Fanny Ronalds (1839-1916)

She was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She quickly became recognized in society for her beauty and her singing voice and in November, 1859, she was married to Pierre Lorillard Ronalds, grandson of tobacco millionaire Pierre Lorillard II. The Ronalds' moved to Europe from 1860 and Fanny quickly became the acknowledged leader of the American Colony in Paris. She separated from her husband in 1867 and after taking an extended tour through Algiers she returned to New York where both Leonard Jerome and August Belmont (despite being married men) competed fiercely with one another for her affections prompting their friend William R. Travers to name his yacht "Fanny". Fanny entertained their advances but in fact never went further with either man, and on the contrary became firm friends for life with Mrs Jerome and her daughter, Jennie (the mother of Winston Churchill), who remembered Fanny singing her to bed. A famous anecdote was told some twenty years later when Jerome asked Belmont, "Do you remember Fanny's celebrated ball?" Belmont replied, "I most certainly do, after all, I paid for it". There was a slight pause before Jerome said, "why, how very strange, so did I".

In about 1868, Fanny and Mrs Jerome left New York (and Leonard Jerome etc.) and took their children to be educated in Paris. At a ball there, Fanny fell into an ornamental pool and was rescued by her host, Napoleon III. Through him and his wife she was introduced to the set of Bertie, Prince of Wales. It was not long before she was hosting fashionable musical entertainments and elegant soirées for artists, musicians and the cream of society.

As the Franco-Prussian War erupted in 1870, she took her children to Tunisia but in 1875 settled in London, taking a house at 7 Cadogan Place in Mayfair which became famous as a gathering place for artists and musicians. Once again, she was a leader of society and it is well-remembered that Fanny was one of the few persons outside of the Royal family who was privileged to call informally upon the Princess of Wales. As both a musician of note and a leading member of the Prince of Wales' set, Fanny's reputation was such that she could "make or mar" musicians hoping to make their mark. It was also in London that she met and fell in love with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan of enduring Gilbert & Sullivan fame. Sullivan described her as "the best amateur singer in London" and she was his constant companion until his death in 1900. In the following year, she was appointed an Honorary Lady of Grace of the Order of St. John and she was active with the Red Cross during World War I. She died at her London home and is buried as per her request with the autographed manuscript of "The Lost Chord" bequeathed to her by Sullivan. At her death, Princess Louise described her as, "one of the kindest and most unselfish of women".