Constance Crowninshield Coolidge

Constance Crowninshield Coolidge (1892-1973), was a Boston Brahmin, socialite and an American expatriate.[1] The daughter of Landscape architect, David Hill Coolidge and Harriet Sears. She was also the niece of Frank Crowninshield, editor of Vanity Fair.

Constance Coolidge (1892-1973) by John Singer Sargent. Signed and dated 1915

Constance had the pedigree of the most elite Boston Brahmim; she was a descendant of the Adams, Amory, Coolidge, Copley, Crowninshield, and Peabody families. She was a distant relative of Calvin Coolidge.

A trust child and in adulthood a self proclaimed socialist. Constance rejected the Brahmin background early in life, replacing it with a Parisian life from 1923 onwards. Her friendships included the literati: Harry Crosby, Hart Crane, Somerset Maugham and H. G. Wells.

Marriage to Ray Atherton, US Diplomat

She married Ray Atherton at the age of eighteen. They resided initially in Chicago, Illinois and moved to London returning in 1917, when he entered the U.S foreign service.

During her first marriage, she accompanied her husband to China on a diplomatic posting, where she, a determined gambler, behaved wildly enough to earn herself the nickname ‘The Queen of Peking’. Living there during American Prohibition in the early 1920’a proved tantalizing for her. She began an affair Eric Brenan, a British Diplomat,[2] as well as with an American Expat, Felix Doubleday [3] while in still in China as the wife of a diplomat. Felix Doubleday was the adoptive son of Frank Nelson Doubleday. Love letters from both Eric and Felix have been preserved.[1] It was also during this time that she became friends with Wallis Simpson.[2]

Constance dresses were flamboyant and she spared little thought of what others might say about her. She loved anything risky; was addicted to horse racing, gambling and extramarital liaisons, which placed a great deal of a strain on their marriage.[4]^:214

She had multiple admirers and received regular relationship advice from her financial guardian, Uncle Charles Francis Adams III (1866-1954), written on his ‘Secretary of the US Navy’ stationery.[5]

When Ray Atherton was recalled to the State Department, she remained in China on the plea that her horses needed attention. [6]

As a young future divorcee Constance moved to Paris, whilst her future ex-husband, Ray Atherton went on to head up the U.S. Embassy in Athens.

Life in Paris

Constance became intimately involved for a time with the hedonistic poet and publisher Harry Crosby, whose wife Caresse Crosby was the first recipient of a patent for the modern bra.[7] [8]

Constance, the French Countess (1924-1930)

Following her divorce from Ray Atherton, she became engaged to the reportedly handsome former polo player, Count Pierre de Jumilhac, also known as Antoine Clément Marie Pierre Chapelle de Jumilhac, a member of one of the oldest noble families of Brittany.[9] They married on October 11, 1924 and she became the Comtesse de Jumilhac.[10] Whilst married to the Count, she became prominent in the arts,[11] as well as one of the most prominent racehorse owners in France. The marriage to the Count did not last,[12] and by 1929 they were divorced.[13] D. H. Lawrence, the English writer, wrote to Harry Crosby and mentioned Constance:[14]

“Good that Constance – la Comtesse – has her divorce – but tell her to spend a year in contemplation before she starts marrying again. Marriage is a treacherous stimulant.

Constance remarried twelve months later.

Husbands and Horses

Constance visited her parents who had relocated to Santa Barbara. Shortly after, the New York Times announced on February 26, 1930 the disclosure of her subsequent marriage to Eliot Rogers with the headline "Countess to Wed on Coast".[15] Her new husband was the brother of Cameron Rogers, the author, and a nephew of Charles Fernald, a Chicago banker, and Reginald Fernald, the owner of the Santa Barbara Morning Press until 1932. She returned to France with Eliot, and is recorded as attending the "Concours Hippique", the Paris Horse Show of 1932 and was described as an outstanding figure on the French turf.[16] That same year her former husband, the Count died at the age of 42.[17] By November 1933, the papers referred to Constance by her maiden name.[18]

In 1934 she met the writer H.G. Wells, twenty-five years her senior, with whom she conducted a passionate affair in the last decade of his life. By the time she was forty years of age, she had been married four times.

