Betty Leggett
{{Short description|American devotee of Swami Vivekananda (1857–1931)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Betty Leggett
| image = Olea Bull, Betty Laggett and Josephine MacLeod July 1906.png
| caption = Leggett (center) with Olea Bull (left) and Josephine MacLeod at a dinner for the King and Queen of Norway in 1906
| birth_name = Elizabeth MacLeod
| birth_date = January 24, 1857
| birth_place = Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
| death_date = October 1, 1931
| death_place = Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, U.K.
| resting_place = Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
| occupation = Religious activist
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|William Sturges|1876|1894|end=died}}
- {{marriage|Francis Howard Leggett|1895|1909|end=died}}
}}
| children = 3 (including Alberta Montagu, Countess of Sandwich)
| relatives = {{ubl|Josephine MacLeod (sister)|Victor Montagu, 10th Earl of Sandwich (grandson)|Lady Mary Faith Montagu (granddaughter)|Lady Elizabeth Montagu (granddaughter)}}
}}
Elizabeth MacLeod Sturges Leggett (January 24, 1857 – October 1, 1931), also known as Bessie Leggett or Betty Leggett, was an American socialite, letter writer, and disciple of the Hindu monk and philosopher Swami Vivekananda.
Early life and family
Elizabeth MacLeod was born in Cincinnati on January 24, 1857, to John David MacLeod and Mary Ann Lennon.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q2w-AQAAMAAJ&dq=bessy+sturges+leggett&pg=PA58|title=Solomon Sturges and His Descendants: A Memoir and a Genealogy|date=April 22, 1907|publisher=Grafton Press|isbn=9780788451355 |via=Google Books}} She was descended from Scottish settlers who were planters and enslavers in the American Southeast.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9Ne0JJzKJE|title=The life and letters of Alberta, the American Countess of Sandwich|date=30 June 2020 |via=www.youtube.com}} Her father made a fortune through trade in Ohio. She was a sister of the spiritual writer Josephine MacLeod.{{cite web|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/data/batches/dlc_1iche_ver01/data/sn83045462/00280602802/1936090801/0353.pdf|title=Newspaper clipping|website=Library of Congress|access-date=20 October 2023}}
Married life
On October 8, 1876, she married William Sturges, a widowed businessman from Chicago who was descended from the colonial politician Jonathan Sturges. They had a son, Hollister, and a daughter, Alberta. The family lived at 21 West 34th Street in Manhattan and travelled to Europe, where they kept apartments in Paris and London. Her husband died in 1894, a few years after surviving the sinking of the SS Oregon.{{Cite web|url=https://www.doaks.org/resources/bliss-tyler-correspondence/annotations/mrs-francis-h-leggett|title=Mrs. Francis H. Leggett (1852–1931)|first=Sara|last=Taylor|website=Dumbarton Oaks}}
In 1895, she began attending classes in New York City that were being taught by the Hindu monk and philosopher Swami Vivekananda.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/reminiscences/414_appendix.htm|title=Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda|website=www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info}}{{cite web|url=https://vedanta.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Swami-Vivekananda-in-the-West-A-Chronology.pdf |title=Chronology July, 1893
|website=vedanta.org|access-date=20 October 2023}} During this time, she began dating Francis Howard Leggett, a wealthy New York wholesale grocer from a family with colonial New York roots, and he began attending the classes with her.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PyRKAQAAMAAJ&dq=Elizabeth+MacLeod+Sturges+Leggett&pg=PA363|title=Prominent Families of New York: Being an Account in Biographical Form of Individuals and Families Distinguished as Representatives of the Social, Professional and Civic Life of New York City|first=Lyman Horace|last=Weeks|date=April 22, 1898|publisher=Historical Company|via=Google Books}} They, along with her sister Josephine, became life-long devotees of Vivekananda and students of Neo-Vedanta.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6eGI_Er6kM8C&dq=bessy+sturges+leggett&pg=PA185|title=Alice in Jamesland: The Story of Alice Howe Gibbens James|first=Susan E.|last=Gunter|date=January 1, 2009|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=978-0803222755 |via=Google Books}}{{Cite web|url=https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2019/06/13/the-swami-and-stone-ridge/|title=The swami and Stone Ridge - Hudson Valley One|date=June 13, 2019}} She maintained a close friendship with Vivekananda, writing to him and travelling with him abroad.{{Cite web|url=http://www.vivekananda.net/KnownLetters/1895ThousandIsland.html|title=Letters written by Swami Vivekananda from Thousand Island Park (1895) - Frank Parlato Jr.|website=www.vivekananda.net}}
