William B. Coster Explained

Birth Name:	William Bay Coster
Birth Date:	1867
Birth Place:	New York City, U.S.
Death Place:	Bournemouth, England, U.K.
Parents:	Charles Robert Coster Marie Bay James Coster
Children:	3

William Bay Coster (1867 – December 19, 1918) was an American banker who was prominent in New York Society during the Gilded Age.

Early life

Coster was born in New York and lived at a large home at 103 East 71st Street. He was one of four children born to Charles Robert Coster (1839–1888)^{[1] [2]} and Marie Bay (née James) Coster (1841–1904),^[3] who were married in 1864.^[4] Among his siblings was brother Charles Coster,^[5] and sister Elizabeth Mary Coster, who married Alfred Egmont Schermerhorn.^[6] His father was a soldier and public official, who is best known for commanding a brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg.^[7]

His maternal grandfather was Augustus J. James of Albany, the brother of theologian Henry James Sr.,^[6] making William's mother Marie a first cousin of author Henry James, psychologist William James, and diarist Alice James.^[8] His paternal grandparents were John H. Coster and Sarah Adeline (née Boardman) Coster,^[9] making his father a first cousin of fellow New York clubman, Harry Coster.^[10] His great-grandfather, John Gerard Coster,^[11] came from Haarlem in the Netherlands to the United States shortly after the Revolutionary War and founded the family fortune through the mercantile firm, "Henry A. & John G. Coster".^[12]

Career

Coster became a stockbroker and opened up an office with his brother Charles and John M. Knapp in 1893. He later transferred his seat to Knapp in 1907, and resigned from the firm. He later became a partner in Morgan Drexel. He was known as a speed walker, who could be seen "traversing the sidewalks between the New York Athletic Club and the stock exchange in record time."

In 1908, his brother committed suicide "after he'd been caught bilking his customers out of millions of dollars."^[13] Although William was accused of wrongdoing, and, along with his other siblings, worked out of the same office as Charles,^[14] William himself was eventually declared by the New York Stock Exchange to be completely innocent in the debacle.^[15]

Coster also served in the New York National Guard as the aide de camp of the First Brigade, achieving the rank of captain in 1896.^{[16] [17]}

Society life

In 1892, Coster, one of the best-known bachelor clubmen,^[18] was included in Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times.^[19] Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.^{[20] [21]} Coster was a member of the Union Club.^[21]

Personal life

On October 1, 1900,^[22] Coster was married to Maria "Minnie" Griswold Gray (1868–1947)^[23] at St. Saviour's Episcopal Church in Bar Harbor, Maine.^[24] Minnie, a close friend of etiquette author Emily Post,^[25] was the daughter of Henry Winthrop Gray^[26] and Mary (née Travers) Gray, and the granddaughter of William R. Travers. Her parents divorced and her father remarried to Matilda Frelinghuyhsen (daughter of U.S. Secretary of State F. T. Frelinghuysen^[27]) in May 1889.^[28] Together, William and Maria first lived in New York, then Paris,^[29] and became the parents of three children:^[30]

• Matilda Gray Coster (1901–1962),^[30] who married Stanley Yates Mortimer Jr. (1897–1984), a grandson of Valentine Hall Jr., nephew of Richard Mortimer, and first cousin of Eleanor Roosevelt, in 1925.^[31] They divorced in 1928,^[32] and she remarried to Luis Martínez de las Rivas, in 1932.^[33] They later lived in Cuernavaca, Mexico.^[23]
• Mary Griswold Coster (1903–1918),^[30] who died of pneumonia at age 15.^[34]
• William Bay Coster Jr. (1908–1945), who rowed on the Pembroke College crew at Oxford and was an air-raid warden in London during World War II.^[30]

After living in New York and Paris for many years, Coster died "of a long illness, patiently borne," in Bournemouth, England on December 19, 1918.^[35] His widow, who lived in Paris at 5 Rue Vaneau, died at her home, 39 East 79th Street in New York, at the age of 79 in July 1947.^[36]

