Lorillard S. Spencer
{{Short description|President of Atlantic Aircraft (1883–1939)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Lorillard S. Spencer
| image = Lorillard Spencer circa 1918.jpg
| caption = Spencer circa 1918
| birth_name = Lorillard Suydam Spencer
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1883|7|4}}
| birth_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1939|6|9|1883|7|4}}
| death_place = Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.
| title = President of Atlantic Aircraft
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Mary Ridgeley Sands|1905|1922|end=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Katherine Emmons Force|1922}}
}}
| children = {{plainlist|
- Lorillard Suydam Spencer Jr.
- Stephen Wolcott Spencer
- William Hurlbut Force Spencer
}}
| parents = {{plainlist|
- Lorillard Spencer
- Caroline Berryman Spencer
}}
| module = {{Infobox military person
| embed = yes
| allegiance = United States
| battles = World War I Battle of Champagne-Argonne
| branch = United States Army
| serviceyears = 1918
| rank = Major (also Colonel in the New York Militia)
}}
}}
Lorillard Suydam Spencer Sr. (July 4, 1883 - June 9, 1939) was president of Atlantic Aircraft and was prominent in Newport, Rhode Island society. He served as the military secretary to Charles Seymour Whitman, the New York Governor.{{cite book |author=Edgar L. Murlin |title=The New York Red Book|publisher=J.B. Lyon Company, Albany, New York|year=1916}}
Biography
File:Lorillard S. Spencer by Mary Helen Carlisle.jpg]]
He was born on July 4, 1883, in Manhattan, New York City to Lorillard Spencer and Caroline Suydam Berryman, a granddaughter of Stephen Whitney of New York. Caroline would later become a missionary in the Philippines.{{cite news |title=Mrs. Lorillard Spencer To Run Mission In Jolo |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/339857752.html?dids=339857752:339857752&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Dec+05,+1913&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=MRS.+LORILLARD+SPENCER+TO+RUN+MISSION+IN+JOLO.&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104072336/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/339857752.html?dids=339857752:339857752&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Dec+05,+1913&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=MRS.+LORILLARD+SPENCER+TO+RUN+MISSION+IN+JOLO.&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 4, 2012 |quote=Mrs Lorillard Spencer, Noted New York matron in company with an Episcopal deaconess will instruct the savage tribesmen of the Philippines in Christianity ... |work=The New York Times |date=December 5, 1913 |access-date=2010-10-19 }}{{cite news |title=Mrs. Lorillard Spencer, Wealthy Widow, Goes To Philippine Islands to be Missionary |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=X6BdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8VwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3869,7903873&dq=lorillard+spencer+jolo&hl=en |quote=... In the conversion of the Mohammedan populace of Jolo to Christianity..... Mrs. Lorillard Spencer was at the time of her marriage in 1882 one of the most beautiful women in America..... |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 5, 1913 |access-date=2012-11-26 }}{{cite news |title=Mrs. L. Spencer Dies In Home At Newport |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1948/04/07/archives/mrs-l-spencer-dies-in-home-at-newport.html |quote=Mrs. Caroline S. Berryman Spencer, widow of Lorillard Spencer, who was prominent in New York and Newport society and was editor of the Illustrated American..... |work=The New York Times |date=April 7, 1948 |access-date=2010-10-19 }}
On December 16, 1910, he was elected as the temporary chairman of the New York City Council of the Boy Scouts of America.{{cite news |title=The Boy Scouts Like Knights of Old|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00A16FD385D11738DDDAE0994DA415B808DF1D3|newspaper=New York Times |date=December 17, 1910|access-date=2013-09-17 }}
During World War I, he was the commander of the 3rd Battalion of the African American 15th New York Infantry which was inducted into Federal service as the 369th Infantry Regiment (nicknamed "The Harlem Hellfighters"). In September 1918, during the Battle of Champagne-Argonne, he was stuck six times by German machine gun fire. Severely wounded, he was sent home to recover.{{cite news|title=Hayward Tells of Negros' Heroism|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030431/1918-12-04/ed-1/seq-14/|access-date=3 February 2016|work=The Sun|date=December 4, 1918|location=New York|page=14}} For his bravery, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honour. The latter was presented to him in July 1919 by Ambassador Jean Jules Jusserand.{{cite news|title=Major Spencer Decorated With French Legion of Honor|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1919-07-15/ed-1/seq-11/|access-date=3 February 2016|work=New York Tribune|date=July 15, 1919|location=New York|page=11}} When the men of the 3rd Battalion returned home after the war, he was there to greet them, his fractured leg still in a sling.{{cite news|title=Gallant '15th' Fighters Come Home with Crosses|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1919-02-10/ed-1/seq-6/|access-date=3 February 2016|work=New York Tribune|date=February 10, 1919|location=New York|page=6}}
