Pedro Monés, Marquess of Casa Maury

Wing Commander Don Pedro José Isidro Manuel Ricardo Monés y Maury, styled Marquess of Casa Maury (14 March 1896 – 27 June 1968) was a Cuban-born racecar driver, British Army officer and theatre impresario.

Early life

Monés, who was known as Bobby, was born in Cuba, then an administrative district of the Spanish Empire, on 14 March 1896.[1] He was the son of Pedro José de Jesús Monés y Maury, Marquess of Casa Maury (b. 1848),[2][a] and Maria Luisa de Montalbán.[3][6] His sister, Gloria Monés-Maury, was the second wife of René Nagelmackers.[7][8][b]

His father, Pedro, and uncle, Agustín Monés y Maury, were the both sons of Pedro Monés y Vals de la Paisa, would inherit the businesses of Monés & Brother (Monés y Hermano), reorganizing the company in 1880 under the name Monés & Company (Monés y Compañía) with his father was in charge of managing the firm's commercial and industrial interests. Among their ventures was a large banana business which they supplied to the Atlantic Fruit Company.[9] His father was also a politician who served as an alderman in 1878 (when he was only 30 years old) and as Mayor of Baracoa from 1880 to 1883. In 1894, before the Cuban War of Independence began, his father transferred a number of his properties in Baracoa to the Barcelona merchant José Simón González.[10] His aunt, Adolfina Monés y Maury, was the first wife of General Ricardo Campos Carreras.[11] His paternal grandmother, Dolores Maury Parés, the widow of Pedro Monés y Vals de la Paisa, commissioned master builder Josep Artigas Planes to build Maury-Parés House in Barcelona as a family property. The building, completed in 1882, was never occupied by his grandmother or the members of his family.[12]

Career

During his early career as a racing driver he drove one a Bugatti T30 in the 1922 French Grand Prix at Strasbourg, where he placed fifth.[14][15]

Military career

During World War I, he was a Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps and "the only Cuban in the British Army".[8]

Monés served as a Wing Commander in the Air Transport Auxiliary of the British Army during World War II. After being invalided out, he served as an intelligence officer who was made head of Combined Operations Headquarters's Intelligence Section by his friend, Lord Louis Mountbatten.[16] He was involved in the Bruneval raid (also known as Operation Biting),[17] and the disastrous Dieppe Raid (known as Operation Jubilee), where his assessment of Dieppe was conspicuously out-of-date and inadequate for the operation's requirements.[16]

The Chief of Combined Operations was first Admiral of the Fleet Roger Keyes from 1940 to October 1941, then Commodore Mountbatten from 1941 to September 1943 followed by Maj.-Gen. Robert Laycock from October 1943 to 1947. The Marquess resigned in March 1943 due to "the Air Ministry refusing him a third promotion in 12 months to the erosion of trust between the ex-playboy and his step son-in-law, Bob Laycock."[18]

Later life

He was a founder and manager of Curzon Cinemas.[19][20] He used the Scottish architects Burnet, Tait, and Lorne to build the Curzon cinema in Mayfair with their architect Francis Lorne as designer.[21]

Monés became a naturalised citizen of the United Kingdom on 31 January 1963,[22][23] and changed his name to Peter de Casa Maury.[24][25]

Personal life

In 1923 at St James's Church, Piccadilly, he was married to the English society beauty and model, Paula Gellibrand (1898–1986).[26] Paula was a daughter of timber importer William Clarke Gellibrand, and, his second wife, Isabel Marie Dever (a daughter of James Dever).[27][28][29] Her sister was Nadeja Gellibrand, also known as Nada Ruffer, the Vogue editor.[30][31] Cecil Beaton remembers that when they married, Paula she was "dressed as a nun with scarlet finger nails".[32]

After their divorce, she married William Edward David Allen, MP for Belfast West (who was previously married to Lady Phyllis Edith King, the daughter of the 3rd Earl of Lovelace), in 1932.[33] They divorced in 1939 and she married Maj. Ernest Caswell Long (who was previously married to Mary Millicent Erskine-Wemyss and Genesta Mary (née Heath) Farquhar).[24]

