Vera Arkwright to marry Frederick Bate

April 14, 1916

Miss Vera Arkwright's engagement to Frederick Bate of Chicago was recently announced. Bate is serving at the front in France as a "member of an ambulance corps,"according to the Marquise de Fontenoy.
The forthcoming marriage "serves to recall the prolonged visit to the United States" by her mother, Mrs. George William Augustus FitzGeorge, who "used to flourish in New York and Chicago as 'Lady FitzGeorge.'" She made "plenty of capital of the royal blood in the veins" of her husband, George, the eldest son of the late Duke of Cambridge and his morganatic wife, Louise Fairbrother.
Mrs. Fitzgeorge was "wont to speak only of her two daughters, Iris and Daphne FitzGeorge," who remained in England and were being raised by their uncle, Admiral Sir Adolphus FitzGeorge. Mrs. FitzGeorge expressed "the wish" that her two daughters would marry Americans. They "disappointed her in this respect," as Iris is married to Robert Sheklelton-Balfour, son of the late Robert Balfour of Stirling. They live on a large estate in Scotland. Not long Daphne was reported to be engaged to the widowered Earl of Cottenham. The Fitzgeorges also have a son, George.
Mrs. FitzGeorge was born in 1854 at Rosa Frederica Baring, second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Henry Baring of Norman Court, Hants. She married Colonel George FitzGeorge on November 25, 1885 in Paris. It was not known at the time of the marriage that FitzGeorge was Rosa's second husband. Her first husband was Capt. Frank. W. Arkwright of the Coldstream Guards. Their marriage ended in divorce after the birth of Vera, who was raised by her father and his family.
This will be Frederick Bate's second marriage. His first marriage to a Miss Plows, daughter of a wealthy Chicago candy manufacturer, ended was dissolved by divorce due to Bate's desertion. The first Mrs. Bate is now married to Hugh Mackie Gordon, an architect.
Rosa FitzGeorge "has never been in friendly terms" with the families of her two husbands. Her marriage to Col FitzGeorge, who died in 1907, "gave great offense" to his father, the Duke of Cambridge, who was Queen Victoria's first cousin.
King Edward VII bestowed knighthoods on the Duke's two younger sons, Adolphus and Augustus, but not on George. This omission was largely due to his marriage to Rosa Baring and to the his constant financial problems.