{{Short description|American socialite}} [[File:Lady Grey Egerton LCCN2014683578.jpg|thumb|Photograph of Lady Grey Egerton, Library of Congress]] '''Mary Carolyn Campbell McCreery''' (née '''Cuyler''', formerly '''Lady Grey-Egerton''') (23 December 1871 – 25 November 1958) was an American socialite.
==Early life== May was born on 23 December 1871 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was a daughter of Alice (née Holden) Cuyler and Maj. James Wayne Cuyler (1841–1883) of Baltimore, Maryland. Her father, a West Point graduate and engineer, fought for the Union Army in the U.S. Civil War.<ref name="LadyGrey1898">{{cite news |title=Lady Grey Egerton. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1898/02/06/102105322.pdf |accessdate=23 October 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=6 February 1898}}</ref>
Her paternal grandparents were physician and Bvt. Brig.-Gen. John Meck Cuyler (son of Judge Jeremiah La Touche Cuyler) and Mary Campbell (née Wayne) Cuyler (a daughter of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States James Moore Wayne).<ref name="Nicoll1912">{{cite book |last1=Nicoll |first1=Maud Churchill |title=The Earliest Cuylers in Holland and America and Some of Their Descendants: Researches Establishing a Line from Tydeman Cuyler of Hasselt, 1456 |date=1912 |publisher=T.A. Wright, Printer and Publisher |page=52 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KY1GAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA52 |accessdate=23 October 2019 |language=en}}</ref>{{refn|group=lower-alpha|May's great-uncle (her grandmother's brother), Henry Constantine Wayne, married Mary Louisa Nicoll, sister to Elizabeth Smith ({{nee}} Nicoll) Hamilton (the wife of Gen. Alexander Hamilton, oldest grandson of Alexander Hamilton).<ref name="Woodhull1904">{{cite book |title=Woodhull Genealogy: The Woodhull Family in England and America |date=1904 |publisher=H.T. Coates |page=[https://archive.org/details/woodhullgenealog00wood/page/99 99] |url=https://archive.org/details/woodhullgenealog00wood |access-date=24 October 2019 |language=en}}</ref>}} A first cousin of her grandfather was U.S. Representative Rudolph Bunner. Her maternal grandparents were Wisconsin State Assemblyman and avid abolitionist Edward Dwight Holton and Lucinda Caroline ({{nee}} Millard) Holton (a second cousin of Millard Fillmore).<ref name="wisconsinhistory">{{cite web |title=Holton, Edward Dwight 1815 - 1892 |url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS8797 |website=www.wisconsinhistory.org |publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society |access-date=23 June 2022 |language=en |date=8 August 2017}}</ref> Her aunt, Mary Holton, married Robertson James, the youngest brother of novelist Henry James.<ref>{{cite book |title=The United States Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Eminent and Self-made Men; Wisconsin Volume |url=https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesbiogwi00amer |access-date=February 20, 2013 |year=1877 |publisher=American Biographical Publishing Company |location=Chicago, Milwaukee, Cincinnati |pages=[https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesbiogwi00amer/page/412 412]–417 |ref={{harvid|Biographical Dictionary|1877}} }}</ref>
==Personal life== On 4 January 1893, May was married to Sir Philip Grey Egerton, 12th Baronet in London.<ref name="1893Arrangements">{{cite news |title=Miss Cuyler's Wedding.; Arrangements for the Ceremony to-Day in London. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/01/04/106859128.pdf |accessdate=23 October 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=4 January 1893}}</ref> Sir Philip was the only son of Sir Philip Grey-Egerton, 11th Baronet and Hon. Henrietta Denison (eldest daughter of Albert Denison, 1st Baron Londesborough). Their engagement had been announced in ''The New York Times'' on 29 October 1892,<ref name="1892Engagement">{{cite news |title=A Baltimore Girl Engaged. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/10/29/104151423.pdf |accessdate=23 October 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=29 October 1892}}</ref> and the "wedding received extensive press coverage, featuring lists of the jewels received as gifts, including a diamond tiara."<ref name="npg">{{cite web |title=Mary Carolyn Campbell ('May', nee Cuyler), Lady Grey-Egerton |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp83422/mary-carolyn-campbell-may-nee-cuyler-lady-grey-egerton |website=www.npg.org.uk |publisher=National Portrait Gallery, London |access-date=23 June 2022 |language=en}}</ref> After their marriage, "she became as great a belle in London society as she had been" in the United States. Before their divorce in May 1905,<ref name="1905Divorce">{{cite news |title=GRAY-EGERTON DIVORCE.; Obtained in London from Sir Philip by His American Wife. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1905/06/27/120277147.pdf |accessdate=23 October 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=27 June 1905}}</ref> they were the parents of twin sons and a daughter: * Philip de Malpas Wayne Grey-Egerton (1895–1918), a Captain in the 19th Royal Hussars who was killed in action at Brancoucourt Farm.