On September 9, 1895, she and Leggett married in a small ceremony in Paris that was attended by Vivekananda.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R9cUAAAAYAAJ&dq=bessy+sturges+leggett&pg=PA401|title=The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record|first1=Richard Henry|last1=Greene|first2=Henry Reed|last2=Stiles|first3=Melatiah Everett|last3=Dwight|first4=George Austin|last4=Morrison|first5=Hopper Striker|last5=Mott|first6=John Reynolds|last6=Totten|first7=Harold Minot|last7=Pitman|first8=Charles Andrew|last8=Ditmas|first9=Louis Effingham De|last9=Forest|first10=Conklin|last10=Mann|first11=Arthur S.|last11=Maynard|date=April 22, 1915|publisher=New York Genealogical and Biographical Society|via=Google Books}} She and her second husband had one daughter, Frances Howard Leggett. The family split their time between their Manhattan residence at 21 West 34th Street and Ridgely Manor, Leggett's large estate in Stone Ridge, New York.{{Cite web|url=https://ridgely.org/2015/08/27/history/|title=History of Ridgely – Vivekananda Retreat Ridgely|date=27 August 2015 }} She spent part of each year in Europe, where she maintained a house on Bruton Street in London and an apartment in Paris, throwing lavish parties.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UGSE4B506MMC&q=betty+leggett&pg=PA77|title=To Marry an English Lord: Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery|first1=Gail|last1=MacColl|first2=Carol McD|last2=Wallace|date=March 15, 2012|publisher=Workman Publishing|isbn=9780761171959 |via=Google Books}} She spent much of her time in London, and had her daughters debuted there.
Leggett and her husband built a five-bedroom cottage for Hindu monks, called Swamiji's Cottage, on the grounds of their New York estate.{{Cite web|url=https://issuu.com/subhabarta/docs/012017|title=Prabuddha Bharata January 2017 by Advaita Ashrama - Issuu|website=issuu.com|date=2 January 2017 }} She and her children often visited the monks at Swamiji's Cottage and hosted Vivekananda three times, the last time for ten weeks.{{Cite web|url=https://ridgely.org/tag/the-great-summer/|title=The Great Summer – Vivekananda Retreat Ridgely|date=8 January 2016 }} She and members of her family also hosted Vivekananda in Chicago and in Paris.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=suKdBQAAQBAJ&q=alberta+sturges&pg=PA514|title=Western Admirers of Ramakrishna and His Disciples|first=Gopal|last=Stavig|date=October 2, 2010|publisher=Advaita Ashrama|isbn=9788175053342|via=Google Books}}
On July 23, 1906, Leggett and her sister attended a dinner at the Holdts Hotel in Bergen for King Haakon VII and Queen Maud of Norway.
In 1920, she and Alberta visited Flanders, and wrote of the damage from the aftermath of World War I.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z74LoE7MlnM|title=A Real Life Downton Abbey American Heiress: the 9th Countess of Sandwich|date=6 September 2020 |via=www.youtube.com}}
Through her daughter, Alberta, Leggett was the grandmother of Victor Montagu, 10th Earl of Sandwich, Lady Mary Faith Montagu, and Lady Elizabeth Montagu. Through her daughter, Frances, she was the grandmother of Francis Vere Hampden Margesson, 2nd Viscount Margesson.
As a member of a prominent family, both by birth and by marriage, she was included in the Social Register.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OmtIAAAAYAAJ&dq=Elizabeth+MacLeod+Sturges+Leggett&pg=PA556|title=Social Register, New York|date=April 22, 1901|publisher=Social Register Association|via=Google Books}}
Leggett died in Stratford-upon-Avon on October 1, 1931. She is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in New York.