John Francis Amherst Cecil

John Francis Amherst Cecil (30 June 1890 – 22 October 1954) was the first secretary of the British Embassy, Washington, known for his marriage to Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt.[1]

The Honourable

John Francis Amherst Cecil
Born(1890-06-30)30 June 1890
London, England
Died22 October 1954(1954-10-22) (aged 64)
Asheville, North Carolina
EducationEton College
Alma materOxford University
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1924; div. 1934)​
ChildrenGeorge Henry Vanderbilt Cecil
William Amherst Vanderbilt Cecil
Parent(s)Lord William Cecil
2nd Baroness Amherst of Hackney
Relatives3rd Marquess of Exeter (grandfather)
1st Baron Amherst of Hackney (grandfather)

Early life

John Francis Amherst Cecil was born on 30 June 1890 in London, England. He was the third son of Lord William Cecil (1854–1943) and Mary Rothes Margaret Tyssen-Amherst, 2nd Baroness Amherst of Hackney (1857–1919). After the death of his mother in 1919, his father remarried to Violet Maud (née Freer) Collyer.[2] As his eldest brother, Capt. Hon. William Amherst Cecil, predeceased their mother, William's eldest son, succeeded their mother as the 3rd Baron Amherst of Hackney.[2]

His father, a Groom-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria until her death in 1901 and an Extra Gentleman Usher from 1924 under King George V until 1937, was a younger son of the William Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Exeter and Lady Georgina Sophia Pakenham, the daughter of Thomas Pakenham, 2nd Earl of Longford. His maternal grandfather was William Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney.[2]

He attended Eton College and Oxford University.[1]

Career

He became the first secretary of the British Embassy in Washington in 1923. After his marriage in 1924, he resigned from his diplomatic post and moved to Biltmore, North Carolina.[1]

Personal life

In 1924, he married Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt at All Souls Cathedral in Biltmore Village. Cornelia was the only child of the late George Washington Vanderbilt II and the former Edith Stuyvesant Dresser.[3] The following year, Cornelia's mother married Peter Goelet Gerry, a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, in London.[4] Together, Cornelia and John were the parents of two children:

Around 1932, reportedly finding life at Biltmore too dull, his wife moved to New York City to study art, leaving Cecil to manage Biltmore.[9] A few months later, she moved to Paris where she divorced him in 1934, dyed her hair bright pink, and changed her name to Nilcha.[10][11] After her 1934 move abroad, she never returned to Biltmore or the United States again.[12] After Paris, she moved to London, where she met and married Captain Vivian Francis Bulkeley-Johnson in October 1949.[13] Bulkeley-Johnson, the aide-de-camp to the 9th Duke of Devonshire when he was the Governor General of Canada from 1916 to 1918, served in the offices of the Imperial War Cabinet in World War I and in the Air Ministry.[14] They remained married until his death in 1968.[9]

They divorced in 1934 and he died on 22 October 1954 in Asheville, North Carolina.[1]

References
  1. "John Cecil, Ex-Aide Of British Embassy". New York Times. Associated Press. 23 October 1954. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  2. "Amherst of Hackney, Baron (UK, 1892)". cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  3. "Miss Vanderbilt Reported Engaged. Cornelia Said to Be Betrothed to the Hon. John F.A. Cecil of British Embassy" (PDF). The New York Times. 6 March 1924. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  4. "Edith Vanderbilt Wed to P.G. Gerry. Marriage by London Registrar Is Followed by Service at the Savoy Chapel". The New York Times. 23 October 1925.
  5. Patrick, Emily (11 July 2016). "Hospital benefactor Nancy Cecil dies at 85". Citizen Times. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  6. Boyle, John (31 October 2017). "William A.V. Cecil, Vanderbilt's grandson and Biltmore owner, dead at 89". Citizen-Times. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  7. Wadington, Katie; DeGrave, Sam (18 November 2017). "Mimi Cecil, community leader and Biltmore owner, dies at 85". Citizen Times. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  8. "NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK NOMINATION: BILTMORE ESTATE" (PDF). nps.gov. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  9. Milling, Marla Hardee (2017). Legends, Secrets and Mysteries of Asheville. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 132–141. ISBN 9781439661093. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  10. Milling, Marla Hardee (26 June 2017). "Pink-Haired Heiress: The Picaresque Post-Biltmore Life of Cornelia Vanderbilt". Blue Ridge Country. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  11. Ward, Vicky (11 October 2017). "Biltmore House, America's Original McMansion". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  12. Kiernan, Denise (2017). The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation's Largest Home. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781476794044. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  13. "Cornelia Vanderbilt Weds London Banker". Portland Press Herald. 14 October 1949. p. 25. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  14. "Vivian Bulkeley-Johnson". National Archives of Canada. Archived from the original on 9 March 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
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