Elizabeth Wharton Drexel (April 22, 1868 – June 13, 1944) was an American author and Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

 socialite.

Birth

She was the daughter of Lucy Wharton (1841–1912) and Joseph William Drexel

Joseph William Drexel

Joseph William Drexel was a banker, philanthropist, and partner of Baring Brothers in London and Rothschild et fils in Paris.-Biography:...

. Joseph was the son of Francis Martin Drexel

Francis Martin Drexel

Francis Martin Drexel was a Philadelphia banker and artist. He was the father of Anthony Joseph Drexel, the founder of Drexel University and the grandfather of Saint Katherine Drexel....

, the immigrant ancestor of the Drexel banking family in the United States.

First marriage

Elizabeth married John Vinton Dahlgren I (1869–1899) on June 29, 1889. They had a son, John Vinton Dahlgren II (1892–1964). John was the son of Admiral John Adolph Dahlgren (1809–1870). During this marriage she made generous donations to Roman Catholic charities and to Georgetown University, Washington DC, who asked for her portrait, which was painted in 1899 by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury

Adolfo Müller-Ury

Adolfo Muller-Ury was a Swiss-born American portrait painter and impressionistic painter of roses and still life.-Heritage and early life in Switzerland:...

 (1862–1947).

Second marriage

Elizabeth married Henry Symes Lehr

Henry Symes Lehr

Henry Symes Lehr was a socialite and the husband of Elizabeth Wharton Drexel. He was the son of Robert Oliver Lehr, a tobacco and snuff importer who became the German consul in Baltimore. He was the fourth child in a family of seven. He had a sister Alice Lehr Morton; and a brother Louis Lehr,...

 (1869–1929), aka Harry Lehr in June 1901. The marriage was never consummated.

In 1915 the Lehrs were in Paris, and Elizabeth worked for the Red Cross. They remained in Paris after World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, where they bought in 1923 the Hôtel de Canvoie at 52, rue des Saints-Pères in the VIIe arrondissement

VIIe arrondissement

The 7th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. It includes some of Paris's major tourist attractions, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Hôtel des Invalides , and a concentration of such world famous museums as the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée du quai...

. Harry Lehr died on January 3, 1929 of a brain malady in Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

.

Third marriage

On May 25, 1936 she married John Beresford, 5th Baron Decies

John Beresford, 5th Baron Decies

John Graham Hope de la Poer Beresford, 5th Baron Decies PC , styled The Honourable John Beresford until 1910, was an Anglo-Irish army officer and civil servant.-Background and education:...

. His first wife had been Helen Vivien Gould

Helen Vivien Gould

Helen Vivien Beresford, Baroness Decies, formerly Helen Vivien Gould was a socialite and philanthropist. She was one of the two Jay Gould descendants to marry into European aristocracy. -Biography:...

. He died on January 31, 1944.

Death

She died in 1944 at the Hotel Shelton. She was buried in the Dahlgren Chapel at Georgetown University

Georgetown University

Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...

, which she and her first husband had built as a memorial to their son who died in infancy.

Publications

• "King Lehr" and the Gilded Age (1935) ISBN 1404782427
• Turn of the World (1937)

Further reading

• Time; August 5, 1935; Review of "King Lehr" and the Gilded Age
• Time; May 18, 1936 announcing the engagement of "Mrs. Henry Symes Lehr" with Lord Decies.
• Time; June 1, 1936 announcing the marriage of "Mrs. Henry Symes Lehr" and Lord Decies.
• Photo of Lord Decies and his wife after the civil wedding on the steps of the Mairie of the 7^ième arrondissement
  VIIe arrondissement
  The 7th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. It includes some of Paris's major tourist attractions, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Hôtel des Invalides , and a concentration of such world famous museums as the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée du quai...
  
   of Paris
  Paris
  Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
  
  .
• Peerage entry for John Vinton Dahlgren II

External links

• Great Day in the Morning is a play by Thomas Babe
  Thomas Babe
  Thomas Babe was an American playwright, writing mainly during the mid 70s and 80s. He was the son of Thomas James and Ruth Ina Babe. He died of lung cancer on December 6, 2000, in a hospice in Stamford, Connecticut. .Babe's work brought together many elements of American history and cultural...
  
  , based on Elizabeth Wharton Drexel's life.