- Source: Ellen Stager
Ellen Butler, Marchioness of Ormonde (née Ellen Sprague Stager; 26 May 1865 – 17 June 1951) was an American heiress and British peeress who was the daughter of General Anson Stager. She married Lord Arthur Butler, younger brother of James Butler, 3rd Marquess of Ormonde, who became the 4th Marquess of Ormonde of Ormonde in 1919. Ellen held the title Marchioness of Ormonde from 1919 until her husband's death in 1943. She was the mother of George Butler, 5th Marquess of Ormonde and Arthur Butler, 6th Marquess of Ormonde.
Early life
Ellen was born in Chicago on 26 May 1865 to General Anson Stager and Rebecca Stager (née Sprague). At the time of her birth, the family included her siblings Louise, aged 16, Annie, 14, and Charles, 5.
Anson Stager was a self-made millionaire, who started his career as an apprentice on the Rochester Daily Advertiser. He later found work as a telegraph operator, and received a series of promotions throughout the 1840s and 50s which culminated in his appointment as the first general superintendent of the Western Union Company in 1856. During the American Civil War Stager was asked by Governor Dennison of Ohio to manage telegraphs in Ohio and along the Virginia Line, which led to a later appointment as head of the Military Telegraph Department in Washington. He accompanied General McClellan during the West Virginia Campaign, and was credited with establishing the first system of field telegraphs during the Civil War. Stager retained his civilian status during the war, and in 1868 he was made a brevet brigadier general of volunteers.
In 1869 Stager moved to Chicago, and served as president of Western Electric, and later President of the Chicago Telephone Company and Western Edison Company, and had several business interests with "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who was the richest man in the world at the time; contemporary sources describe him as the "Chief Representative of Vanderbilt Interests in the Mid-West". His time as President (and co-director) of Western Edison Light Co. likely bought him into direct contact with Thomas Edison, who also served as one of the company's directors.
In 1879, the Stagers were recorded as living at 672 Michigan Avenue, Chicago. In 1880 Stager constructed a new home for approximately $150,000 on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Eighteenth Street in Chicago; this was reputed to be the first private home in the city to be lit with electricity. The building was erected on the former site of the Calumet Club, of which Stager had previously been president. The house was later sold in 1881 to William B. Howard.
Ellen's mother, Rebecca Sprague Stager died on 22 October 1883. She left an estate valued at $15,000, which included $12,000 worth of real estate in Cleveland, Ohio.
Anson Stager died on 26 March 1885. His funeral was held at his home at 1785 Michigan Avenue, Chicago on 28 March 1995; one of his pallbearers was Robert Todd Lincoln, the former US Secretary of War and son of President Abraham Lincoln.
Anson Stager's estate was valued at approximately $850,000, including $125,000 of real estate and $725,000 of personal estate. The terms of his will provided that his three daughters would share his estate equally. Ellen was to receive 25% of her share either upon reaching the age of 21, or upon her marriage. A further 25% would be transferred to her on her 30th birthday, and the final 50% would be transferred on her 40th birthday; however she was entitled to the income from the portions held in trust prior to her 30th and 40th birthdays.
Marriage and family
In 1885, accompanied by her sister Annie Stager Hickox, Ellen departed the United States to visit Great Britain and Europe. She was presented to Queen Victoria at Court, and at a ball given in her honour she met Lord Arthur Butler, younger brother and heir presumptive of the Marquess of Ormonde. In the winter of 1885-86 she was recorded as visiting Pisa in Italy and Nice in France, and later visited Rome. She later visited the Ormonde Family Seat Kilkenny Castle in Ireland in 1886, and it was speculated at the time that this is where the pair became engaged.
