DIAMOND RIVIÈRE, 19TH CENTURY

Footnotes

Provenance:
Mary Catherine Henrietta Baker née Sulivan (1820-1871);
Her sister, Elizabeth Mary Hippisley née Sulivan (1821-1886);
Her daughter, Emily Sulivan Hippisley, Countess of Carnwath (1853-1889);
Thence by descent

In her Will of 7th February 1887, Emily Sulivan Hippisley, Countess of Carnwath contemplated the possibility of her two sons dying without male heirs, as they did in 1904 and 1931 respectively. In her Will, the Countess of Carnwath stated, "all these diamonds I inherited from my aunt, Mary Baker". Mary Baker née Sulivan had, by her Will, left unspecified diamonds to her younger sister, Elizabeth Mary Hippisley née Sulivan (1821-1886) for life, and then "to my niece...Emily...".

Mary Catherine Henrietta Sulivan and her sister, Elizabeth Mary Sulivan, were two daughters of Laurence Sulivan PC (1783-1866) and his wife, Elizabeth Temple (1790-1837). Laurence Sulivan was a British statesman and philanthropist who served as Deputy Secretary at War. He was the grandson of the Anglo-Irish politician and Chairman of the East India Company, Laurence Sulivan MP (1713-1786). Elizabeth Temple was the sister of Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784-1865) who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1855-1858 and again from 1859 until his death in 1865.

Mary Catherine Henrietta Sulivan is recorded as having been baptised at St George's church in Hanover Square, London on 10th April 1820. On 7th July 1865, The Times reported that she and Reverend Robert George Baker, Vicar of Fulham and Prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral, were married in the presence of Lord Palmerston and their friends at All Saints Church. The ceremony was performed by the Bishop of London. The couple lived at the Vicarage on Bridge Street, Fulham. Mary died at Ivy Cottage, Parson's Green in 1871, leaving an Estate valued at £60,000.

Her niece, Emily Sulivan Hippisley was one of five children born to Henry Hippisley (1808–1896) and Elizabeth Mary Sulivan (1821-1886). She married Robert Harris Dalzell, 11th Earl of Carnwath on 19th August 1873 at St. George's Church in Hanover Square, London. Robert was a Scottish nobleman and soldier who served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 1st Battalion of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and he later served as a Representative Peer from 1892-1910. The couple had four children. Emily died aged just 36 at Carnwath House in Fulham.