Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington

AKA:

Kick

Birth Name:

Kathleen Agnes Kennedy

Birth Date:

February 20, 1920

Birth Place:

83 Beals Street, Brookline, Massachusetts

Death Date:

May 13, 1948

Place of Death:

Plateau du Coiron, Sceautres, France

Age:

Cause of Death:

Plane crash

Cemetery Name:

St. Peter’s Church

Claim to Fame:

Historical Figure

Associates:

Kathleen Agnes Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington (née Kennedy) also known as "Kick" Kennedy was an American socialite. She was the second daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald, a sister of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy, and the wife of the Marquess of Hartington, heir apparent to the 10th Duke of Devonshire. When her father was serving as U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Kathleen made many friends in London and was the "debutante of 1938". Working with the Red Cross, she began a romantic relationship with Lord Hartington, whom she married in May 1944 much to the anger of her parents. He was killed on active service in Belgium only four months later. Kathleen died in a plane crash in 1948, flying to the south of France while on vacation with her new partner, the 8th Earl Fitzwilliam. The only family member to attend her funeral was her father, Joseph P. Kennedy. Her mother, Rose Kennedy waited 20 years to visit her daughter's grave, and even then it was a brief visit.

The headstone for Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington reads:

IN LOVING
MEMORY OF
KATHLEEN
1920 – 1948
WIDOW OF MAJOR THE
MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON
KILLED IN ACTION & DAUGHTER
OF THE HON JOSEPH KENNEDY
SOMETIME AMBASSADOR OF THE
UNITED STATES TO GREAT BRITAIN JOY SHE GAVE; JOY SHE HAS FOUND

The last moments of Kathleen’s life were horrifying.

On May 13, 1948, Lady Hartington and Lord Fitzwilliam were flying from Paris to the French Riviera for a vacation aboard a de Havilland DH.104 Dove. At 3:30 in the afternoon, their plane took off, reaching an altitude of 10,000 feet. Approximately one hour into the flight, radio contact was lost with the plane when it entered the region near Vienne which was also close to the center of a storm. The plane’s four occupants endured twenty minutes of severe turbulence which bounced their small plane up and down as much as several thousand feet at a time. When they finally cleared the clouds, they instantly discovered the plane was in a dive and moments away from impact, and they attempted to pull up. The stress of the turbulence, coupled with the sudden change of direction, tore loose one of the wings, followed by both engines, and finally the tail. The plane’s fuselage then spun into the ground seconds later, coming to rest nose-down in a ravine, after striking terrain at Plateau du Coiron, near Saint-Bauzile, Ardèche, France. Lady Hartington was instantly killed, along with Fitzwilliam, the pilot Peter Townshend and the navigator Arthur Freeman.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

St. Peter’s Church

1 Jap Lane

Edensor, Bakewell, DE45 1PH

United Kingdom

Europe

Grave Location:

Cavendish Family Burial Ground, Grave No. 8C015

Grave Location Description

As you enter the grounds of this historic church facing the entry to the church, walk right to the back of the church and take the first hard right along with walkway. Walk to the very back of the graveyard and looking to your right, 3rd row from the border you will find the final resting place of the former Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy.

Grave Location GPS

53.224878340869715, -1.6267362024585312

Visiting The Grave:

Photos:

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FAQ's

Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington was born on February 20, 1920.

Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington was born in 83 Beals Street, Brookline, Massachusetts.

Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington died on May 13, 1948.

Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington died in Plateau du Coiron, Sceautres, France.

Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington was 28.

The cause of death was Plane crash.

Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington's grave is in St. Peter’s Church

Videos Featuring Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington:

Rosemary and Kathleen Kennedy presented at court (1938)

Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy Stole Her Father's Fame in Europe | Beautiful & Doomed | Smithsonian Channel

Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy 1920-1948

Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy Intriguing Facts. TOP-12

The Mystery Why Kathleen 'Kick' Kennedy Was Disowned By Her Family

The Untold Tale of JFK’s Disowned Sister | Kick Kennedy

January 25, 1964 - Robert F. Kennedy visits his sister Kathleen's grave at Edensor, Derbyshire

See More:

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Michael Kennedy

popular name: Michael Kennedy

date_of_death: December 31, 1997

age: 39

cause_of_death: Blunt force trauma from skiing accident

claim_to_fame: Historical Figure

best_know_for: Michael LeMoyne Kennedy was born into a very public family as Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy's middle of 11 children. He graduated from Harvard in 1980 and then went to law school at the University of Virginia, where he earned a law degree in 1984. In 1988 he took over as chairman of Citizens Energy Corp., the nonprofit fuel company founded by his brother, Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II, that discounts home heating fuel for the poor. He also chaired Citizens Conservation Corp., which provided energy consulting services to low-income, multi-family housing. Through Citizen's Energy subsidiaries, Kennedy also coordinated relief missions to West Africa in 1989 and 1992, founded the U.S.-Angola Chamber of Commerce and helped establish a Catholic university in that country. Kennedy also co-chaired the Walden Woods Project, an effort to preserve a forest near Walden Pond in Concord, and Stop Handgun Violence Inc., a group that works to raise awareness about handguns. All that work, however, was overshadowed when reports said he had a 3-year affair with his children's 14-year-old baby sitter. Robert F. Kennedy's 39-year-old son died on New Year’s Eve Day 1997, playing football while skiing Aspen Mountain’s Copper Bowl. It was a game that the Kennedy family had enjoyed for over three decades, and was considered daring, if not dangerous. This time, Kennedy was caught off-balance and too close to the treeline, lost an edge, and went into a tree head first. He had not been wearing a helmet. He was the second of Robert and Ethel Kennedy's sons to die young. In 1984 David Anthony Kennedy died of a drug overdose at age 24.

Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington