant welfare centre. The borough council, which was socialist, co-opted her to their public health committee. She befriended burglars as well as fallen women, and was a friend to all.[2] In 1952 she was appointed a lay justice at Bow Street Magistrates' Court.[3] Her step-mother had been one of the first female magistrates in Britain.[4]
She was considered revolutionary for introducing a self-made man like Thomas Benjamin Frederick Davis to high society, persuading the queen to invite him to dinner on the royal yacht HMY Victoria and Albert III during the Cowes Week regatta[5] She was herself an enthusiastic sailor.
Memorials
In 1948 Shoreditch Council renamed a housing estate on Felton Street estate as "the Colville estate" in honour of her long association.
In 1963 she published her autobiography, Crowded Life.
Honours and awards
- She was invested as a Officer, Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (OStJ)
- She held the office of Justice of the Peace (JP) for the County of London
- She held the office of Woman of the Bedchamber to HM Queen Mary between 1923-53
- She was invested as a Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (DCVO) in 1937
- She was invested as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1953
- She was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Law (LL.D.) by Leeds University
- She was invested as a Fellow, Royal College of Music (FRCM)
Death
She died on 15 June 1968, aged 84, at 4 Mulberry Walk, Chelsea, London, England.
References
- ^ thepeerage.com Sir John Rupert Colville
- ^ Footprints in Time. John Colville. 1976. Chapter 4, Mr Salthouse.
- ^ ONDB
- ^ Hazel Ballan
- ^ Footprints in Time. John Colville. 1976. Chapter 5, Echoes of the Morning.
Citations
- L. G. Pine, The New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms (London, U.K.: Heraldry Today, 1972), page 90
- Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware:Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd., 2003), volume 1, page 867
External links
Categories:- 1884 births
- 1968 deaths
- Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- Dames Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
- Officers of the Order of St John
- People from Chelsea, London
- Daughters of British marquesses
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