Adele Capell, Countess of Essex

Adele Beach Capell, Countess of Essex (née Adele Beach Grant) (9 December 1866 - died 28 July 1922) was an American born socialite who married into the British nobility. She was also a vegetarianism activist.

The Right Honourable

The Countess of Essex
The Countess of Essex, by John Singer Sargent, 1906
Personal details
Born
Adele Beach Grant

(1866-12-09)9 December 1866
New York City, New York, U.S.
Died28 July 1922(1922-07-28) (aged 55)
London, England
Spouse(s)
​
(
m. 1893; died 1916)
RelationsMartin Peake, 2nd Viscount Ingleby (grandson)
ChildrenLady Iris Mary Athenais de Vere Capell
Lady Joan Rachel de Vere Capell
ParentsDavid Beach Grant
Rebecca Douglas Stewart Grant

Early life

She was born in New York City on 9 December 1866. She was a daughter of Rebecca Douglas (née Stewart) Grant (1835–1917) and David Beach Grant (1839–1888) of the Grant Locomotive Works.[1] Her sister was Edythe Scott Grant, who married Viscount Gaston Charles de Breteuil in 1904.[2] Along with her sister, Adele was the co-heiress to her uncle R. Suydam Grant,[2] who gave her away at her wedding.[3]

A society beauty, she was one of the so-called 'Lovely Five' along with the Duchess of Sutherland, the Countess of Westmorland, the Countess of Lytton, and the Countess of Warwick.[4]

Personal life

Adele was engaged to Lord Cairns, but broke off the engagement on the eve of their wedding "owing to the prospective bridegroom's extortionate demands for a settlement."[5]

She married George Devereux de Vere Capell, 7th Earl of Essex, at St Margaret's, Westminster on 14 December 1893. The service was carried out by Archdeacon Farrar, and Sir Arthur Sullivan played the organ. The Earl and Countess lived at Cassiobury Park, Watford. The couple had two daughters:[6]

In 1902, the Earl purchased a Cartier diamond tiara, known as the 'Essex Tiara' for the Countess.[7] The same tiara was later worn by Clementine Churchill at the 1953 Coronation.[8]

In World War I, the Countess supported the war effort, working with Queen Mary's Needlework Guild, the Urban Council for War Relief and as President of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Association.[9]

After the Earl's death, in 1916, Adele was rumoured to be engaged to the Duke of Connaught (a younger brother of King Edward VII).[5] However, she never remarried. In 1920, Adele and her stepson, Algernon Capell, 8th Earl of Essex, sold off Cassiobury Park and its contents.[10] She lived on as the Dowager Countess of Essex at her London home, 72 Brook Street, Mayfair, where she died, aged 63,[11] on 28 July 1922.[5][12]

Vegetarianism

Adele became a vegetarian in 1904 which she attributed to regaining her beauty.[13] She was a member of the London Society of Vegetarians and embraced a unique form of exercise that involved balancing and lifting pumpkins.[14]

Legacy

She was the model for Hubert von Herkomer's portrait, 'Lady in White' [15] and an 1892 portrait by Edward Hughes.[16]

A portrait of Adele Capell by the English painter Edward Robert Hughes hangs in the Watford Museum.[17]

Another portrait, painted in 1906 by the American painter John Singer Sargent and entitled The Countess of Essex, currently hangs in The Museum of Fine Arts-Houston. It is privately owned, and on long term loan to the museum.

  • Adele in 1904
  • Adele Capell convert to vegetarianism
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References
  1. thePeerage.com Lundy, Darryl. "p. 3677 § 36768". The Peerage.
  2. "COUNTESS OF ESSEX INHERITS $591,000; R. Suydam Grant Also Bequeaths Same Amount to Vicomtesse de Breteuil of Paris. NET ESTATE IS $1,325,000 Gifts Made by the Broker to Several Friends Before His Death Escape Inheritance Tax". The New York Times. 27 August 1915. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  3. "MARRIED TO AN EARL Miss Adele Grant of New-York Becomes the Countess of Essex" (PDF). The New York Times. 15 December 1893. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  4. "Women In Great Social Positions. Britain's American Peeress Continued". chestofbooks.com. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  5. "COUNTESS OF ESSEX DIES IN HER BATH; Former Adele Grant of New York Stricken With Heart Attack After Dinner Party.TRIED TO SUMMON HELPDowager, Once Famous Beauty,Was Model for Herkomer's"A Lady in White."" (PDF). The New York Times. 29 July 1922. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  6. "Essex, Earl of (E, 1661)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Archived from the original on 1 September 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  7. "Tiara". news.webshots.com. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  8. "Flashback Friday: Coronation Guests and Their Jewels". orderofsplendor.blogspot.com. The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor. 2 March 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  9. "Lady Essex Talks of Englishwomen and War; No Matter What Their Class, All Have War Duties, Says the Countess, Who Was Miss Adela Grant of New York -- Sacrifices for the Cause". The New York Times. 2 January 1916. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  10. Times, by the New York Times Company Special Cable To the New York (17 October 1921). "WILL SELL CASSIOBURY.; Countess of Essex Also to Disperse the Famous Collection There". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  11. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  12. "COUNTESS LEFT $748,900; Estate of American Wife of Seventh Earl of Essex Appraised Here". The New York Times. 25 February 1927. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  13. Martineau, Marian (4 December 1904). "Vegetarianism Restores Beauty of Popular Countess". The Washington Times. p. 10. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  14. "Beautiful American Countess Starts Fad for Vegetarian Exercises". Omaha Daily Bee. 4 December 1904.
  15. "The Earl's 'Girl'! Miss Adele Grant, Flits From One English Lord To Another!". theesotericcuriosa.blogspot.com. The Esoteric Curiosa. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  16. Grey, Caroline (17 May 2011). "Eaton Square: Lady in White". eatonsquareblog.blogspot.com. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  17. "Adele, Second Wife of the 7th Earl of Essex". Watford Museum. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
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