HISTORY: North Alabama nobility – Lady Grace Hinds Curzon

As many of you know, uncovering and preserving Madison’s history has been John Rankin’s mission for more than three decades. His goal has always been to make our local history accessible and to ensure that his work is passed on to the next generation. I am honored to work alongside him as we begin transitioning this column to its next chapter.

I first got to know John through several assignments on local cemeteries and Madison history organizations for The Madison Record and Madison Living after graduating in 2022 with a degree in History. With John’s encouragement, I became involved with the Madison History Association and the Madison Station Historical Preservation Society, and I have also had the opportunity to support his public tours of the Roundhouse in downtown Madison (be sure to stop by during the Street Festival in October!).

I have learned a great deal from John over the past few years, and I am excited to share that knowledge with you through this column. I look forward to continuing to work with him to ensure a smooth transition while carrying on this tradition of informative articles that promote an appreciation for Madison and North Alabama’s rich history.

Thank you for your readership. I look forward to exploring our community’s history with you in the months and years ahead.

MADISON – Lady Grace Hinds Curzon might just be the most famous person from North Alabama.

Curzon was born in the Rhea-McEntire House in Decatur, Alabama on April 14, 1879 to Joseph Monroe Hinds and Lucia Anita Trillia. Curzon’s father was a former Union soldier from Illinois, who, with his brother, moved to Decatur after the war. He then served as U.S. Ambassador to Brazil from 18721878.

Curzon described her Alabama upbringing in her 1955 memoir, “Reminiscences”: “A certain sense of strangeness and discomfort surrounded us there, Republicans in an area of Democrats, Episcopalians in the midst of Methodists. I was conscious of this feeling even as a child attending the local school…Decatur…as I remember it, was a quiet, sleepy town, although my older friends used to tell me, with great pride, of the wealth and dignity, of the vast entertaining and hospitality before the Civil War…Some of the old Southern houses still remained, mostly built in the Colonial style. The lovely ‘Hinds House’ where I was born, was one of the best examples… Visitors from the Northern States used often to ask to be allowed to look over the house, to see the fine carving, which had been done by the slaves. There wer huge mulberry trees, and masses of roses—real big bushes of them…There were lilacs, and catalpas, and both pink and white acacias near the big iron gate. The garden was surrounded by a solid iron-spiked fence topped with iron balls…” A young Curzon and her family moved to Huntsville while her father served as U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Alabama.

According to a 1990 Old Huntsville article submitted by James Record, Sr., the Hinds family occupied a house on Grove Street and attended the Episcopal Church, but in 1890, following the death of her father, mother, and infant sister Lucia and the burning of the Grove Street house, Curzon returned to Decatur.

Here, her life took a turn for the glamorous when she ventured to South America with her uncle, John Trillia, and met and married Argentinian packer of London and native of Tennessee, Alfred Duggan. Through her marriage to Duggan, Record says, “Grace gained experience, poise and education in London and before long had captured the hearts of European society.”

She further improved her status after Duggan’s death by marrying George Nathaniel Curzon in England in 1917. Through this marriage, Curzon added ‘Lady’ to her title. Curzon was the 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston and was an accomplished British statesman. He served as Viceroy of India from 1899-1905 and then as Foreign Secretary from 1919-1924.

Lady Curzon brought $25 million, inherited from her first husband, to her second marriage. Soon after the wedding, the couple purchased the circa 1386 Bodiam Castle in Sussex and appear to have moved in aristocratic circles that included King George V, Queen Mary, the Prince of Wales, the Churchills, the Queen of Portugal, and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt.

Lady Curzon was immortalized in paintings by famous high society painter John Singer Sargent and according to the Currier Gallery of Art, was the last portrait Sargent painted in oil.

Curzon’s legacy also lives on through her 1955 memoir and “The Life of Grace Hinds Curzon, Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston” by Leon T. Hinds. Her son, Alfred Duggan, became a famous archaeologist, historian, and historical novelist in the mid-20th century.