During the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936, she invited Wallis Simpson to stay with her in Paris, and was a guest at their wedding. Constance remained at the center of social events and was friends with Ernest Hemingway and Wallis Simpson.

In 1938, her father was terminally ill, she returned to California and was with him at the time of his passing [19]

In the 1950s she married Andre William Magnus, a public relations manager in the French Film Industry. Passionate about horse racing, she owned a very large stable of horses and she would go to the racetrack every day. She spent most of her life in Paris.

Photographic Collection of her life

The Southern Illinois University, Carbondale holds a series of photographs of her life as part of the Caresse Crosby Collection. [20][21][22][23][24]

Death

Constance died at the American Hospital in Paris on April 30, 1973 and her husband, Andre Magnus scattered her ashes in a vault situated on the top of a hill in the Père Lachaise Cemetery. [25]

Further reading

• The Letters of D. H. Lawrence, Volume VII, November 1928 – February 1930, ed. Keith Sagar and James T. Boulton, Cambridge University Press, 1993, page 48. ISBN 0-521-00699-6.
• W.H. Downes, John S. Sargent, his life and work, London, 1926, page 291, as 'Mrs Ray Atherton'.
• D. McKibbin, Sargent's Boston, with an Essay and a Biographical Summary; plus a complete Check List of Sargent's portraits, Boston, 1956, page 82, as 'Mrs Ray Atherton'.

References

1. Massachusetts Historical Society. "The World of Constance Coolidge and her infamous charms".
2. Andrew Morton (13 February 2018). Wallis in Love: The Untold Life of the Duchess of Windsor, the Woman Who Changed the Monarchy. ISBN 9781455566969.
3. "Constance Atherton's lover Felix Doubleday in 1923" (PDF).
4. Geoffrey Wolff (2003). Black Sun: The Brief Transit and Violent Eclipse of Harry Crosby. New York Review of Books. ISBN 1-59017-066-0.
5. Andrea Lynn (6 December 2019). Shadow Lovers UK Edition: The last affairs of H.G. Wells. ISBN 9781000311341.
6. "Constance remains in China at the end of Atherton's posting".
7. "The Crosby's: Literatures most scandalous couple".
8. "Constance with friends - Description Handwritten on verso, "L to R., C.C.C. Lawrence Vail, Kay Boyle, Harry crossed out Hart, Caresse, Le Moulin on the Sun Tower 1928". Note: "Le Moulin du Soleil" was the home of Caresse and Harry Crosby in Ermenonville, France - 1928".
9. "New York Times reports on the engagement between Constance Atherton and former polo player Count Pierre Jumilhac in 1924". 1924.
10. "New York Times reports on Count to marry divorcee Mrs Constance Atherton".
11. "Paris sees America of Colonial Days Exhibition".
12. "Former Constance Coolidge Starts Suit Against Count in Paris".
13. "Constance Coolidge Obtains Decree Against Count de Jumhilac".
14. "Crosby, Harry, (1898-1929)".
15. "Countess to Wed on Coast".
16. "Constance at the Paris Horse Show 1932".
17. "Former Husband of Constance Coolidge dies".
18. "Many Americans see the Prix du Conseil".
19. "Her father David H. Coolidge dies".
20. "Constance with Irish author James Joyce and his wife at Lake of Constance in 1932".
21. "Constance with Irish author James Joyce and his family at Lake of Constance in 1932".
22. "Constance and Caresse Crosby in Ischia, Italy in 1933".
23. "Constance Magnus in Antibes, France 1950".
24. "Constance in Arosa, Switzerland 1962".
25. Andrea Lynn - includes extensive research on “CCC” - Constance C. Coolidge (6 December 2019). Shadow Lovers UK Edition: The last affairs of H.G. Wells. ISBN 9781000311341.