Betty Leggett

Betty Leggett
Leggett (center) with Olea Bull (left) and Josephine MacLeod at a dinner for the King and Queen of Norway in 1906
Born
Elizabeth MacLeod

January 24, 1857
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
DiedOctober 1, 1931
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, U.K.
Resting placeSleepy Hollow Cemetery
OccupationReligious activist
Spouses
William Sturges
​
​
(m. 1876; died 1894)​
Francis Howard Leggett
​
​
(m. 1895; died 1909)​
Children3 (including Alberta Montagu, Countess of Sandwich)
Relatives

Elizabeth MacLeod Sturges Leggett (January 24, 1857 – October 1, 1931), also known as Bessie Leggett or Betty Leggett, was an American socialite, letter writer, and disciple of the Hindu monk and philosopher Swami Vivekananda.

Early life and family

Elizabeth MacLeod was born in Cincinnati on January 24, 1857, to John David MacLeod and Mary Ann Lennon.[1] She was descended from Scottish settlers who were planters and enslavers in the American Southeast.[2][3] Her father made a fortune through trade in Ohio.[2] She was a sister of the spiritual writer Josephine MacLeod.[2][4]

Married life

Ridgely Manor, the Leggett family estate in New York

On October 8, 1876, she married William Sturges, a widowed businessman from Chicago who was descended from the colonial politician Jonathan Sturges.[1] They had a son, Hollister, and a daughter, Alberta.[1][5] The family lived at 21 West 34th Street in Manhattan and travelled to Europe, where they kept apartments in Paris and London. Her husband died in 1894, a few years after surviving the sinking of the SS Oregon.[5]

In 1895, she began attending classes in New York City that were being taught by the Hindu monk and philosopher Swami Vivekananda.[6][7] During this time, she began dating Francis Howard Leggett, a wealthy New York wholesale grocer from a family with colonial New York roots, and he began attending the classes with her.[7][3] They, along with her sister Josephine, became life-long devotees of Vivekananda and students of Neo-Vedanta.[7][8][9] She maintained a close friendship with Vivekananda, writing to him and travelling with him abroad.[10]

On September 9, 1895, she and Leggett married in a small ceremony in Paris that was attended by Vivekananda.[5][11] She and her second husband had one daughter, Frances Howard Leggett.[1][11] The family split their time between their Manhattan residence at 21 West 34th Street and Ridgely Manor, Leggett's large estate in Stone Ridge, New York.[3][12] She spent part of each year in Europe, where she maintained a house on Bruton Street in London and an apartment in Paris, throwing lavish parties.[5][13] She spent much of her time in London, and had her daughters debuted there.[13]

Leggett and her husband built a five-bedroom cottage for Hindu monks, called Swamiji's Cottage, on the grounds of their New York estate.[5][14][15] She and her children often visited the monks at Swamiji's Cottage and hosted Vivekananda three times, the last time for ten weeks.[15] She and members of her family also hosted Vivekananda in Chicago and in Paris.[16]

On July 23, 1906, Leggett and her sister attended a dinner at the Holdts Hotel in Bergen for King Haakon VII and Queen Maud of Norway.

In 1920, she and Alberta visited Flanders, and wrote of the damage from the aftermath of World War I.[17]

Through her daughter, Alberta, Leggett was the grandmother of Victor Montagu, 10th Earl of Sandwich, Lady Mary Faith Montagu, and Lady Elizabeth Montagu. Through her daughter, Frances, she was the grandmother of Francis Vere Hampden Margesson, 2nd Viscount Margesson.

As a member of a prominent family, both by birth and by marriage, she was included in the Social Register.[18]

Leggett died in Stratford-upon-Avon on October 1, 1931. She is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in New York.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Solomon Sturges and His Descendants: A Memoir and a Genealogy. Grafton Press. April 22, 1907. ISBN 9780788451355 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ a b c "The life and letters of Alberta, the American Countess of Sandwich". 30 June 2020 – via www.youtube.com.
  3. ^ a b c Weeks, Lyman Horace (April 22, 1898). "Prominent Families of New York: Being an Account in Biographical Form of Individuals and Families Distinguished as Representatives of the Social, Professional and Civic Life of New York City". Historical Company – via Google Books.
  4. ^ "Newspaper clipping" (PDF). Library of Congress. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e Taylor, Sara. "Mrs. Francis H. Leggett (1852–1931)". Dumbarton Oaks.
  6. ^ "Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda". www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info.
  7. ^ a b c "Chronology July, 1893" (PDF). vedanta.org. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  8. ^ Gunter, Susan E. (January 1, 2009). Alice in Jamesland: The Story of Alice Howe Gibbens James. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0803222755 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ "The swami and Stone Ridge - Hudson Valley One". June 13, 2019.
  10. ^ "Letters written by Swami Vivekananda from Thousand Island Park (1895) - Frank Parlato Jr". www.vivekananda.net.
  11. ^ a b Greene, Richard Henry; Stiles, Henry Reed; Dwight, Melatiah Everett; Morrison, George Austin; Mott, Hopper Striker; Totten, John Reynolds; Pitman, Harold Minot; Ditmas, Charles Andrew; Forest, Louis Effingham De; Mann, Conklin; Maynard, Arthur S. (April 22, 1915). "The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record". New York Genealogical and Biographical Society – via Google Books.
  12. ^ "History of Ridgely – Vivekananda Retreat Ridgely". 27 August 2015.
  13. ^ a b MacColl, Gail; Wallace, Carol McD (March 15, 2012). To Marry an English Lord: Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery. Workman Publishing. ISBN 9780761171959 – via Google Books.
  14. ^ "Prabuddha Bharata January 2017 by Advaita Ashrama - Issuu". issuu.com. 2 January 2017.
  15. ^ a b "The Great Summer – Vivekananda Retreat Ridgely". 8 January 2016.
  16. ^ Stavig, Gopal (October 2, 2010). Western Admirers of Ramakrishna and His Disciples. Advaita Ashrama. ISBN 9788175053342 – via Google Books.
  17. ^ "A Real Life Downton Abbey American Heiress: the 9th Countess of Sandwich". 6 September 2020 – via www.youtube.com.
  18. ^ "Social Register, New York". Social Register Association. April 22, 1901 – via Google Books.