We now enter on the short third volume of Lord William’s life. He landed in England during the spring of 1894, bringing with him various faithful retainers, also some favourite horses and ponies. In June of that year he paid his first visit to the Deepdene, Dorking, as a guest of Lily Duchess of Marlborough, having been invited at Lady Sarah Wilson’s suggestion to make up a party for Ascot races.
It will be remembered that Lady Sarah was a sister of the 8th Duke of Marlborough, whose widow was renting the Deepdene.
Lord William was amused to find in his bachelor bedroom a print of one of his relations, namely, Lord Marcus Gervais Beresford, Archbishop of Armagh, Lord Primate of Ireland, whose eldest son married Mary Annabella, sister of Sir William Vernon Harcourt, who was first cousin to the author’s mother; Sir William’s mother and author’s grandfather being brother and sister (_vide_ Burke, Gooch-Vernon Harcourt); the author’s mother having been Miss Mary Teresa Gooch, daughter of the Rev. William Gooch, Canon of York; she having married Robert Calverly Bewicke-Bewicke, B.A., J.P., D.L., of Coulby Manor, Yorkshire.
It is interesting to note Lord William’s father married his beautiful wife while on a visit to this self-same gentleman looking down from the walls of the Deepdene.
In September Lord William returned to India for a few months to attend to some business and racing matters, after which he announced his engagement to Lily Duchess of Marlborough, which came as a surprise to most people. In India he was gradually becoming regarded as a confirmed bachelor, though it seemed incredible that anyone who was such an admirer of the fair sex and who was equally admired by them in return should be able to escape; indeed, his having escaped is only one more proof of his cool head and ability.
It was not a long engagement, April 30th, 1895, was chosen for the wedding; when Lilian Warren, daughter of Cicero Price, Commodore of the U.S. Navy, married Lord William Beresford as her third husband, the first having been Mr. Louis Hammersley of New York, an exceedingly wealthy man who left his wife a large fortune. Secondly, she married the 8th Duke of Marlborough, who died in 1892, but not before the Duchess’s fortune had done much for Blenheim Palace.