Marie Freeman-Thomas, Marchioness of Willingdon explained

Honorific Prefix:	The Most Honourable
The Marchioness of Willingdon
Office1:	Vicereine of India
Term Start1:	18 April 1931
Term End1:	18 April 1936
Monarch1:	George V Edward VIII
2Namedata1:	The Marquess of Willingdon
Predecessor1:	The Viscountess Goschen (acting) The Lady Irwin
Successor1:	The Marchioness of Linlithgow
Birth Name:	Marie Adelaide Brassey
Birth Date:	1875 3, df=yes
Spouse:	Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon
Parents:	Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey Anna Brassey, Baroness Brassey

Marie Adelaide Freeman-Thomas, Marchioness of Willingdon, (née Brassey; 24 March 1875 – 30 January 1960) was a daughter of Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey. On 20 July 1892, she married Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon (12 September 1866 – 12 August 1941), the future Governor General of Canada and Viceroy of India.^[1] They had two sons, Lieutenant Gerard Frederick Freeman-Thomas (3 May 1893 – 14 September 1914), killed, aged 21, in the First World War,^[2] and Inigo Brassey Freeman-Thomas, 2nd Marquess of Willingdon (25 July 1899 – 19 March 1979).

Honours

She was:

• Invested as an Imperial Order of the Crown of India (C.I.) in 1917
• Decorated with the Kaisar-i-Hind Gold Medal
• Invested as a Dame of Justice, Venerable Order of Saint John (D.J.St. J.)
• Decorated with the Order of Mercy.
• Invested as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in December 1917
• Invested as a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the 1924 Birthday Honours

Legacy

• Marie Canyon on the Cowichan River, Vancouver Island, is named for her, commemorating a 1930 canoe trip from Cowichan Lake down that river to the city of Duncan, British Columbia.^[3]
• The Lady Willingdon Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, is named after her
• The Lady Willingdon Hospital in Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India, is named after her. www.manalihospital.com

Notes and References

1. Book: Lee, Brian . Some Indian and related bookplates . Bookplate Society and the Apsley House Press . Edgbaston . 1995 . 9780951724798 . 69.
2. Web site: Death of Lord Willingdon's Son and Heir. 12 November 2014. The First World War East Sussex. 11 October 2021.
3. Web site: Paterson. T. W.. Chronicles: A name is a name...so long as it's spelled right.