Ellen and Arthur were married on 8 March 1887 at St George's Church in Hanover Square, London. She was given away by her brother-in-law, Ralph Hickox, and Arthur's younger brother Lord Theobald Butler officiated the ceremony. A Wedding Breakfast was hosted by Viscountess Maidstone (who was reported to be a friend of Ellen's) at her home at 17 Queen St, Mayfair. Arthur and Ellen honeymooned at Latimer House, Buckinghamshire, which was the home of Charles Cavendish, 3rd Baron Chesham. Lord Chesham's wife was a sister of Ellen's new sister-in-law, Elizabeth, Marchioness of Ormonde.
Arthur and Ellen had four children:
Lady Evelyn Frances Butler (20 December 1887 – 15 April 1978), married with Vice-Adm. Hon. Edmund Rupert Drummond, CB MVO RN (ret.), son of 10th Viscount Strathallan and brother of 15th Earl of Perth and has issue.
Anne Drummond (born 30 June 1911)
Jean Constance Drummond (born 20 August 1914)
James Ralph Drummond (born 28 March 1918)
James George Anson Butler, 5th Marquess of Ormonde (1890–1949)
James Anthony Butler, Viscount Thurles (born 18 August 1916)
Lady Moyra Rosamund Butler (born 2 December 1920)
James Arthur Norman Butler, 6th Marquess of Ormonde (1893–1971)
Lady Jane Butler (born 9 January 1925)
Lady Martha Butler (born 14 January 1926)
Lady Eleanor Rachel Butler (1894–1969), married firstly Captain Edward Brassey Egerton and secondly William Henry Prior (known latterly as Lady Rachel Prior).
Dowry and personal fortune
Estimates of Ellen's dowry and fortune have varied between contemporary and modern sources; rumours of her $1,000,000 (£200,000) fortune at the time of her marriage in 1887 were likely inaccurate (the actual figure being closer to $280,000, or £56,000). However by 1929 growths in investments, as well as the deaths of her two childless, widowed older sisters, resulted in her fortune likely being closer to $1,500,000 (£300,000) in value.
In the lead-up to Ellen's marriage to Lord Arthur Butler in 1887, newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic reported that Ellen bought a personal fortune of $1,000,000 (£200,000) to her marriage, and her name often appeared in newspaper articles listing various American heiresses who had married British and European aristocrats. A conservative estimate of the income derived from a fortune of this size would be £8,000 to £10,000. In contrast, estate papers indicate that Lord Arthur received a £500 annual allowance from his brother Lord Ormonde. Modern sources record her fortune as ranging between $1,000,000 to $1,500,000.
However, Ellen's third-share of her father's $850,000 fortune upon his death in 1885 amounted to approximately $283,000 (or £56,600 per the exchange rate of $5:£1). When applying this figure to the terms of the Will, $70,800 (£14,160) would be paid to Ellen upon her marriage, and the income from the remaining $212,250 (£42,450) would not be transferred to her until this amount her 30th and 40th birthdays (which would occur in 1895 and 1905). Consequently, it seems more likely that at the time of her marriage to Lord Arthur, Ellen possessed a fortune closer in value to approximately $70,000 (£14,000) with an additional annual income of $8,500 (£1,700) to $10,500 (£2,100) from a remaining amount of roughly $212,000 (£42,200).
In 1895 The Inter Ocean newspaper reported that Anson Stager had left an estate with a net personality of $800,000 and realty of $200,000, the significant assets of which included $262,000 of stock in the Michigan Telephone Company, $60,000 of stock in the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company and $60,000 of stock in the Union Steel Company. Ellen's share of such an amount would be approximately $333,000 (£66,000).
In 1897 the Chicago Tribune reported that Ellen enjoyed a $20,000 (£4,000) annual income from a $500,000 (£100,000) share in her father's estate, which included shares in the Chicago and other telephone companies.
= 1915: Marriage settlement of George Butler and The Hon Sybil Fellowes
=
In 1915 Ellen provided £23,000 ($140,000) as part of the marriage settlement of her elder son George Butler and his fiancee The Hon Sybil Fellowes, which was to pay the couple an annuity of £1,100 during Ellen's lifetime, or £600 for life to Sybil if George predeceased her.
