Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, 5th Baronet

Cosmo Duff Gordon
Born	22 July 1862(1862-07-22)
Died	20 April 1931(1931-04-20) (aged 68) South Kensington, London England
Occupation	Fencer, Landowner
Parents	Cosmo Lewis Duff Gordon Anna Maria Antrobus

Olympic medal record
Men's Fencing
1906 Intercalated Games[1]
Silver	1906 Athens	Team épée

Sir Cosmo Edmund Duff Gordon, 5th Baronet DL (22 July 1862 - 20 April 1931), the son of the Hon. Cosmo Lewis Duff Gordon and the former Anna Maria Antrobus, was a prominent Scottish landowner and sportsman. He was particularly noted as a fencer, representing Great Britain at the 1906 Summer Olympics, winning silver in the team épée event, and the 1908 Olympics. He was also a self defence enthusiast who trained with champion Swiss wrestler Armand Cherpillod at the Bartitsu Club in London's Soho district. Duff Gordon was the co-founder of the London Fencing League, a member of the Bath Club and the Royal Automobile Club. He was a sheriff and magistrate in his native Kincardineshire, near Aberdeen, where his ancestral country estate Maryculter was located.

Duff Gordon was the fifth baronet of Halkin, his title stemming from a royal licence conferred on his great uncle in 1813 in recognition of his aid to the Crown during the Peninsular War. In 1772 his family had founded the Duff Gordon sherry bodega in Spain, which still produces high quality fortified wines.

Lady Duff-Gordon

In 1900, Duff Gordon married the famous London fashion designer "Madame Lucile" (née Lucy Christiana Sutherland, then Mrs. James Stuart Wallace). This was slightly risqué, as Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon was a divorcee and had a sister, Elinor Glyn, noted for writing erotica.

Cosmo Duff Gordon is best known for surviving the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, along with his wife and her secretary, Laura Mabel Francatelli.^[2] Rumours that the Duff Gordons bribed the crew in their lifeboat not to rescue people in the water threatened their reputations, but the British Board of Trade's Inquiry into the disaster cleared them of any wrongdoing and a letter written by the secretary further clears their name.^[3] However, Duff Gordon was one of many men in First Class who were allowed into lifeboats despite Captain Smith's "Women and children first" rule, while many women and children, mostly from Third Class, never reached the upper deck where the lifeboats were stowed, because it was a First Class deck. It is known that lifeboat 1 of the Titanic was barely filled as many onboard still believed it to be "unsinkable" and that First Officer William McMaster Murdoch was glad to offer Duff Gordon and his wife a place (simply to fill it) after the couple had asked if they could get on.

Gordon died on 20 April 1931 of natural causes. He is buried at Brookwood Cemetery, near Woking, Surrey.^[4]

Cosmo Duff Gordon was portrayed by Martin Jarvis in the 1997 film Titanic. The actor's wife, Rosalind Ayres, played Lady Duff Gordon.

References

• Burke's Peerage
• Who's Who

• Etherington-Smith, Meredith; Pilcher, Jeremy, "The 'It' Girls," ISBN 0-15-145774-3
• "Encyclopedia Titanica". http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/biography.php?id=100. 

1. ^ "Cosmo Duff Gordon Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/du/cosmo-duff-gordon-1.html. Retrieved 2010-12-24. 
2. ^ "Family history doesn't repeat itself". Daily Telegraph City Diary (47,787): p. B8. 23 January 2009. 
3. ^ Reynolds, Nigel (2 May 2007). "Letter clears 'blackguard of the Titanic'". telegraph.co.uk (London: Telegraph Media Group). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/02/ntitanic02.xml. Retrieved 2007-05-05. 
4. ^ "Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon". Necropolis Notables. The Brookwood Cemetery Society. http://www.tbcs.org.uk/duff_gordon.htm. Retrieved 2007-02-23. 

External links

• Encyclopedia-Titanica.org Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon
• Family tree

Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Maurice Duff-Gordon	Baronet (of Halkin) 1896–1931	Succeeded by Henry William Duff-Gordon

Persondata
Name	Duff Gordon, Cosmo
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	22 July 1862
Place of birth
Date of death	20 April 1931
Place of death	South Kensington, London England