Millicent, the Duchess of Sutherland: The Second Half of the Sutherland Influence

Millicent Sutherland-Leveson-Gower was the wife of the Fourth Duke of Sutherland and became well-known for her unusual treatment of those below her station.  

Born October 20, 1867, Millicent Fanny St. Clair-Erskine was the daughter of a wealthy Englishman. She was married to Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower on her seventeenth birthday and became the new Duchess of Sutherland. Millicent had four children with Cromartie, two of whom died young.  

Millicent didn’t spend very much time in Canada with her husband, but there are a few towns near Brooks that were allegedly named after the Sutherland family; Millicent after the Duchess herself and Rosemary after their daughter. Some claim that the village of Duchess was named for the Duchess of Sutherland, but it could easily have been named for any other duchess who influenced the growth and population of Southern Alberta. 

After Cromartie died in 1913, Millicent began working in and with hospitals, specifically after the First World War reared its bloody head. She organized an ambulance unit in 1914 to help with the scores of wounded soldiers being shipped across the continent. She found herself stuck in Belgium for a time, before managing to escape into Great Britain. She was very gentle and benevolent, even helping in hospitals, which was unheard of for a lady of her station. 

In the 1910s, it was very difficult to do anything as a single or widowed woman. Influence for women came from the status of their husbands, making it difficult for Millicent to accomplish what she wished to until her marriage to Major Percy Desmond Fitzgerald in 1914. The couple divorced in 1919 on the grounds of Fitzgerald’s infidelity, and Millicent married again that same year to Lt. Col. George Hawes. The marriage was an unhappy one, and they divorced in 1925. Millicent remained single the rest of her life, although she kept the name Hawes until her death.  

Millicent was also an author, and she wrote several novels, collections of short stories, and even a play. She used the nom de plume Erskine Gower to avoid the criticism that would have arisen from a woman publishing books.  

Lady Millicent Sutherland-Leveson-Gower was a remarkable English lady; one who broke societal rules and still managed to accomplish more than your average woman would or could in the days Millicent lived.  

Bibliography 

Brooks, Between the Red Deer and the Bow. Delday, Eva. Brooks, Alberta, 1975. Print.  

Dear Duchess: Millicent Duchess of Sutherland 1867-1955. Stuart, Denis. David &  

Charles. Print.