The Astors 5 (Pages 169 - 259)

 

William Waldorf settled down in England with his family. There is an episode in which the newspapers published the announcement of Waldorf's death, which proved to be false, and that information came from William Waldorf's office. That was in summer of 1892.  However, the ruse was soon discovered, and Astor was mocked in the press.

In 1894 his wife Mary died. 

William Waldorf bought the Pall Mall Gazette in 1892, and in 1893 he created the Pall Mall magazine where he wrote his own articles and the Pall Mall Budget for women. 

HG Wells was one of his chief contributors. Herbert George Wells was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. 

He bought Cliveden House and Hever Castle. 

Cliveden is an English country house and estate in the care of the National Trust in Buckinghamshire. Cliveden has been the home to a Prince of Wales, two dukes, an earl, and finally the Viscounts Astor. 

Hever Castle  is located in the village of Hever, Kent, near Edenbridge. It began as a country house, built in the 13th century. From 1462 to 1539, it was the seat of the Boleyn (originally 'Bullen') family. n 1903, it was acquired and restored by the American millionaire William Waldorf Astor, who used it as a family residence. He completed a restoration, added the Tudor village  and also added the Italian Garden to display his collection of statuary and ornaments.

His daughter Pauline married Colonel Herbert Spender-Clay. Pauline Spender-Clay (née Astor; 24 September 1880 – 5 April 1972) was an American-English socialite known for her hospitality. On 20 October 1904, Pauline married Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert H. Spender-Clay, wealthy heir to the Bass Brewing Company, and they settled at Ford Manor, Lingfield, where they became known for hosting parties. 

His son Waldorf married divorcée Nancy Langhorne. Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor, DL (19 May 1879 – 30 September 1952) was an American-born English politician and newspaper proprietor. In 1905, while a passenger on an Atlantic voyage returning to Britain, Astor met Nancy Langhorne Shaw, a divorced woman with a young son (Robert Gould Shaw III). After a rapid courtship, the two married in May 1906. As a wedding gift, Waldorf's father gave him and his bride the Sancy diamond and the family estate at Cliveden, which Nancy redecorated and modernised with the installation of electricity.

William Waldorf was said to be a lonely man, but love letters to Lady Sackville-West were found after his death. 

Waldorf was elected Member of Pariliament in 1910, and when war broke out, he promptly volunteered for the army. Yet, his bad heart prevented him from passing the medical examination. He eventually accepted an appointment as an army inspector for ordnance factories. 

His brother JJ Astor V served with the life guards in France. He was wounded in Ypres, and during his recovery he met Lady Violet Mercer-Nairne, who he married. When he returned to his regisment, he was wounded and his leg had to be amputated. Lieutenant-Colonel John Jacob Astor V (20 May 1886 – 19 July 1971) was an American-born English newspaper proprietor, politician, sportsman, and military officer. 

William Waldorf died in October 1919. On 18 October 1919, he unexpectedly died of heart failure in the lavatory of his seaside house at Brighton in Sussex.

Vincent Astor married Helen Huntington. Helen Dinsmore Huntington Astor Hull (April 9, 1893 – December 11, 1976) was an American socialite, arts patron, and political hostess. On April 30, 1914, Huntington, aged 21, married William Vincent Astor (1891–1959), son of Lt.-Col. John Jacob Astor IV and Ava Lowle Willing. The couple had known each other since they were children; the Astor family mansion, Ferncliff, was located just a few miles from Hopeland House.

Vincent's stemother, Madeleine, married William Dick, a stockbroker. They had two sons, William Force Dick and John Henry Dick II, before divorcing in 1933. 

After his divorce she married Enzo Fiermonte, and eight years later she died of an overdose. Enzo Fiermonte (17 July 1908 – 22 March 1993), sometimes credited as William Bird, was an Italian actor and boxer. Fiermonte married Madeleine on 27 November 1933 in New York City, shortly after her divorce from her second husband, William Dick, on 21 July 1933.  They were divorced on 11 June 1938. He was only four years older than his stepson, John Jacob Astor VI, during the marriage. 

