VeraBateLombardi
'WellknowninSociety',1909
Born
VeraNinaArkwright
11August1883
London
Died
1948
Rome
Nationality
British,American,Italian
Occupation
WWInurse,socialite,associateofCocoChanel
Knownfor
IntroducedCocoChaneltoEnglishSociety,inspired
Chanel's'EnglishLook',denouncedChanelfor
collaboratingwiththeNazis
Vera Bate Lombardi (18831948), born Vera Nina Arkwright but said to have also used the
name Sarah Gertrude Arkwright,[1] was a British socialite and close associate of Coco
Chanel and the mother of Bridget Bate Tichenor, the surrealist artist. A British subject by
birth, she became a citizen of the United States after her first marriage and of Italy after her
second marriage. She was arrested in Italy in 1943 on suspicion of spying for the British
during World War II. After her release, she went to Madrid, where she denounced Chanel
for collaborating with the Nazis.
Contents
[hide]
1.1 Birth
1.6 Prince Adolphus and Rosa Baring - Did they know each
other?
1.7 Prince Adolphus and Rosa Baring - Were they in the right
place at the right time?
2 World War I
3 Marriages
5 World War II
o
6 Later years
7 Notes
8 Sources
Mother's connections[edit]
Lombardi's mother, Rosa Baring, was a first cousin of Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932), the noted
gardener; of Reverend Walter Jekyll, whose friend, Robert Louis Stevenson, borrowed the
family name for his famous novella 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'; of Frederick Eden (1828-1916),
who created the Garden of Eden, Giudecca, Venice (later home ofPrincess Aspasia of
Greece and Alexandra, Queen of Yugoslavia; now a national monument), so Lombardi was
also related, by marriage, to Anthony Eden, Churchill's Foreign Secretary, later Prime
Minister (195557) and 1st Earl of Avon; of Major-General Frederick Hammersley CB (18581923), who commanded the 11th Division at the disastrous Landing at Suvla Bay in 1915; of
Mary Frances Hammersley (ne Grant) (1863-1911), the subject of John Singer
Sargent's famous portrait, 'Mrs. Hugh Hammersley' (1892); of Sir Everard Hambro (18421925), first chairman of Hambros Bank (founded in 1839 as C. J. Hambro & Son) and a
Director of the Bank of England from 1879 to 1925. Rosa Baring was a niece of Thomas
Matthias Weguelin MP (1809-1885), of Billingbear Park, Waltham St. Lawrence, Governor of
the Bank of England (1855-1859) and of Charlotte Rosa Baring, the heroine of Alfred, Lord
Tennyson'spoem 'Maud'. Through her great-grandmother, Anne Greenwood, wife of Thomas
Hammersley (1747-1812), Rosa Baring was descended from Sir Henry Percy (1364-1403),
Shakespeare's 'Sir Harry Hotspur', and Philippa Plantagenet (1355-1382), Countess of Ulster
and of March, from whom the House of York derived their (successful) claim to the throne.
[3]
Rosa Baring was a second cousin of Hon. Margaret Baring (1868-1906), who
married Charles Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer (1857-1922); they were great-grandparents
of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Extract from 1891 Census describing Vera Nina Arkwright as 'grand dau adopted'
Lombardi is described as "adopted" ("grand dau adopted") in the 1891 census,[10] when she
was living with her Baring grandparents at Norman Court in Hampshire. This is the only
officially recorded evidence (which would have been provided by Lombardi's grandfather,
William Baring) that has emerged which indicates that she was not the legitimate issue of her
legal parents - on the basis that if she had been William Baring's legitimate granddaughter in
the normal way he would have simply described her as his 'granddaughter'. The fact that
Lombardi was living with her grandparents at Norman Court in 1891, while her brother, Esm
Francis Wigsell Arkwright (born 7 May 1882), was living with his father at Sanderstead Court
may indicate that Frank Arkwright wanted to have nothing to do with his 'daughter'.
Prince Adolphus and Rosa Baring - Did they know each other?[edit]
If Rosa Baring and Prince Adolphus did actually ever meet, they are far more likely to have
done so at or near Warren House, Kingston-upon-Thames (Map ref: 51.423792, -0.272045),
[11][12]
the home of Rosa Baring's uncle, Hugh Hammersley (1819-1882), and his wife,
Dulcibella Hammersley (ne Eden) (d. 1903), daughter of Arthur Eden (1793-1874) of
Harrington Hall, Slingsby, Lincolnshire and later ofCannizaro Park, Wimbledon. Warren
House is only a mile and a half from White Lodge, Richmond Park (Map ref: 51.445183,
-0.264913), then the home of Prince Adolphus' parents, the Duke and Duchess of Teck.