Descendants

Through his daughter Matilda, he was the grandfather of Mathilda Coster Mortimer (1925–1997), Duchess of Argyll.^[37] Mathilda was first married to Clemens Heller, founder of the Salzburg Global Seminar, a school in Salzburg, Austria.^[37] They divorced in 1962, and in 1963, she remarried to Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll (1903–1973), following his rather public divorce from Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll. Mathilda and the Duke of Argyll were the parents of one child, Lady Elspeth Campbell, who lived only five days after her birth in 1967. The Duke and Duchess remained married until the Duke's death on April 7, 1973.^[38]

References

Notes

Sources

External links

• Photograph of Coster's granddaughter, Mathilda Coster Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, by Madame Yevonde, mid 1960s, at the National Portrait Gallery.

Notes and References

1. News: OBITUARY CHARLES ROBERT COSTER . January 13, 2019 . . December 25, 1888.
2. News: FUNERAL OF COL. CHARLES R. COSTER. . January 13, 2019 . . December 27, 1888.
3. News: MRS. COSTER'S ODD DEATH. Body Found in Foot of Water in Larchmont Reservoir. . January 13, 2019 . . October 1, 1904.
4. Web site: NYC Marriage & Death Notices 1857-1868 . www.nysoclib.org . . January 13, 2019.
5. News: BROKER CHAS. COSTER A SUICIDE AT HOME Stock Exchange Member Shoots Himself for No Apparent Cause. CHEERFUL BEFORE HE DIED Had Been Chatting with Family Physician a Few Moments Before — Well Known in Athletics. . January 13, 2019 . . April 29, 1908.
6. Book: James . William . James . Henry . William and Henry James: Selected Letters . 1997 . . 9780813916941 . 542 . January 13, 2019 . en.
7. Conklin, George W. (1999). Under the Crescent and Star: The 134th New York Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War, p. 31. Axworthy Publishing. .
8. Book: James . Henry . Henry James: Autobiographies (LOA #274) Brother / The Middle Years / Other Writings: A Small Boy and Others / Notes of a Son and Brother / The Middle Years / Other Writings . 2016 . . 9781598534726 . 1311 . January 13, 2019 . en.
9. Book: Goldthwaite . Charlotte . Boardman Genealogy, 1525-1895 : the English home and ancestry of Samuel Boreman, Wethersfield, Conn., Thomas Boreman, Ipswich, Mass. . 1895 . [S.l.] : W.F.J. Boardman . 332 . January 13, 2019.
10. Book: Schroeder . John Frederick . Memoir of the life and character of Mrs. Mary Anna Boardman: with a historical account of her forefathers, and biographical and genealogical notices of many of her kindred and relatives . 1849 . Printed for private distribution . 431 . January 13, 2019 . en.
11. Book: Townsend . Annette . The Auchmuty family of Scotland and America. . 1932 . The Grafton Press . New York . 257–260 . January 6, 2019.
12. Book: Greene . Richard Henry . Stiles . Henry Reed . Dwight . Melatiah Everett . Morrison . George Austin . Mott . Hopper Striker . Totten . John Reynolds . Pitman . Harold Minot . Forest . Louis Effingham De . Ditmas . Charles Andrew . Mann . Conklin . Maynard . Arthur S. . The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record . 1919 . . 305 . January 6, 2019 . en.
13. News: STOCK BROKERS SUSPEND; C. COSTER A SUICIDE Failure of Coster, Knapp & Company Announced on New York Stock Exchange IS DUE TO OVERSPECULATION Junior Member Who Killed Himself Last Night Had Been Using the Firm's Money . January 13, 2019 . . April 29, 1908 . 18 . en.
