Susanna Innes-Ker, Duchess of Roxburghe
VA | |
|---|---|
 Oil on canvas by Henry Wyndham Phillips (1868) | |
| Born | Susanna Stephania Dalbiac 1814 Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 7 May 1895 (aged 80) London, England |
| Resting place | Bowden, Roxburghshire, Scotland |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Lady Susan Grant-Suttie James Innes-Ker, 7th Duke of Roxburghe Lady Charlotte Innes-Ker Lord Charles Innes-Ker |
| Parent(s) | Sir James Charles Dalbiac Susanna Dalton |
Susanna Innes-Ker, Duchess of Roxburghe
Early life and family
Born in 1814, Susanna Stephania Dalbiac was the only child of
Marriage and issue
On 29 December 1836 Susanna married James Innes-Ker, 6th Duke of Roxburghe.[1] To afford her dowry, her father sold Moulton Hall, a manor house in North Yorkshire he had purchased soon after the birth of his daughter.[3] The Duke and Duchess had four children:
- Lady Susan Harriet Innes-Ker (13 November 1837[1] – 16 October 1909)
- James Henry Robert Innes-Ker, 7th Duke of Roxburghe (5 September 1839[1]– 23 October 1892)
- Lady Charlotte Isabella Innes-Ker (8 August 1841[1] – 24 April 1881)
- Lord Charles John Innes-Ker (31 December 1842[1] – after 1904)
Service to Queen Victoria
The Duchess of Roxburghe was, by Queen Victoria's description, a "dear and valued friend" of hers.[4] In 1861, there was speculation among the royal household that she would be appointed as Mistress of the Robes, the most prominent position among Victoria's household.[5] One speculating courtier described Innes-Ker during this time as "a good, kind woman, very civil and gracious to everybody, very pretty, and perfectly unexceptional in character".[6] Ultimately Innes-Ker did not receive this role, but in 1886 she did briefly take up its duties during one of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone's terms in office.[7] In 1865, Victoria honoured Innes-Ker by appointing her as a Lady of the Bedchamber and conferring membership of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert. In her new role, Innes-Ker's duties included accompanying the queen on state occasions.[8] By 1879, she was one of Victoria's longest serving ladies-in-waiting.[9]
While out driving a gig in April 1867, Innes-Ker's pony became startled and caused the conveyance to crash into the gig of her daughter-in-law, Lady Charles Innes-Ker. The Duchess lay injured on the grass until a passing doctor discovered the accident and helped return her to the Innes-Ker family seat of Floors Castle in Roxburghshire.[10] Journeying for Balmoral later that year, Queen Victoria detoured from her normal route to visit the Duchess at Floors Castle that summer.[11][12] In 1879, the Duke was returning home from a trip to Naples when he died in Geneva.[9] Their eldest son James succeeded him.
The Duchess of Roxburghe was present during an attempted assassination of Victoria in 1882, when the Scotsman
References
- ^ a b c d e f Lodge 1846, p. 460.
- ^ a b Stephens & Stearn 2004.
- ^ Smithson 1906.
- ^ Lytton 2015, p. 62.
- ^ Armitage 1899, p. 163.
- ^ Stanley Long 1916, p. 382.
- ^ Armitage 1899, pp. 164, 168–9.
- ^ Newnes 1895, pp. 190–91.
- ^ a b Vanity Fair, p. 260.
- ^ The Guardian.
- ^ Wilson 2014, p. 295.
- ^ Wilson 1893, p. 295.
- ^ Wilson 2014, p. 412.
- ^ Burke 1896, p. 181.
- ^ Anand 2015, p. 117.
- ^ King 2007, p. 79.
Works cited
- Anand, Anita (2015). Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1408835456.
- Armitage, Mrs (1899). "The Mistress of the Robes". The Lady's Realm. 6. Hutchinson and Co: 163–9.
- Burke, Edmund (1896). The Annual Register. Longmans, Green, and Co.
- "From the archive, 18 April 1867: Accident to the Duchess of Roxburghe". The Guardian. 18 April 2013.
- Bowles, T. G.; Fry, O. A. (1 May 1879). "In Society". Vanity Fair. Vol. 21. pp. 259–60.
- ISBN 978-0-470-04439-1.
- Lodge, Edmund (1846). The Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire as at Present Existing (15th ed.). Saunders and Otley.
- Lytton, Constance (2015). Balfour, Betty (ed.). Letters of Constance Lytton. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1108078566.
- Newnes, George, ed. (1895). "The Ladies of Queen Victoria's Court". The Strand Magazine. Vol. 10. pp. 190–200.
- Smithson, George R. (1906). Wright, W. Ball (ed.). Genealogical Notes & Memoirs of the Smithson Family. Seeley and Co.
- Stanley Long, Eleanor (1916). Twenty Years at Court: From the Correspondence of the Hon. Eleanor Stanley, Maid of Honour to Her Late Majesty Queen Victoria, 1842–1862. Charles Scribner's Sons.
- Stephens, H. M.; Stearn, Roger T. (2004). "Dalbiac, Sir James Charles (1776–1847), army officer". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7009. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ISBN 978-0143127871.
- Wilson, Robert (1893). The Life and Times of Queen Victoria, Volume 2. Cassell & Company.