Such an amount would comprise almost half of the portion of Anson Stager's estate which Ellen inherited. Therefore it is highly likely that the value of shares and other assets which formed part of Anson Stager's estate experienced significant growth between 1885 and 1915.
Ellen settled a further £15,000 on George and Sybil (known as the Earl and Countess of Ossory after 1919) in 1929, which was supplemental to the original marriage settlement, and provided for an additional annual payment of £400 to Sybil, Countess of Ossory, in the event of George predeceasing her.
= 1922–1923: Estates of Annie Stager Hickox and Louise Stager Gorton
=
In addition to her own share of her father's estate, Ellen's fortune increased significantly in 1922 and 1923 following the deaths of her sisters Annie Stager Hickox and Louise Stager Gorton, who were both childless.
In February 1922, Annie Stager Hickox died in Monte Carlo, Monaco, leaving an estate valued at $847,207. Much of her fortune was left to Ellen and her children. The New York Times reported that Hickox left:
Half of the residuary Estate to Ellen
$250,000 in a Trust Fund for Louise Stager Gorton, with the Principal to go to Ellen
$25,000 to Louise Stager Gorton
$5,000 to Ellen's husband Arthur
$5,000 to Ellen's elder daughter Lady Evelyn Drummond
$5,000 to Ellen's elder son, George Butler, Earl of Ossory
$5,000 to Ellen's younger son, Lord James Arthur Norman Butler
When adjusted for inflation, the 1922 value of Annie Stager Hickox's estate would have been approximately $490,000 in 1885, the year her father Anson Stager died; this represents a significant increase to the estimated value of her third share of his $850,000 estate ($283,000).
Surviving records relating to the administration of her older sisters' estate indicate that approximately $750,000 of Hickox's estate was held in Trust, with clear provisions relating to the distribution of the Estate upon her death. These include the above mentioned bequests to Ellen and her children, but with the entirely of the residuary estate to be bequeathed to Ellen. Despite this, orders made in the New York County Surrogate's Court on 25 June 1923 indicate that the $457,000 residuary estate was split equally between Ellen and Louise Stager Gorton. Gorton died merely weeks after this Order was made on 15 August 1923, and her estate was appraised at approximately $37,000, with the residuary estate being split equally between Ellen's four children, who received approximately $7,500 (£1,500) each after estate taxes were levied.
= 1925: Tax payable in America
=
American newspapers reported that the "estate of the Marchioness of Ormonde" paid $2,313.63 in income tax in 1925, indicating that the taxable income was approximately $30,000, which would equate to approximately £6,200 in 1925. This corroborates the details of Ellen's financial arrangements examined in the Ormonde v Brown (1932) English Tax Law Case which notes that Ellen's 1922 Resettlement of her American Estate included provisions for annuities of £6,000 to be paid to herself and her husband during their respective lives.: 336–337
= 1922–1932: Trust distributions
=
The taxation case Ormonde (Marchioness) v Brown (HM Inspector of Taxes (1932) 17 TC 333 provides additional insights into Ellen's financial arrangements during the 1920s.
In late December 1923, £16,000 was set aside within Ellen's American Trusts for the payment of an annuity to her second son Lord James Arthur Norman Butler (known as 'Lord Arthur Butler'); this was likely in anticipation of his impending wedding in January 1924, with the full amount to be paid to Arthur upon Ellen's death. Based on the proportion of the annual income her elder son received from his marriage settlement in 1915 (£1,100 p.a. from £23,000), this would have generated an annual income of approximately £760 for Arthur. A further £5,000 was added to this amount in October 1924, which would have increased Lord Arthur's annual income to approximately £1,000.: 336–337
In March and May 1928 the provisions providing for the payment of an annual allowance to Lord Arthur were revoked, and the full respective amounts were made as immediate payments of £16,000 and £5,000 Lord Arthur.: 336–337
The various American Trust instruments were transferred to the Cleveland Trust Company of Ohio on 25 April 1929, and the re-ordered Trusts included provisions of the payment of Annuities of £6,000 each to Ellen and her husband Arthur for their respectively lives.: 337 The initial tax appeal which was heard before the St. Marylebone District Commissioners of Taxation in December 1931 noted that the taxable income from Foreign Possessions and Securities of Arthur and Ellen was £16,000 during the 1929-30 Tax Year.