Vincent sold the Waldorf Astorria and on its site the Empire State Building was erected. The Empire State Building is a 102-story, Art Deco-style supertall skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan. The building was built from 1930 to 1931. The site of the Empire State Building was developed in 1893 as the Waldorf–Astoria Hotel. In 1929, Empire State Inc. acquired the site and devised plans for a skyscraper there.

His mother Alva married Lord Ribblesdale. On June 3, 1919, Ava married Thomas Lister, 4th Baron Ribblesdale at St Mary's, Bryanston Square in London and she was known as Lady Ribblesdale. Lister died six years later on October 21, 1925.

Nancy Astor, Waldorf's wife, became a Member of the Parliament. Astor was the first woman to be elected through what has been termed the 'halo effect' of women taking over their husband's parliamentary seat, a process which accounted for the election of ten women MPs. 

John Jacob bought The Time and became a Member of Parliament. In addition to his directorships and newspaper business, John Jacob V served in politics as Alderman of the London County Council between 1922 and 1925 and in the Parliament of the United Kingdom for 23 years as Unionist Member of Parliament.

Vincent Astor supported Franklin Roosevelt in his campaign to be president. Franklin Delano Roosevelt[a] (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. 

John Jacob Astor VI (August 14, 1912 – June 26, 1992) was an American socialite, shipping businessman, and member of the Astor family. He was dubbed the "Titanic Baby" for his affiliation with the RMS Titanic; Astor was born four months after his father, Colonel John Jacob Astor IV, died in the sinking of the Titanic. His pregnant mother Madeleine Astor survived the sinking.

Jack Astor, Vincent's half-brother, got engaged to Eileen Gillespie and gave her a ring that had originally  belonged to Empress Eugenie, but they quarrelled, and he eventually married one of the bridesmaids, Ellen French. They had a son, William Backhouse. 

Waldorf and Nancy Astor travelled to Russia with George Bernard Shaw. They were granted an interview with Stalin. During this time, Nancy famously questioned Stalin about his regime, including his policies on human rights. Shaw, despite his socialist leanings, was also a close friend of Nancy Astor, and the visit to Russia was a significant event in their shared history. 

Waldorf and Nancy were leaders of the Clivenden set, a group of pro-German people who got together at Clivenden House. The Cliveden set were an upper-class group of politically influential people active in the 1930s in the United Kingdom, prior to the Second World War. They were in the circle of Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor. The "Cliveden Set" tag was coined by Claud Cockburn in his journalism for the communist newspaper The Week. His notion of an upper class pro-German conspiracy was widely accepted by opponents of Appeasement in the late 1930s. It was long accepted that the aristocratic Germanophile social network supported friendly relations with Nazi Germany and helped create the 1930s policy of appeasement. 

Winston Churchill was against Nancy Astor on HItler. They were known to be politically opposed and engaged in lively debates.

Vincent Astor divorced Helen and married Mary 'Minnie' Cushing. Mary Benedict Cushing Astor Fosburgh (January 27, 1906 – November 4, 1978) was an American socialite, philanthropist and art collector.

Then she divorced Vincent and married painter James Foxburgh. 

Vincent's thrid wife was Brooke Russell Marshall. Roberta Brooke Astor (née Russell; March 30, 1902 – August 13, 2007) was an American philanthropist, socialite, and writer. Few people believed that the Astor-Marshall union was anything more than a financial transaction. 

Vincent's sister, Alice, had an unhappy life. She thought she was the reincarnation of an Egyptian princess. She married and divorced Serge Obolensky. 

Prince Sergei Platonovich Obolensky Neledinsky-Meletzky (November 3, 1890 – September 29, 1978), known as Serge Obolensky, was a Russian-born aristocrat then American citizen, U.S. Army colonel, socialite and publicist.

Her second husband was Raimond von Hofmanstahl. Raimund von Hofmannsthal (26 May 1906 – 20 March 1974) was an Austrian-born author and representative of an American newsreel firm in London.

After divorcing Raimond, she married Philip Harding. And her last husband was David Playdell-Boudeverie.