Helen_Beresford,_Baroness_Decies

Helen Beresford, Baroness Decies

Helen Beresford, Baroness Decies

American-born British noble woman


Helen Vivien Beresford, Baroness Decies, formerly Helen Vivien Gould (May 2, 1893 February 3, 1931) was an American socialite and philanthropist. She was one of the two Jay Gould descendants to marry into European aristocracy.[1]

Quick Facts The Right HonourableThe Lady Decies, Born ...

Early life

Helen Vivien Gould was born on May 2, 1893, in the United States. She was the fourth of seven children born to George Jay Gould (1864–1923), a railroad executive; and Edith Kingdon (1864–1921), an actress.[2] Among her siblings were Kingdon Gould I, Marjorie Gwynne Gould, Jay Gould II, Edith Catherine Gould, and Gloria Gould.[3]

Her paternal grandparents were Jay Gould, a leading American railroad developer and speculator known as one of the ruthless robber barons of the Gilded Age, and Helen Day (née Miller) Gould.[2]

Personal life

On February 7, 1911, Helen married John Graham Hope de la Poer Horsley Beresford (1866–1944), the 5th Baron Decies.[2] John was the son of William Robert John Beresford, 3rd Baron Decies and Catherine Anne Dent.[4] Together they had the following children:

  • Eileen Vivien de la Poer Beresford (1912-?) who married Robert Alfred O'Brien
  • Catherine Moya de la Poer Beresford (1913–1967) who married Patrick Herbert Bellew in 1936. They divorced and she married Max Wilhelm Johannsen in 1946.
  • Arthur George Marcus Douglas de la Poer Beresford (1915-1992) the 6th Baron Decies

She died in February 1931 of jaundice and a heart attack in London.[1][5] After her death Lord Decies married Elizabeth Wharton Drexel, the daughter of Joseph William Drexel, on May 25, 1936. He died on 31 January 1944 at age 77.[6][3]


References

  1. "Lady Decies Dies at 38 in London. Former Helen Vivien Gould Was Principal in Brilliant International Wedding of 1911. Was Noted As Hostess. Her Entertaining Was a Feature of British Capital. Husband Is Distinguished Irish Peer". New York Times. 3 February 1931. Retrieved 26 November 2007.
  2. MacColl, Gail; Wallace, Carol McD (2012). To Marry an English Lord: Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery. Workman Publishing. p. 334. ISBN 9780761171980. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  3. Montgomery, Maureen E. (2013). 'Gilded Prostitution': Status, Money and Transatlantic Marriages, 1870-1914. Routledge. p. 339. ISBN 9781136214950. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  4. "Died". Time magazine. 16 February 1931. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2009.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Helen_Beresford,_Baroness_Decies, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.