Given that Warren House is on the edge of Richmond Park and that there are no buildings
between the relevant part of the park boundary and White Lodge, the two families were, in
fact, next-door neighbours separated only by parkland.
Hugh Hammersley built Warren House in 1865 and the Tecks moved into White Lodge in
1869, so by 1882 the Tecks and the Hammersleys had been neighbours, and had almost
certainly known each other, for 12 or so years. Perhaps the families also met in church. Rosa
Baring and Prince Adolphus had therefore probably known each other, or at least been
acquainted, since he was a one-year-old and she was 15. Hugh Hammersley knew Prince
George, Duke of Cambridge (Prince Adolphus' uncle) both socially and professionally (he
was the Duke's banker); in fact, he built Warren House on land on the Coombe Estate which
he acquired from the Duke of Cambridge. Furthermore, as a partner in a leading private bank
(Cox & Co.) who were bankers to various members of the royal family, it is more than likely
that Hugh Hammersley not only lent money to the Duke and Duchess of Teck, who were
known for their extravagance and inability to live within their income (they had to flee the
country from 1883 to 1885 to escape their creditors), but that he may also have been
involved in efforts to try to otherwise resolve their financial difficulties.
Prince Adolphus and Rosa Baring - Were they in the right place at the
right time?[edit]
Hugh Hammersley died in September 1882 and his sister, Elizabeth Baring (ne
Hammersley), Rosa Baring's mother, will undoubtedly have visited Hugh Hammersley's
widow, Dulcibella, in the following months; that is, in the last three months of 1882. Rosa
Baring may well have visited Warren House in this period to be with her mother. Vera Bate
Lombardi was conceived in late October/early November 1882; given a 40-week pregnancy
she was conceived on Saturday 4 November 1882.
Thus there is an event, a location (known proximity) and a known social connection that
could account for a meeting between Prince Adolphus and Rosa Baring at precisely the right
time. The two could have had assignations either at Warren House, or at White Lodge or,
more probably, inRichmond Park itself (possibly in Spankers Hill Wood (Map ref: 51.440775,
-0.265439), which is between White Lodge and Warren House). There is an entrance gate to
Richmond Park (Map ref: 51.425944, -0.275816) just opposite the drive of Warren House
and visitors to Warren House will invariably have gone for walks or rides in Richmond Park
on a regular basis.
to England in 1885 paved the way for the engagement of their daughter, Princess Mary,
toPrince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, eldest son of the Prince of Wales
(later King Edward VII), in 1891 and, ultimately, for her to become Queen as wife of George
V. Is it possible that what stood between the Tecks and the throne of England was a little
baby girl?
half-sister of George FitzGeorge's three children by Rosa Baring: Mabel Iris FitzGeorge
(1886-1976), George Daphne FitzGeorge (1889-1954) and George William Frederick
FitzGeorge (1892-1960). This connection is unlikely to have counted in Lombardi's favour
because George FitzGeorge's financial irresponsibility, his abandonment of his military
career and his marriage to a divorced woman (Rosa Baring) were disapproved of in royal
circles; he was also illegitimate.
'Now I want to speak of Vera Arkwright, who replaced me in the gangrene ward. She is
perfectly beautiful, full of sympathy and sweetness, and a warm friend of Bridget Guinness.
[21]
I got her into the hospital with a vague feeling that she was simply going to flirt with the
officers and perhaps make me regret. Well, well! Vera has been in that ward now from eight
in the morning until half-past six every night. I wish you could see her with crimson cheeks
and a floating veil, carrying the vilest of linen and oilcloth, not to throw away, but to wash it
herself with a scrubbing brush. She has a keen sense of humour, and even amid the horrors
it shines forth.
Yesterday she was heartbroken over Hern, and told me that the bullet in one of his wounds
had severed a vein, and when she came in on duty this terrible haemorrhage had flooded the
bed and the floor, and it was she who cleaned all that up. Yes, and she gathered up his little
treasures to save for his people, and going into the linen room, from under all the filthy
bandages extracted the poor little tin cigarette case which had been thrown out as rubbish.
Last night, at half-past ten, my bell rang, and poor Vera blew in asking for a morsel of food,
as when she came out from duty every restaurant in Paris was shut. So my maid and I fed
her up and sent her home. She certainly is a brick, and Glory Hancock, if she comes, will be
another.' (pp. 6970)
Extract from an undated letter to Miss Ann Lusk, New York.
'I am prepared every day to be thrown out of my smart ward, and if I have to go back to that
charnel house I hope that God will give me grace. Vera said to-day, "It Is discouraging to
work for people whom you know will all be dead in a week." You remember in the Roman
games how the gladiators used to cry, "Ave Caesar, those who are about to die greet you."