14. News: CHAS. COSTER LOST $1,000,000 IN STOCKS Suicide's Plunge on the Short Side with the Firm's Money Forces Its Suspension. RELATIVES HEAVY LOSERS Coster Said to Have Lost $200,000 of His Mother-in-Law's Money — Was $1,200,000 Ahead Until Recently. . January 13, 2019 . . April 30, 1908.
15. News: W.B. COSTER'S LOSSES WERE NEVER SETTLED Inquiry Into Brokerage Firm's Failure Shows an Indebtedness of More Than $500,000. TRADED UNDER NUMBERS He and His Brother Had Joint Accounts in Which Some $1,000,000 Was Lost — The Manager's Testimony. . January 13, 2019 . . June 26, 1908.
16. Book: Assembly . New York (State) Legislature . Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York . 1897 . E. Croswell . 195 . January 13, 2019 . en.
17. News: SWORD FOR MAJOR ANDREWS He Receives It from Gen. Fitzgerald and His Old Staff at a Dinner . January 13, 2019 . . April 26, 1898.
18. News: WHAT IS DOING IN SOCIETY. . January 13, 2019 . . August 31, 1900.
19. News: McAllister. Ward. THE ONLY FOUR HUNDRED WARD M'ALLISTER GIVES OUT THE OFFICIAL LIST. HERE ARE THE NAMES, DON'T YOU KNOW, ON THE AUTHORITY OF THEIR GREAT LEADER, YOU UNDER- STAND, AND THEREFORE GENUINE, YOU SEE.. March 26, 2017. The New York Times. February 16, 1892. en.
20. Book: Keister. Lisa A.. Getting Rich: America's New Rich and How They Got That Way. 2005. Cambridge University Press. 9780521536677. 36. October 20, 2017. en.
21. Book: Patterson . Jerry E. . The First Four Hundred: Mrs. Astor's New York in the Gilded Age . 2000 . Random House Incorporated . 9780847822089 . 213 . January 6, 2019 . en.
22. News: A DAY'S WEDDINGS; Coster -- Gray. . January 13, 2019 . . October 2, 1900.
23. News: MRS. WILLIAM B. COSTER . January 13, 2019 . . July 24, 1947 . en.
24. Society . Boston Home Journal . 1900 . 6 . January 13, 2019 . Samuel T. Cobb & Company . en.
25. Book: Claridge . Laura . Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners . 2009 . . 9780812967418 . 139–140, 180, 189–190, 216, 421 . January 13, 2019 . en.
26. News: DIED. Gray. January 30, 2018. The New York Times. October 15, 1906.
27. News: MRS. M.G.F. GRAY OF OLD FAMILY DIES; Daughter of F. T. Frelinghuysen, Once Secretary of State-Funeral Today.. January 30, 2018. The New York Times. March 25, 1926.
28. News: In Bonds of Matrimony; Marriage of Mr. Gray and Miss. Frelinghuysen. a Quiet Ceremony at the Homestead of the Bride's Family. January 30, 2018. The New York Times. May 17, 1889.
29. Book: Social Register, New York . 1920 . . 154 . January 13, 2019 . en.
30. Book: Gray . Edward . William Gray of Lynn, Massachusetts, and some of his descendants . 1916 . Essex Institute . . January 13, 2019.
31. News: MATHILDA COSTER WED IN CITY GHAPEL; She and Stanley Mortimer Jr. Give Their Friends in Society a BigSurprise. BRIDE'S MOTHER UNAWARE Artist, Brother of Countess di Zoppola, and Bride Hurry Their Marrlage to Sail for Europe. . January 13, 2019 . . January 3, 1925 . en.
32. News: TWO GET PARIS DIVORCES.; Mrs. Fleischman and Mrs. Mortimer Charge Desertion. . January 13, 2019 . . August 15, 1928 . en.
33. News: MRS. M. MORTIMER WED.; New York Woman Married to Luis M. de las Rivas in Monte Carlo. . January 13, 2019 . . March 31, 1932 . en.
34. News: DIED . January 13, 2019 . . November 4, 1918 . 13 . en.
35. News: COSTER--William Bay . January 13, 2019 . . December 23, 1918 . 12 . en.
36. News: DEATHS ELSEWHERE . January 13, 2019 . . July 24, 1947 . 25 . en.
37. News: Mathilda, Dowager Duchess of Argyll, Dies at 70 . January 13, 2019 . . June 8, 1997.
38. News: Currie . William . MOTHER'S SEARCH . January 13, 2019 . . January 17, 1993.