Doris Harcourt Explained

Honorific-Prefix:	The Right Honourable
The Lady Ashburton
Birth Name:	Doris Mary Thérèse Harcourt
Birth Place:	St George Hanover Square, London, United Kingdom^[1]
Birth Date:	30 March 1900
Death Date:	^[2]
Death Place:	Winchester, Hampshire, England^[3]

Doris Mary Thérèse Baring, Baroness Ashburton (née Harcourt; 30 March 1900 – 9 May 1981) was an English socialite, part of the "Bright Young Things" of the early 20th century.^[4]

Early life

Doris Mary Thérèse Harcourt was born on 30 March 1900,^[5] the daughter of Lewis Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt, and Mary Ethel Burns.^{[6] [7]} Her mother was the daughter of Anglo-American banker Walter Hayes Burns and the former Mary Lyman Morgan (sister of J. Pierpont Morgan).

At 18 months, they found that Doris Harcourt had a weak leg and she was subjected to electric shock treatment and steel supports were put in her boots.^[8]

Personal life

On 17 November 1924, she married Alexander Baring, the only son of Francis Baring, 5th Baron Ashburton and the former Claire Hortense.^[9] After his father died in 1938, he became the 6th Baron Ashburton. Together, they had two sons:^[10]

• John Francis Harcourt Baring (1928-2020), who succeeded as 7th Baron Ashburton and married Susan Mary Renwick, a daughter of Robert Renwick, 1st Baron Renwick.^[10] They divorced in 1984 and he remarried to Sarah Cornelia Spencer-Churchill, a daughter of John Spencer-Churchill, a grandniece of Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
• Hon. Robin Alexander Baring (b. 1931), who married Anne Caroline Thalia Gage (b. 1931), eldest daughter of the High Sheriff of Shropshire, Maj. Edward F. P. Gage of Chateau de Combecave, in 1960.^[10]

Through her marriage, the Baring family acquired the famous Harcourt emeralds.^[11]

She died in 1981.

Notes and References

1. 1911 England Census
2. News: Deaths. . 19 . 14 May 1981 .
3. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
4. Bright Young People of the Rising Generation . The Winnipeg Tribune. 20 September 1924. 25. 22 January 2018.
5. Hammond, Peter W., editor. The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times, Volume XIV: Addenda & Corrigenda. Stroud, Gloucestershire, U.K.: Sutton Publishing, 1998.
6. Book: Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood. Burke's Peerage . Burke's Peerage & Gentry . Burke, Sir Bernard . Bernard Burke . 97th . 1939 . 1213 . Burke .
7. Book: MacColl. Gail. Wallace. Carol McD.. To Marry an English Lord: Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery. 2012. Workman Publishing. 328–329. 9780761171980. 22 January 2018.
8. Book: Horn. Pamela. Ladies of the Manor: How Wives & Daughters Really Lived in Country House Society Over a Century Ago. 2014. Amberley Publishing Limited. 30. 9781445619897. 22 January 2018.
9. News: TIMES . Special Cable to TIE NEW YORK . HARCOURT'S DAUGHTER IS ENGAGED TO WED; She Will Become Bride of Alexander Baring, Only Son of Lord Ashburton . 28 May 2020 . . 14 June 1924.
10. Book: Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood. Burke's Peerage . Burke's Peerage & Gentry . Mosley, Charles . Charles Mosley (genealogist) . 107 . 2003 . 157 . Burke . 0-9711966-2-1.
11. Web site: Magnificent antique emerald and diamond tiara. Christies.com. 2015-03-07.