Maclean Family Tree | ||
Daisy
Hogg
My first cousin 3x removed |
Daisy Hogg (1881-1921) was the 2nd daughter of Joseph Hogg. In 1904, she married the Rt Hon Marmaduke Furness, only son of Christopher Furness, later Baron Furness of Grantley (1852-1912). Furness Sr had established a reputation as one of the titans of industry in the North of England. The son of a coal merchant who later moved into the grocery trade, Christopher Furness demonstrated a keen understanding of business while employed by his father as a produce buyer. On a business trip to Sweden at the start the start of the Franco-Prussian war he spotted a remarkable opportunity to make a fortune by transporting food into Prussia by land to bypass the French blockade of the Elbe river. He used the substantial profits from this exercise to establish his own shipping line and later moved into shipbuilding as chairman of Furness Withy & Co, as well as coalmining, iron manufacturing and numerous other enterprises. He became Sir Christopher Furness in 1891, and entered politics as a Liberal MP for the Hartlepool constituency. He was appointed to the peerage in 1910, but died two years later, at which point his son Marmaduke inherited the title, becoming the 2nd Lord Furness, while Daisy became Lady Furness. As chairman of his father's iron and steel shipbuilders, Marmaduke Furness added considerably to his fortune during World War I with a series of government contracts to build or supply ships. By the end of the war, he was reputed to be among the world's six richest men. As a further reward for his services, he was created Viscount Furness in 1918. The family sold its interest in Furness Withy the following year. Lady Daisy had been active as a Red Cross nurse during the First World War, and they had two children, Averill Furness (b 1908) and Christopher Furness (b 1912). Sadly, the marriage did not last long. Daisy died in 1921 at the age of just 40. According to her obituary in the Times, she had undergone a serious abdominal operation at the end of the previous year, and was en route by sea with her husband to join her children and her mother-in-law in the South of France when she suffered a sudden relapse and died onboard their steam-powered yacht Sapphire. She was buried at sea. In the years that followed, the widower Viscount Furness was a prominent member of society. He developed a considerable reputation as a playboy, and married twice more. His second wife, whom he married in 1926, was the American socialite and divorcee Thelma Morgan Converse (also the sister of Gloria Vanderbilt), by whom he had a son. He divorced her in 1933, reportedly after she had an affair with the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII. His 3rd wife was Australian-born Enid Maude Cavendish, whom he married in 1933, seven years before his own death in 1940. Sadly, Daisy's two children both died prematurely. Christopher was killed in action in France in 1940 during the Second World War, aged 27. Averill Furness died in Africa in 1936, also just 27, after a brief but romantic marriage to a white hunter, Andrew Rattray. Both children predeceased their father. Averill's story is especially poignant. Here is the summary from The Times: "The Hon Mrs Rattray (formerly the Hon Averill Furness) died of heart failure at a nursing home in Nairobi after a
brief illness at the age of 27. Lord Furness, who is in London, had been in constant communication with his daughter
during the past 10 days. Mrs Rattray was the only daughter of Viscount Furness by his first marriage. Her marriage to Mr
Andrew Rattray, her father's white hunter, four years ago aroused great interest in Kenya and in England. Averill Furness was devastated by the death, and remained in Rattray's bush shack until she was herself hospitalised the following year. According to some reports she drank herself to death.
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Do you have any further information on any of the other people mentioned on this page? Please contact me at simon@tesler.co.uk. My full family tree, which contains almost 1500 individuals, is posted at GenesReunited and Ancestry. Contact me for access. |