Frances Ellen Work

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Frances Ellen Work (October 27 or 28, 1857 – January 26, 1947) was an American heiress and socialite.

Early life

Frances was born in New York City on October 27 or 28, 1857. She was a daughter of Franklin H. Work, a well-known stockbroker and protégé of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and his wife, Ellen Wood.<ref name="williamson">Williamson, D. (1981), The Ancestry of Lady Diana Spencer In: Genealogist’s Magazine vol. 20 (no. 6), pp. 192–199, and vol. 20 (no. 8), pp. 281–282.</ref> Her sister Lucy Bond Work<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> was married to Peter Cooper Hewitt.<ref name="1922WorkEstate">Template:Cite news</ref> She also had a brother, the horseman and road driver George Paul Work, who died from consumption in Davos, Switzerland.<ref>Obituary from The New York Clipper, 3 March 1900, page 14.</ref>

Society life

In 1892, Frances was included in Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Caroline Astor's ballroom.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Work was a prominent figure in the New York City and Newport, Rhode Island, social sets, and was friends with Mrs Reginald Vanderbilt.<ref name="tribune"/> When her father died in 1911, he left an estate, for the benefit of her, her children, and her sister, of $Template:Format price ($Template:Format price in Template:Inflation/year).<ref name="1922WorkEstate"/> Her father's will limited her yearly allowance to $Template:Format price ($Template:Format price in Template:Inflation/year).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In his will, Mr. Work stipulated that no part of his estate was to go to his "erstwhile son-in-law, James Boothby Burke Roche."<ref name="FEWBRObit1947"/>

Marriages

James Roche

On September 22, 1880, at Christ Church, New York City, Work married the Hon. James Boothby Burke Roche,<ref name="williamson"/> who would later become the 3rd Baron Fermoy in 1920 after his elder brother, Edward Roche, 2nd Baron Fermoy, died without any male heirs.<ref>Cokayne, G. E.; Gibbs, Vicary; and Doubleday, H. A. The Complete Peerage: Volume V (St. Catherine Press, London, 1926), p. 303.</ref> He was the son of Edmond Roche, 1st Baron Fermoy, and his wife, Elizabeth Caroline Boothby.<ref name="1899Lawsuit"/>

They had four children (two daughters, then twin sons):

• Eileen Roche, who died young.<ref name="FEWBRObit1947"/>
• The Hon. Cynthia Roche, who married, firstly, Arthur Scott Burden in 1906 and, secondly, Guy Fairfax Cary in 1922. She is the matrilineal great-grandmother of American actor Oliver Platt.
• The Hon. Edmund Maurice Burke Roche, who later became the 4th Baron Fermoy, and was the maternal grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales.
• The Hon. Francis George Burke Roche, a banker who died unmarried.<ref>Mosley, Charles (ed.), Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition (Burke's Peerage and Gentry LLC, 2003) vol. I, p. 1414.</ref>

In 1890, Work divorced Roche, claiming desertion, before he had succeeded to the barony. The divorce was awarded on March 3, 1891.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Her lawyer was Thomas F. Bayard, former United States Secretary of State.<ref>The Times (London), Friday, March 27, 1896, p. 7, col. F.</ref> In 1899, her ex-husband, then a UK Member of Parliament,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> sued Work with a writ of habeas corpus to produce their daughter, Cynthia, in court. Roche claimed Work was depriving "the child of her liberty."<ref name="1899Lawsuit">Template:Cite news</ref> The case was settled out of court shortly thereafter.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Until 1920, sons Maurice and Francis used the surname Work.

Aurél Bátonyi

On August 4, 1905, Work married Aurél de Bátonyi, a Hungarian-born riding master who claimed on his 1895 naturalization application to be an Austro-Hungarian count.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>United States Government. 1891 New York Ship's Arrivals Records Index. Washington, D.C.: National Archives. Series M237, Roll #571, July 8, 1891.</ref> The couple met in 1903, and they were quite happy together. Work encouraged Bátonyi to propose marriage, however Bátonyi was reluctant. Once they wed, Work did not inform her father, who was supporting her financially, until sometime in early-1906.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> Work's father did not trust Bátonyi, and he encouraged newspapers and society tabloids to publish suggestions that Bátonyi's real name was Arthur Cohn, and suggestions that Bátonyi's claim of nobiliary rank was fraudulent.<ref name="tribune">Oakland Tribune, September 8, 1907, pp. 17–18.</ref> However, the marriage remained successful.

Work sued Bátonyi for divorce in October 1907, allegedly due her father's threat to disinherit her if she continued in marriage with her "new husband".<ref name="tribune"/> However, Bátonyi's extended travels as a riding master led to rumors of infidelity among high society, as well as claims Bátonyi was still married to a woman in Hungary.<ref name=":0"/> Divorce proceedings continued for two years. On November 5, 1909, divorce was granted in Work's favor. However, Bátonyi was awarded a financial settlement which included several properties.<ref name=":0"/> Following the divorce, Bátonyi lost favor among high society in New York, and moved into a villa in Middletown, Rhode Island he originally shared with Work. Bátonyi then transferred the titles of his other properties into his mother's name, Johanna (Janka) Kohn.<ref name=":0"/>

In 1919, the Alien Property Custodian seized all of Bátonyi's properties following alleged claims he returned to Austria to fight for the Central Powers.<ref name=":0"/> Bátonyi was a naturalized U.S. Citizen. The properties were most likely seized due to abandonment and unpaid property tax as neither Bátonyi or his mother had been seen since late 1914. Their homes and surrounding lands had fallen into disrepair, except those rented as working farms.

There is no record of the Bátonyi returning to the U.S. after 1919, and neither Bátonyi or his mother, or their representatives appeared in court to challenge the seizures. The properties eventually reverted to the Industrial Trust Company who was appointed trustee by the APC, and were later sold.<ref name=":0"/> A registration dated October 30, 1914, was filed at the U.S. consular office in The Hague informing the embassy Bátonyi was employed by a division of the Red Cross.<ref>Consular Registration Certificates, compiled 1907–1918. ARC ID: 1244186. General Records of the Department of State, 1763–2002, Record Group 59. National Archives at Washington, D.C.</ref> The registration expired on November 14, 1915, without any amendments.

Work's financial support of Bátonyi ceased in 1914 due to no contact.

Death

Work died at her residence at 1020 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York, at the age of 89 on January 26, 1947.<ref name="FEWBRObit1947">Template:Cite news</ref> Her great-great-grandchildren include the British princes William and Harry,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the American actor Oliver Platt.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>