It is difficult to believe that Lady de Bathe, better known as Mrs. Langtry, was born as long ago as 1852. She is a native of St. Heliers Jersey, her father, the Rev. W. C. Le Breton, being at one time Dean of that Channel island. Lillie Le Breton was the only girl amongst seven children. At the age of 22 she married Mr. Langtry, a Belfast widower. Such were her personal attractions that when she came to London she was the reigning beauty for a number of years. Sir John Everett Millais painted her portrait and called it the " Jersey Lily." Tiring of the whirl of fashionable life, Mrs. Langtry decided to go on the stage, and on December 15th, 1881, made her debut at the Hay-market Theatre in " She Stoops to Conquer." Then she " starred " the provinces, made an American tour, and accumulated a fortune of over 60,000 in six years. In 1897 her first husband died, and two years later Mrs. Langtry married Hugo Gerald de Bathe, who succeeded to the baronetcy in 1907. Sir Hugo is nineteen years younger than his wife, and but a little older than Lady de Bathe's daughter Jeanne, who in 1902 married that rising politician Mr. Ian Malcolm. Successful on the stage and in society, Lady de Bathe has also won distinction on the Turf, and as "Mr. Jersey" was known to the public as the owner of several successful horses. Although she makes her home in this country, for over twenty years her ladyship has been a naturalised American citizen.

Lady de Bathe Lafayette