He became president of the Witteman Aircraft Corporation in 1921 and the Atlantic Aircraft Corporation in 1923.{{cite news |title=Lorillard Spencer, Aviation Pioneer |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/52611813 |access-date=26 October 2021 |work=Brooklyn Eagle |date=10 June 1939 |page=7}}
He died on June 10, 1939, at his cottage, Chasteullux, in Newport, Rhode Island.{{cite news |title=Lorillard Spencer Dead |url= https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/djreprints/access/108837209.html?dids=108837209:108837209&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+12,+1939&author=&pub=Wall+Street+Journal&desc=Lorillard+Spencer+Dead&pqatl=google|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121104072315/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/djreprints/access/108837209.html?dids=108837209:108837209&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+12,+1939&author=&pub=Wall+Street+Journal&desc=Lorillard+Spencer+Dead&pqatl=google|url-status= dead|archive-date= November 4, 2012|quote=Lorillard Spencer, 56, former executive in several airplane companies and prominent in Newport society died at his home Friday after a long illness ... |author=United Press |author-link=United Press |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=June 12, 1939 |access-date=2010-10-19 }}{{cite news |title=Lorillard Spencer Is Dead. Prominent In Society and Clubs Here and in Newport |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/03/15/100524813.pdf |quote=Lorillard Spencer, prominent in New York society, died yesterday from Bright's disease at his home, 7 East Eighty-sixth Street. He had been ill since Feb. 28. ...|newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 15, 1912|access-date=2011-01-30}}
Personal life
He married his first wife, Mary Ridgeley Sands, on September 19, 1905, at Trinity Church in Manhattan, New York City.{{cite news|title=Popular Society Beauty who will be Bride of Spencer Lorillard|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1905-09-19/ed-1/seq-5/|access-date=3 February 2016|work=The Washington Times|date=September 19, 1905|location=Washington, D.C.|page=5}} They divorced in March 1922. They had one son together, Lorillard Suydam Spencer Jr., on June 11, 1906.{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 6, 1922|title=Miss Force Weds Lorillard Spencer. Daughter of Mrs. Wm. H. Force Married in Home of Her Sister, Mrs. Wm. K. Dick |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E00E6D91E3FE432A25754C0A9649D946395D6CF&legacy=true }}
He married Katherine Emmons Force on December 6, 1922.{{cite news |title=Miss Katherine Force To Wed Major Spencer. Their Marriage to Take Place Tomorrow at the Home of Her Sister, Mrs. William K. Dick |url=http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/miss-katherine-force-wed-major-spencer.html |quote=Although the engagement of Miss Katherine B. Force, daughter of Mrs. William H. Force, to Major Lorillard Spencer has never been formally announced, it has been rumored for some time, and their wedding will take place tomorrow at the home of Mrs. William K. Dick, 7 East Eighty-fourth Street. Mrs. Dick, who was formerly Mrs. John Jacob Astor, is Miss Force's sister. |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 5, 1922 |access-date=2012-11-26 }} They had two sons, Stephen Wolcott Spencer on April 22, 1925, and William Hurlbut Force Spencer on June 13, 1927.{{cite web |url=http://www.obitservices.com/obits.php?ID=11495 |title=Stephen W. Spencer |date=July 29, 2010 |access-date=2012-11-26 |quote=Born in New York, NY, on April 22, 1925, he was the son of the late Katherine (nee Force) and Lorillard Spencer. His father was a highly decorated World War I veteran..... |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407094706/http://www.obitservices.com/obits.php?ID=11495 |archive-date=April 7, 2014 }}
Legacy
File:Lorillard S. Spencer by Arthur Jule Goodman.jpg
The earliest Filipino Boy Scout troop recorded in history was named after him due to the monetary support provided by his mother, who was an American charity worker in Sulu, Philippines.{{cite book |author=Boy Scouts of the Philippines |title=Diamond Jubilee Yearbook|publisher=Boy Scouts of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines|year=1996}} The Lorillard Spencer Trophy serves as the perpetual award to a local Boy Scout council in the Philippines obtaining the highest record of advancement and membership for the year. The trophy is inscribed as "The Lorillard Spencer Trophy Presented by His Mother in Loving Memory of a Loyal Scouter".
Military awards
- Distinguished Service Cross
- Purple Heart
- Victory Medal
- Legion of Honor (France)
- Croix de Guerre (France)
- Conspicuous Service Cross (New York)
- Long and Faithful Service Award (New York)
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Commons category|Lorillard Suydam Spencer, Sr.}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Lorillard}}
Category:Businesspeople from New York City
Category:Boy Scouts of America
Category:Recipients of the Croix de Guerre (France)
Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United States)
Category:Recipients of the Legion of Honour
Category:American military personnel of World War I
Category:369th Infantry Regiment personnel
Category:20th-century American businesspeople