Second marriage

On 20 October 1937, he remarried to Winifred May "Freda" (née Birkin) Dudley Ward (1894–1983), the former wife of William Dudley Ward.[c] She was the second child and eldest of three daughters of Col. Charles Wilfred Birkin (fourth son of Sir Thomas Birkin, 1st Baronet),[35] and his American wife, Claire Lloyd Howe. From 1918 to 1929, Freda was the mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales, until she was supplanted by American Thelma Furness (née Morgan) from 1929 to 1934; Thelma introduced Edward to Wallis Simpson.[36][37]

In 1938, they had an Art Deco House built for them in St John's Wood at 58 Hamilton Terrace, Maida Vale, Westminster, London.[21] The house, which was built on the site of two original Victorian houses, was designed by Scottish architects Burnet, Tait, and Lorne.[38] They divorced in 1954, and neither remarried before their deaths.[39] The Marquess was still living at 58 Hamilton Terrace by January 1963.[23][d] The Marchioness of Casa Maury (Marquesa de Casa Maury) died at her home in Chelsea, London in 1983.[40]

Notes

  1. ^ His father, Pedro José Monés, was converted into a Marquis (non-hereditary) on 8 April 1897 by designation of his sanctity by Pope Leo XIII.[3] Later King Alfonso XIII authorized use of the title in Spain by Royal order of 21 June 1897.[4][5]
  2. ^ René Nagelmackers (1878–1929), the son of Belgian civil engineer Georges Nagelmackers, who founded the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, was previously married to, and widowed from, Alice Helen Dalziel (1876–1910), the only child of Davison Dalziel, 1st Baron Dalziel of Wooler).[8]
  3. ^ Freda and William Dudley Ward, a nephew of the 1st Earl of Dudley, had divorced in 1931. From her marriage to Dudley Ward, she was the mother of Penelope, Lady Reed and Claire, Lady Laycock (wife of Sir Robert Laycock.[34]
  4. ^ In 1966, 58 Hamilton Terrace was sold to his second wife's niece, Belinda Blew-Jones (1921–2003), and her husband Antony Lambton, 6th Earl of Durham.[21]

