Cunard, Maud (1872–1948)

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Cunard, Maud (1872–1948)

English-American socialite and patron of the arts. Name variations: Lady Maud; Lady Emerald Cunard. Born Maud Alice Burke in San Francisco, California, Aug 3, 1872; died in England, July 10, 1948; father was related to the Irish patriot, Robert Emmett; mother was half French; m. Sir Bache Cunard (grandson of founder of the shipping line), April 1895 (sep. 1911); children; Nancy Cunard (1896–1965).

On marriage, became mistress of the estate Nevill Holt in Leicestershire, England, but after a dalliance with the writer George Moore, ran off with conductor Sir Thomas Beecham and changed her name to Emerald; was the subject of many books and paintings, including a portrait by Marie Laurencin.

See also Daphne Fielding, Emerald and Nancy: Lady Cunard and her Daughter (1968); George Moore, Letters to Lady Cunard, 1895–1933 (1957); and Women in World History.