<ref name="Burkes2003"/><ref name="cwgc">{{cite web |title=Captain P De M W Egerton {{!}} War Casualty Details 274088 |url=https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/274088/p-de-m-w-egerton/ |website=www.cwgc.org |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=23 June 2022 |language=en}}</ref> * Rowland le Belward Grey-Egerton (1895–1914), a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers who was also killed in action.<ref name="Burkes2003"/> * Cecily Alice Grey Grey-Egerton MBE (d. 1981), who married Lt. Col. Denys Edward Prideaux-Brune DSO (d. 1952), second son of Hon. Katharine Hugessen (daughter of Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen, 1st Baron Brabourne) and Col. Charles Robert Prideaux-Brune of Prideaux Place, in 1918.<ref name="Burkes2003"/>
After their divorce,{{refn|group=lower-alpha|In April 1910, Sir Philip remarried to Aimée Mary (née Cumming) Clarke, the former wife of Sir Rupert Clarke, 2nd Baronet.<ref name="Walford">{{cite book |last1=Walford |first1=Edward |title=The county families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland |publisher=Dalcassian Publishing Company |page=425 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TuHIDwAAQBAJ |access-date=23 June 2022 |language=en}}</ref>}} May married Richard Stephen McCreery (1866–1938) on 2 March 1907 at May's residence on Hallam Street in London.<ref name="1907Wedding"/> McCreery, who was divorced from Edith Kip, was a son of Andrew Buchanan McCreery and Isabel ({{nee}} Swearingen) McCreery.<ref name="Mead2013">{{cite book |last1=Mead |first1=Richard |title=The Last Great Cavalryman: The Life of General Sir Richard McCreery Commander Eighth Army |date=19 January 2013 |publisher=Casemate Publishers |isbn=978-1-78340-893-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pbXNDwAAQBAJ |access-date=23 June 2022 |language=en}}</ref>{{refn|group=lower-alpha|McCreery's first wife, Edith Kip,<ref name="Wills1949">{{cite news |title=RECENT WILLS |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/259421858/?terms=Edith%2BKip%2BCoventry |accessdate=25 June 2018 |work=The Guardian |date=June 17, 1949 |page=4 |language=en}}</ref> was a daughter of Lawrence Kip and Eva Lorillard Kip (the daughter of Lorillard Tobacco Company heir Pierre Lorillard III).<ref name="ELKObit1903">{{cite news|title=DEATH LIST OF A DAY. {{!}} Mrs. Eva Lorillard Kip|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1903/02/24/118491623.pdf|accessdate=June 25, 2018|work=The New York Times|date=24 February 1903}}</ref><ref name="Kip1928">{{cite book |last1=Kip |first1=Frederic Ellsworth |title=History of the Kip family in America |date=1928 |publisher=Hudson Printing Co. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofkipfami00kipf_2/page/370 370]-371 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofkipfami00kipf_2 |accessdate=25 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref> Eva and Richard had married in April 1894 and divorced in 1904.<ref name="1894Wedding">{{cite news |title=MARRIED IN GRACE CHURCH. Miss Edith Kip Wedded to Richard McCreery of London |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1894/04/19/104109315.pdf |accessdate=25 June 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=April 19, 1894}}</ref> After their divorce, Eva married the Hon. Henry Thomas Coventry (son of George Coventry, 9th Earl of Coventry), in December 1907.<ref name="EKnyhistory">{{cite web |title=Edith Kip (ca. 1872-after 1945) |url=https://www.nyhistory.org/exhibit/edith-kip-ca-1872-after-1945 |website=www.nyhistory.org |publisher=New-York Historical Society |accessdate=25 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Whitaker1916">{{cite book |title=Whitaker's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage ... |date=1916 |publisher=J. Whitaker & Sons |page=282 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FaEtAQAAMAAJ |accessdate=25 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref> From his first marriage, McCreery had two sons: Lawrence B. McCreery<ref name="Almanac1908">{{cite book |title=The World Almanac and Book of Facts |date=1908 |publisher=Newspaper Enterprise Association |page=479 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Av1GAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA479 |accessdate=25 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref> and Lorillard Kip McCreery (d. 1926).<ref name="1908Deed">{{cite news |title=EARL'S SON WOULDN'T SIGN.; Mrs. McCreery Coventry Sues to Set Aside $2,000,000 Provision for Her Son. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1908/11/12/archives/earls-son-wouldnt-sign-mrs-mccreery-coventry-sues-to-set-aside.html |accessdate=25 June 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=November 12, 1908 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="AHC1941">{{cite book |last1=American Historical Company |title=Encyclopedia of American Biography: New series |date=1941 |publisher=American Historical Society |page=10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dZsMAQAAMAAJ |accessdate=25 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref>}} His maternal aunt, Mary Swearingen, was the wife of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Johnson Field,<ref name="1907Wedding">{{cite news |title=RICHARD M'CREERY WEDDED IN LONDON; Lady Grey-Egerton Becomes the Bride of a New Yorker. COUPLE BOTH DIVORCED Bride a Daughter of an Army Officer -- Bridegroom Descended from Justice. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/03/03/104981276.pdf |accessdate=23 October 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=3 March 1907}}</ref><ref name="Bailey2000">{{cite book |title=The Stulls of "Millsborough": Descendants of Catherine (Stull) Swearingen, Susanna (Stull) Swearingen |date=2000 |publisher=C.H. Bailey |pages=599, 662 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nVsbAQAAMAAJ |access-date=23 June 2022 |language=en}}</ref> and his nephew was Gen. Sir Richard McCreery, Commander of the British Eighth Army.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Gen. Sir Richard McCreery was a son of McCreery's younger brother, Walter Adolph McCreery and Emilia ({{nee}} McAdam) McCreery, a great-great granddaughter of Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam.<ref name="Mead2013"/>}} With her second husband, she was the mother of: * Isobel McCreery,<ref name="Steger1995">{{cite news |last1=Steger |first1=Pat |title=THE SOCIAL SCENE -- A Swell Time To Come Out / Debutantes shine at annual Cotillion |url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/THE-SOCIAL-SCENE-A-Swell-Time-To-Come-Out-3016809.php |access-date=23 June 2022 |work=SFGATE |date=25 December 1995}}</ref> who married Augustus Taylor, Jr.<ref name="1958Obit"/> in 1937.<ref name="1937Wedding">{{cite news |title=bel McCreery Takes Vows At Brilliant Church Nuptials |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/35522143/the-san-francisco-examiner/ |access-date=23 June 2022 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |date=7 June 1937 |pages=15}}</ref>
Her first husband, Sir Philip, died on 4 July 1937, and her second husband died in 1938. As both of their sons predeceased their father, the baronetcy passed to the Rev. Sir Brooke de Malpas Egerton, Sir Philip's first cousin once removed.<ref name="Burkes2003"/> May died at her home, 2202 Forest Drive in Burlingame, California on 25 November 1958.<ref name="1958Obit">{{cite news |title=Mrs. McCreery, Socialite, Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104303477/mrs-mccreery-socialite-dies/ |access-date=23 June 2022 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |date=10 November 1958 |pages=3}}</ref>
===Descendants=== Through her daughter Cecily, she was a grandmother to three: Cynthia Mary Denise Prideaux-Brune (b. 1919), Philip Egerton Edmund Prideaux-Brune (b. 1921), and Rowland Denys Charles Prideaux-Brune (1925–2008).<ref name="Burkes2003">Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.'' Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 2, pages 1669-1679.</ref>
==In popular culture== During the 2014-2015 exhibition at London's National Portrait Gallery, she was featured among the high-profile American heiresses to marry into British aristocracy.<ref name="MacColl2012">{{cite book |last1=MacColl |first1=Gail |last2=Wallace |first2=Carol McD |title=To Marry an English Lord: Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery |date=2012 |publisher=Workman Publishing |isbn=9780761171959 |pages=77, 249, 302, 309, 340 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UGSE4B506MMC&pg=PA357 |access-date=24 September 2019 |language=en}}</ref> Also included in the exhibition were Margaret Leiter (married to the 19th Earl of Suffolk), Jennie Jerome (married to Lord Randolph Churchill), Mary Leiter (married to the 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston), Consuelo Yznaga (married to the 8th Duke of Manchester), Consuelo Vanderbilt (married to the 9th Duke of Marlborough and to Jacques Balsan), Laura Charteris (married to the 10th Duke of Marlborough) and Cornelia Martin (married to the 4th Earl of Craven).<ref name="OldTitlesNewMoney">{{cite web |title=Old Titles and New Money: American Heiresses and the British Aristocracy |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2014/old-titles-and-new-money-american-heiresses-and-the-british-aristocracy.php |website=www.npg.org.uk |publisher=National Portrait Gallery, London |access-date=17 September 2019}}</ref>
==References== ;Notes {{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
;Sources {{Reflist|30em}}
== External links == {{commonscat}} * [https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp83422/mary-carolyn-campbell-may-nee-cuyler-lady-grey-egerton Mary Carolyn Campbell ('May', née Cuyler), Lady Grey-Egerton] at National Portrait Gallery, London * [https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1246718 Mary Carolyn Campbell Cuyler, Lady Grey-Egerton] photograph by Alice Hughes at the National Trust
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuyler, May}} Category:1871 births Category:1958 deaths May May Cuyler May Cuyler