Ellen also withdrew £4,000 in July 1930 to be applied to the marriage settlement of her granddaughter.: 338 These dates coincide with the marriage of Lady Evelyn's daughter Anne Drummond.: 338
Based on the asset-to-income ratio provided in George and Sybil Butler's marriage settlement of 4.78%, the combined income of £12,000 paid to Ellen and her husband in the 1920's indicates that the total amount of Ellen's fortune which generated this income would be in the region of at least £250,000 ($1,250,000). This amount increases to £313,000 ($1,565,000) if the settlements of £23,000 in 1915 and £15,000 in 1929 to George, Earl of Ossory, £16,000 in 1923 and £5,000 in 1924 to Lord Arthur Butler and £4,000 to Anne Drummond in 1932 are included. The Assessable of £16,000 given in 1930 suggests that the size of Ellen's fortune was in the region of £320,000, or $1,600,000, in the 1929-30 financial year.
= 1951: Probate in England
=
Following her death, the Gross Value of Ellen's Estate in England was valued at £61,700. Based on the 1951 exchange rate of $2.80:£1, the value in U.S. dollars would be approximately $172,000. This represents a fraction of Ellen's estimated $1,500,000 fortune in the early 1930's; few if any records survive of any probate or estate administration applications relating to any existing fortune in America which Ellen possessed at the time of her death.
Life in England and residences
= London residences
=
From December 1887 to at least 1893, Lord and Lady Arthur Butler were recorded as living at 21 Park Lane, City of Westminster, London. Ellen's elder daughter Evelyn, and two sons George and Arthur were born at this address in 1890 and 1893. 21 Park Lane had been the residence of Ellen's mother-in-law Frances, Dowager Marchioness of Ormonde, since at least 1877, until at least 1898.
Following their departure from Sandleford Priory, Arthur and Ellen took a temporary residence at 71 Cadogan Square, London in 1898. Surviving newspaper records indicate that their London Residence was 7 Portman Square from early 1900 until at least February 1925. Records from the Portman Estate Archive show that a six-year lease of 7 Portman Square was acquired by Lord Arthur Butler in August 1899, for an annual ground rent of £300. This lease was renewed for 18 years at a cost of £2,000, and an ongoing ground rent of £300. Lord Ormonde surrendered the lease in September 1924.
On 4 November 1925 it was reported that Lord and Lady Ormonde had arrived at 11 Bryanston Square, which was to be their new London address. 11 Bryanston Square remained as their London home until at least 1938. The lease over 11 Bryanston Square was renewed for a thirty-six year period from 25 March 1939 for £3,750 and an annual ground rent of £250; however by 1943 the house had been sub-let. The lease was terminated in 1956; Ellen's Executors received £4,500 for the early release.
= Country residences
=
The first record of Ellen and Arthur maintaining a country residence is at Sandleford Priory, near Newbury, from at least 1895 to September 1898.
In the 1901 UK Census, Lord and Lady Arthur Butler were recorded as living in Willesley House near Cranbrook in Kent, with their younger son Arthur and daughters Evelyn and Rachel, a Governess, Butler, Cook, two Footmen, a Kitchenmaid, Nurse, and three Housemaids.
In around 1901/1902, Ellen seems to have purchased Gennings Park in Kent, which would be her home for the following fifty years until her death in 1951. Gennings was later sold by her second son Arthur, 6th Marquess of Ormonde in 1955.
