The Bower & Collier Family History
Research by Colin Bower
The Extraordinary Cornwallis-Wests
Visit to Eccleston near Ruthin
On a holiday in Chester imn 2015, we went to the nearby village of Eccleston adjacent to Eaton Hall, the ancestral home of the Grosvenor Family.
Hugh (k/a Bendor, one of the Family's racehorses!) Grosvenor became the 2nd Duke of Westminster in 1899 on the death of his grandfather.
Hugh married a childhood friend from Ruthin (see below), Constance (k/a Shelagh) Cornwallis West, and she bore him a son and heir Edward in 1904 but the child died in 1909 after an appendix operation.
Hugh and Constance lived lavishly in Eaton Hall and Grosvenor House in London entertaining amongst others King Edward and other members of the European Royal Family.
The couple divorced in 1919 and the Duke of Westminster had 3 further wives.
In the booklet: "The Grosvenors of Eaton", that I bought in the village church, there are a number of interesting revelations:
1. Hugh Grosvenor was with the young Winston Churchill - to whom he would later become related - when they were ambushed in a train in South Africa. The two men became lifelong friends.
2. the delay in calling a surgeon to the child Edward caused family recriminations.
3. The Cornwallis West Family sought significant financial aid from the Grosvenors which caused irritation.
4. the Duke of Westminster tired of the social round enjoyed by Constance and they became estranged.
Ruthin
The reason the future 2nd Duke of Westminster had a childhood friendship with Constance was that the Cornwallis Wests lived at nearby Ruthin.
In 1826 Frederick West, Constance's grandfather, built a new castle on the site of the old Ruthin Castle which was virtually flattened in the 17th Century during the Civil War.
In the early 20th Century Ruthin Castle was a fashionable venue for house parties including visits from Edward VII, who had taken a fancy to Constance's mother Patsy Cornwallis West!
Ruthin Castle is now a luxury hote:
It is interesting to reflect on whether Hugh and Constance might have remained together had the child Edward lived with the Cornwallis Wests becoming part of the Grosvenor Family Tree.
Colin Bower
30 June 2025
