Lady Constance Butler

Lady Constance Mary Butler (26 March 1879 — 20 April 1949) was an Anglo-Irish noblewoman, yachtswoman and antiquarian. Medical volunteer work during World War I led to a later career in radiography.

Lady Constance Butler with her two pugs, from the cover of a 1903 publication.
Lady Constance Butler with one of her pugs, aboard the S. Y. Miranda, from a 1907 publication.

Early life and family

Constance Mary Butler was the daughter of James Butler, 3rd Marquess of Ormonde and Lady Elizabeth Harriet Grosvenor. Her grandfathers were John Butler, 2nd Marquess of Ormonde and Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster. Her great-grandfather, George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland, was a member of the Leveson-Gower family. Another great-grandfather, Edward Paget, was the British Governor of Ceylon. Constance's older sister Beatrice married Sir Reginald Pole-Carew, an officer in the British Army.[1]

Career

Both of her parents were active in yachting,[2] and Lady Constance was recognized as a "keen yachtswoman" and a "wonderful swimmer."[3] "Lady Ormonde and her daughter always wear, when yachting, the most severely simple and workmanlike clothes."[2] She was also considered a beauty among the noblewomen of her generation,[4] and what she wore (on dressier occasions than yachting) was reported in detail on society pages.[5]

She and her sister attended the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary in 1911, seated in a box set aside for "personal friends of the Queen and Queen Alexandra."[6] During World War I she managed a Red Cross depot for medical and surgical supplies,[7] and collaborated with Bishop John Henry Bernard on translating, editing, and publishing the Charters of Duiske Abbey.[8]

Later in life, Lady Constance Butler remained interested in medical work, and became an expert on radiography, heading the x-ray department at St. Andrew's Hospital in London by 1924.[9][10]

Personal life

Although she and her sister could not (as women) inherit their father's title and properties, in 1898 they inherited a comfortable London house, land in Tipperary,[11] and a fortune from another relative, the last Lord Lismore, whose sons died young.[3] Lady Constance Mary Butler died in 1949, aged 70 years. Sir Richard Carew Pole, 13th Baronet, of Antony House in Cornwall, is her grand-nephew.[12]

References
  1. "Lady Beatrice Butler's Wedding" The Queenslander (April 27, 1901): 827. via Troveopen access
  2. "Cowes Regatta: Some Famous Yachtswomen" The bystander (July 26, 1905): 175-176.
  3. "A Keen Yachtswoman" Lady's Realm: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine (May–October 1907): 439.
  4. "Daughter of Peer a Beauty of Erin" Star Press (25 December 1902): 5. via Newspapers.comopen access
  5. Untitled item, Washington Post (20 August 1907): 7. via Newspapers.comopen access
  6. "The Peeresses at the Coronation", Patea Mail (21 August 1911).
  7. "A Hospital Store" The Times (27 December 1915): 5. via Newspapers.comopen access
  8. Constance Mary Butler and John Henry Bernard, "The Charters of the Abbey of Duiske" Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 35(1918).
  9. "British Peeress is an X-Ray Specialist" Santa Cruz Evening News (1 January 1924): 1. via Newspapers.comopen access
  10. "Lady Butler" Petaluma Argus-Courier (26 January 1925): 7. via Newspapers.comopen access
  11. Estate Carew/Pole Carew, NUI Galway, Landed Estates Database.
  12. Sir John Gawen Carew Pole, 12th Bt., The Peerage.
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