The 1911 Census records Lord Arthur as visiting his daughter Lady Evelyn Drummond in Hove, Sussex. Lady Evelyn and her husband Lt. Drummond employed a Lady's Maid, Cook, Housemaid and Footman; in contrast, the 1911 census records that a Housekeeper, Kitchenmaid, Scullery Maid, three Housemaids, one Footman, one Under Footman, a Coachman, Groom and Chauffeur lived at Gennings Park.
According to the 1921 UK Census, Lord and Lady Ormonde's (as Ellen and Arthur were known from 1919) household at Gennings, Kent, included a Butler, Footman, Pantry boy, Cook, Kitchen Maid, Scullery Maid, Nursemaid, two Housemaids and a Lady's Maid. A nurse and nursemaid, as well as their grandchildren James Anthony Butler, Viscount Thurles, and Lady Moyra Butler, were recorded as visitors.
In 1922, Lady Ormonde's sister Annie Stager Hickox died of pneumonia at her home "Villa Menesina" in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Hickox also had a home at 78 Avenue Malakoff in Paris.
= Travel
=
Lord and Lady Arthur Butler arrived with their daughter Evelyn in New York on 6 April 1892.
In 1904 Ellen, along with Arthur and their elder son George, were present when Lord and Lady Ormonde hosted King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra at Kilkenny Castle.
In 1910 Ellen and Arthur visited Lady Arthur's sister Louisa Gorton in Wheaton, Illinois. She also visited New York in November 1912, accompanied by her younger daughter Rachel.
In March 1926, Lord and Lady Ormonde, and their daughter Lady Rachel Egerton, sailed from London aboard the RMS Mooltan for Gibraltar, returning aboard the RMS Otranto (1925) in April 1926.
In February 1932, Lord and Lady Ormonde, accompanied by Lady Ormonde's maid Miss M.E. Chubb [Minnie Eva Chubb], departed London aboard the HMS Orford for Port Said, Egypt. They returned to London aboard the SS Oronsay in March 1932.
Marchioness of Ormonde
Lord Arthur succeed to the Marquessate of Ormonde upon the death of his older brother James Butler, 3rd Marquess of Ormonde in 1919. As per the will of the Third Marquess, Ellen and Arthur's son George Butler, 5th Marquess of Ormonde inherited the bulk of the family estates in order to avoid double taxation, with an annual charge of £3,000 on the Ormonde Estates was made in favor of Arthur.
The decision to bypass Arthur as the beneficiary of the family estates seems to have been at the bequest of Arthur himself. Records survive of a letter written by the Fourth Marquess to Arthur's son George Butler dated 27 June 1916 outlining changes to his will which "your father has asked me to alter" which postponed Lord Arthur's use of the Ormonde Estate in favor of George, George's sons (at the time George's wife Sybil was pregnant with their only son, Anthony Butler) and George's brother Arthur and his male issue. Within the letter Lord Ormonde outlined several requests pertaining to family property, including that:
(1) George not make any alteration of the family seat, Kilkenny Castle, and shooting lodge, Ballyknockane Lodge, without consulting and obtaining the approval of Arthur;
(2) that Arthur would have use of Plate and other articles "as he shall desire"; and,
(3) that Ellen, during the lifetime of Lord Arthur, would have the use of any Family Jewels which Lord Ormonde had the power to dispose of.
The new Lord and Lady Ormonde continued to live at Gennings, and maintain their London residence at 7 Portman Square, and later 11 Bryanston Square, whilst Lord and Lady Ossory lived at Kilkenny Castle and leased various houses in London. Due to the declining estate income of the Ormonde Estates, wages rises and taxation increases, Lord Ossory made the decision to vacate Kilkenny Castle in 1935.