So those poor creatures seem to salute the country for which they have fought, and surely
we can help them as they go.
My lieutenant with the amputated leg in the other ward has gone to-day. That is four out of
that infected ward, and three nurses are sick in bed with violent fever from it. Yet Vera is
going on like a house on fire at her job. The poor lieutenant died as she was feeding him,
and that girl did all the solemn and dreadful offices for him. She is wonderful.' (pp. 7475)
Extract from a letter of 11 November 1914 to Mrs. Victor Morawetz, New York.
'Last night, at the end of the hospital day, I brought down with me in a tiny motor belonging to
Vera Arkwright, the head nurse of the hospital, Miss Devereux, who has charge of the
American Hospital in times of peace. She was so exhausted and worn out with the terrible
day that she could hardly speak. The fresh air and the drive down began to rest her, and
when she got here in my little study, before the fire, so quiet and so sweet, with a good little
dinner, and with Bessie's society and mine to cheer her, she bloomed out like a flower. She is
a New York hospital nurse, and gave me another picture to remember in the little study,
under the war map, all in snow white, with no cap, and just the gold medal of the New York
hospital round her neck. Such a fine spiritual face; such a strong, dignified woman! We didn't
talk much of the hospital, but we talked, all three of us, of spiritual things, and it was a
wonderful thing to find her one of those simple Christians, full of the very light of God, strong
in the best sense of the word, living by faith. I don't think I have enjoyed any evening half so
much for a long time. I am sure that you will respond to this note and care too. It is fine to feel
that the hospital there is under the spell of this noble woman who believes in fairies," as
Barrie's play says who believes in miracles. There wasn't a discordant second in the long
evening and she went back with pink cheeks and bright eyes to those wards where three
were to die that night and she had to go on her noble watch. She spoke in an especially
kindly way of the auxiliaries and of their extraordinary powers of endurance. She said that
she would not have believed that women of the world unused to discipline or to concentrated
effort, could have been what these women have been at the Ambulance. Vera Arkwright, for
instance, has not missed a single day since she went there. The dressing carts are so
picturesque. You see, I naturally see the notes of colour that things make I can't help it
and when I went out from the hospital, Vera stood there in her blue dress, with her tiny little
cap on her head she is faultlessly beautiful, and very celebrated for her looks and all
around her was a pile of the most dreadful bandages you ever saw. (I won't describe them.)
She was gathering them up to destroy them and to prepare her cart for the next trip. Both she
and Madelon are able to do their dressings themselves.' (pp. 108109)
For her war service Lombardi was awarded the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the
Victory Medal.[22]
Marriages[edit]
Lombardi married, firstly, in 1916, Frederick Blantford Bate,[23] an officer in the American
Ambulance service in Paris who she met while working as a volunteer nurse in the American
Hospital of Paris. They had one daughter, Bridget, born in 1917. Lombardi introduced her
husband to Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII), and the two became close
friends. This allowed Bate, then NBC representative in London, to produce up-to-the-minute
reports for NBC during the Abdication Crisis of 1936. Lombardi divorced Bate in 1929[1] and
then married Italian Cavalry Officer, Alberto Lombardi, a member of the Italian Fascist
Party held in high esteem by Benito Mussolini (and possibly the Alberto Lombardi who was a
member of the Italian equestrian team that won a bronze medal at the 1924 Olympics in
Paris). Lombardi joined her husband in Rome and became a member of the Fascist Party.
[24]
She wrote enthusiastically to Churchill about Mussolini and Churchill publicly expressed
admiration for Mussolini and Italian Fascism during this period.[25] In Rome, Lombardi and her
husband 'reveled in la dolce vita' at his villa at 31 (some sources say 32) Via Barnaba
Oriana, situated in the exclusive Parioli area of the city.[24]
circle in which she moved gave them the means and leisure to engage in hunting, sailing and
other activities and to lead lives dedicated to pleasure and self-gratification.[1]
not have found anyone in the whole of Occupied Europe with closer personal connections to
Churchill and the British Royal Family than Lombardi and Chanel, bearing in mind that the
operation was carried out without Hitler's knowledge or approval and would have amounted,
in Hitler's mind, to clear treason on the part of those involved.[35] In 1945 Himmler tried to
negotiate with the Allies again; this time through contacts in Sweden. This attempt also
failed.