References

  1. ^ Owens, Mitchell (8 May 2003). "Fractured Fairy Tale: An Archive of a Royal Romance". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  2. ^ Anuario español y americano del gran mundo (in Spanish). S.A.E. Graficas Espejo. 1961. p. 609. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  3. ^ a b Alcalá, César (7 March 2025). "Títulos pontificios concedidos a catalanes". www.eldebate.com (in Spanish). El Debate. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  4. ^ Nieto Cortadellas, Rafael. Dignidades nobiliarias cubanas, Madrid, Hispanic Culture, 1954, pp. 143-144.
  5. ^ Douglas-Home, Jamie (9 July 2012). Stately Passions: The Scandals of Britains Great Houses. Michael O'Mara Books. ISBN 9781843179559. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  6. ^ Molina, Antonio José (2004). Mujeres en la historia de Cuba (in Spanish). Ediciones Universal. p. 541. ISBN 978-1-59388-038-5. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  7. ^ "NAGELMACKERS ( René )". Tout-Paris (in French). 1918. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  8. ^ a b c "Daughter of the Marquis de Casa Maury Mme Nagelmackers". The Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality. Ingram brothers.: 220 1917. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  9. ^ Fisheries, United States Congress House Committee on Merchant Marine and (1913). Investigation of So-called Shipping Combine: Hearings Before the Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives on H. Res. 587. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 1367. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  10. ^ García, Alejandro (July–December 2008). "Between war and peace. Cuba in the times of the banana boom (1878-1895)" (PDF). América Latina en la Historia Económica. 15 (2): 99–126. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  11. ^ Proyectos, HI Iberia Ingeniería y. "Ricardo Campos Carrera". historia-hispanica.rah.es (in Spanish). Historia Hispánica. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  12. ^ De Santa Cruz y Mallen, Francisco Xavier (1988). Editorial Vosgos (ed.). Historia de familias cubanas (tomo IX) (PDF) (in Spanish). Barcelona: Editorial Hércules. ISBN 0-89729-409-2.
  13. ^ "The ex-Marquis de Casa Maury/Count Louis Zborowski/George Duller/Wolf Barnato". www.christies.com. Christie's. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  14. ^ Dick, Robert (4 May 2013). Auto Racing Comes of Age: A Transatlantic View of the Cars, Drivers and Speedways, 1900-1925. McFarland. p. 441. ISBN 978-0-7864-8811-7. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  15. ^ Newman, Robert John (2014). Motor Racing Heroes: The Stories of 100 Greats. David and Charles. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-84584-796-8. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  16. ^ a b Tunzelmann, Alex von (25 October 2012). Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire. Simon and Schuster. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-4711-1476-2. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  17. ^ Frost, John (20 February 2019). A Drop Too Many. Pen and Sword. p. 355. ISBN 978-1-4738-1151-5. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  18. ^ Smith, Adrian (30 April 2010). Mountbatten: Apprentice War Lord. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 240. ISBN 978-0-85771-492-3. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  19. ^ "Paula Gellibrand". Grazia. 9 April 2011. Archived from the original on 19 January 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  20. ^ National Portrait Gallery
  21. ^ a b c Strang, Jeanne (9 September 2012). "58 Hamilton Terrace". www.stjohnswoodmemories.org.uk. St John's Wood Memories. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  22. ^ "Catalogue description: Naturalisation Certificate: Pedro Jose Isidro Manuel Ricardo Mones Maury. From Cuba..." discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. The National Archives. 31 January 1963. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  23. ^ a b "Mones Maury, Pedro Jose Isidro Manuel Ricardo" (PDF). The London Gazette. 2 April 1963. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  24. ^ a b Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, page 381.
  25. ^ "Notice". The London Gazette. 1 March 1963. Notice is hereby given that PETER DE CASA MAURY of Flat 7, 58 Rutland Gate, London S.W.7, a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by naturalisation, lately called Pedro Jose Isidro Manuel Ricardo Mones. Maury has assumed and intends henceforth upon all occasions and at all times to sign and use and to be called and known by the name of Peter de Casa Maury in lieu of and in substitution for his former name of Pedro Jose Isidro Manuel Ricardo Mones Maury.
  26. ^ Bernard, Sir Burke, editor, Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Ireland, 4th ed. (London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1958), page 14.
  27. ^ New Brunswick Vital Statistics from Newspapers. The Society. 1998. p. 35.
  28. ^ Burke, Bernard (1891). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry ... Harrison. p. 291.
  29. ^ "Mrs. Dudley Ward to Marry: The Marquis of Casa Maury". Western Mail. 14 October 1937. p. 15.
  30. ^ Vickers, Hugo (5 March 2020). Cecil Beaton: The Authorised Biography. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 242. ISBN 978-1-5293-1625-4. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  31. ^ "Paula Gellibrand, Marquise de Casa Maury". collections.mfa.org. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  32. ^ Beaton, Cecil (1933). The Book Of Beauty. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  33. ^ "LONG, Paula Alexandra Gertrude Marie, Mrs". www.europeansineastafrica.co.uk. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  34. ^ Thornton, Michael (1985). Royal Feud: The Queen Mother and the Duchess of Windsor. M. Joseph. p. 386. ISBN 978-0-7181-2600-1. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  35. ^ Anonymous. Obituary for her cousin Bindy Lambton, or the former Countess of Durham, published in The Daily Telegraph on 18 February 2003. [1]
  36. ^ Vickers, Hugo (5 October 2021). Malice in Wonderland: My Adventures in the World of Cecil Beaton. Simon and Schuster. pp. 90, 92n, 97, 304. ISBN 978-1-64313-844-2. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  37. ^ Hutton, Mike (15 February 2019). 1919 - A Land Fit for Heroes: Britain at Peace. Amberley Publishing Limited. p. 128. ISBN 978-1-4456-7912-9. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  38. ^ "House for Marques and Marquesa de Casa Maury". Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Retrieved 20 November 2008.
  39. ^ The Marquesa de Casa Maury, longtime friend of the... UPI Archives. 17 March 1983. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  40. ^ AP (March 18, 1983). "Marquesa, 'First True Love' Of Edward VIII, Is Dead at 88". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
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