Whilst Kilkenny Castle remained as the family seat, the Ormonde's house at 11 Bryanston Square seems to have been the primary base in London for family events. The house loaned to Ellen's elder daughter, Lady Evelyn Drummond, for the wedding reception of her daughter Anne Drummond in July 1930. In June 1938 Lord and Lady Ormonde loaned their London residence to Lord and Lady Ossory for a large ball. This dance was a joint coming-of-age party for Ellen's grandson, Anthony Viscount Thurles, as well as a debutante 'coming-out' party for their granddaughter Lady Moyra Butler. The guest list reported in newspapers at the time includes multiple prominent individuals from British and American High Society during the late 1930's, including the American Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and his daughter Kathleen, Lord Carisbrooke, Viscount Curzon, the Earl FitzWilliam, the Earl Spencer, The Duke of Marlborough, the-then Mistress of the Robes Helen Percy, Duchess of Northumberland, Major the Hon John Jacob Astor, and The Hon Pamela Digby.
Ellen was also recorded as serving on the Board of the West Kent Hospital in 1936 and 1937. She was present at the Coronation of George VI and Elizabeth in 1937, although her husband Lord Ormonde is not recorded as also being in attendence.
Ellen's long-serving Lady's Maid Minnie Eva Chubb died on 12 January 1939 at St Mary Abbots Hospital, London. Probate records indicate that her registered address was the Ormondes' townhouse at 11 Bryanston Square, London. Minnie had been in Ellen's employ for at least twenty-seven years, since accompanying Ellen on her visit to Ohio in 1912.
Taxation court case
Ellen was the appellant in a court case which was ultimately heard before Lord Finlay in the King's Bench Division of the British Courts. The case, Ormonde (Marchioness) v Brown (Inspector of Taxes) (1932) 17 TC 333, involved the taxation of income from a Foreign Trust. Particulars of the Case noted that in 1929 Ellen resettled her American property in an Ohio Trust, which was to pay her and her husband annuities of £6,000 each during their lifetimes. Ellen's appeal was successful.: 336–337
Dowager Marchioness of Ormonde
Arthur, Lord Ormonde died on 4 July 1943, and was succeeded by his son George. The 1940's saw a series of tragedies befall the Ormonde Family; Ellen's two grandsons Viscount Thurles and James Drummond died in 1940 and 1944 respectively, both whilst serving in the armed forces. Her daughter-in-law Sybil, Marchioness of Ormonde died following an operation in 1948, and her elder son George, Marquess of Ormonde died in 1949. As he had been predeceased by his only son, Ellen's younger son Lord Arthur Butler inherited the Family Titles as the Sixth Marquess of Ormonde.
Ellen continued to live at Gennings Park for the remainder of her life; following her husband's death, their second son Lord Arthur Butler and his family relocated to Gennings and lived with Ellen for the remainder of her life. There is little evidence of Ellen maintaining a London residence after the outbreak of the Second World War; however she retained the 36-year 1939 Lease over 11 Bryanston Square. In 1953 the long-lease was repurchased from her executors by the Portman Estate for £4,500.
Ellen died in a Nursing Home on 17 June 1951; she was survived by her daughters Lady Evelyn Drummond and Lady Rachel Egerton, her son Lord Ormonde, and her granddaughters Anne Murray, Jean Finney, Comtesse Moyra van den Steen de Jehay, Lady Jane Heaton and Lady Martha Ponsonby.
Titles
26 May 1865 – 8 March 1887: Miss Ellen Sprague Stager
8 March 1887 – 26 October 1919: The Lady Arthur Butler
26 October 1919 – 4 July 1943: The Most Honourable Ellen Butler, Marchioness of Ormonde
4 July 1943 – 17 June 1951: The Most Honourable Ellen Butler, Dowager Marchioness of Ormonde
See also
Butler dynasty
References
External links
"Ormonde, Marquess of" . Thom's Irish Who's Who . Dublin: Alexander Thom and Son Ltd. 1923. p. 195 – via Wikisource.
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