Appeal to Churchill[edit]
In March 1944, Lombardi, still stranded in Madrid, wrote an appeal to her friend, Lady Ursula
Filmer-Sankey, a daughter of the 2nd Duke of Westminster, to intercede with Churchill and
ask him to use his influence to reunite her with her husband in Rome.[36] It was not until early
in January 1945, that Lombardi was finally allowed to leave Madrid, after the British Foreign
Office had notified the British Embassy in Madrid: "Allied Forces have withdrawn their
objection and the lady is free to return to Italy". Churchill had ultimately come to Lombardis
rescue, as verified by a classified communication sent four days later from Downing Street
(Churchill's official residence as Prime Minister) to Allied Headquarters in Paris. Lombardi
expressed her gratitude to Churchill in a letter to him of 9 May 1945 (addressing him as "My
Dear Winston"): "Thank you with all my heart for what you found time to do for me..." [37] In
April or May 1945, she was reunited in Italy with her husband, who, by the end of World War
II, had managed to rehabilitate his reputation with the Allies.[24]
people, including Italian Communists, had their own reasons for keeping this matter secret
(in their case, the theft of Mussolini's treasure, worth many billions of dollars).
This issue is relevant to any assessment of Lombardi's life for the simple reason that there
appears to have been no-one better-placed to have acted as a go-between between Churchill
and Mussolini. Clearly, the most important characteristics of a go-between are that he or she
should (1) be in the right place at the right time (as Lombardi was - at least until 1943) and
(2) trusted by the individuals concerned. Lombardi was a long-standing personal friend of
Churchill, she was related to (second cousin of) the one person in Rome who had a secure
channel of communication to the British Foreign Office (D'Arcy Osborne, Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Holy See) and she was married to a man known to and
admired by Mussolini, being a senior Italian army officer and Fascist who was the brother of
the head of Italian Naval Intelligence. Although no evidence has emerged that Lombardi was
the go-between (possibly because it hasn't been looked for), such a possibility should not be
excluded and, of course, there is no evidence that Lombardi's death shortly after the war was
in any way suspicious. If her death had in any way been suspicious, it would give rise to a
shocking possibility; namely, that Churchill was complicit in the assassination of a member
(even if an illegitimate one) of the British royal family; a niece of Queen Mary.
Later years[edit]
Lombardi died in Rome in 1948 after a severe illness. [39]
Notes[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g (Vaughan 2011, p. 34)
2. Jump up^ Crisp, Frederick Arthur, 'Visitation of England and
Wales', 1914, vol. 18, p. 26.
3. ^ Jump up to:a b 'The Hammersley Connection', Accessed
4/6/2015
4. Jump up^ Selig, Zachary, Sarah Gertrude Arkwright
Fitzgeorge Bate Lombardi Biography, 2011
5. Jump up^ (Vaughan 2012, p. 42)
6. Jump up^ (Vaughan 2012, p. 185)
7. Jump up^ (Vaughan 2012, p. 193)
8. Jump up^ (Vaughan 2012, p. 37)
9. Jump up^ (Lundy 2011, Lady Margaret Evelyn Grosvenor)
10. Jump up^ 1891 census for Norman Court, West Tytherley,
Hampshire ref. RG12/932-69-9
11. Jump up^ Warren House Hotel website
12. Jump up^ The Warren House Tales website
13. Jump up^ Good, Victoria, 'The Warren House Tales', Third
Millenium, 2014, p. 31
14. Jump up^ Selig, Zachary, Sarah Gertrude Arkwright
Fitzgeorge Bate Lombardi Biography, 2011
15. Jump up^ St. Aubyn, Giles, 'The Royal George', Constable &
Co., 1963, p. 253
16. Jump up^ Selig, Zachary, Sarah Gertrude Arkwright
Fitzgeorge Bate Lombardi Biography, 2011
17. Jump up^ 'The Correspondence of George, Prince of Wales,
1770-1812: 1789-1794', Oxford University Press, 1971, p.152
18. Jump up^ 'Records of the Hammersley Family', 1894 (In the
possession of Sir Andrew Duff-Gordon)
19. Jump up^ http://anthonyjcamp.com/ Camp, Anthony, 'Royal
Mistresses and Bastards: Fact and Fiction 1714-1936'
20. Jump up^ http://anthonyjcamp.com/page16.htm Camp,
Anthony, 'Royal Mistresses and Bastards: Fact and Fiction
1714-1936', addendum re Rosa Frederica (Baring)
FitzGeorge
21. Jump up^ Bridget Henrietta Frances Guinness (ne
Williams-Bulkeley) (1871-1931)
22. Jump up^ Medal Index Card, WO/372/23
23. Jump up^ (Picardie 2010, p. 214)
24. ^ Jump up to:a b c (Vaughan 2011, p. 102)
25. Jump up^ Daily Telegraph, 'Winston Churchill 'ordered
assassination of Mussolini to protect compromising letters',
Henry Samuel, 2 September 2010
Sources[edit]
Categories:
1883 births
1948 deaths
English socialites
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