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:

Diana, Princess of Wales

Rosemary Kennedy

popular name: Rosemary Kennedy

date_of_death: January 7, 2005

age: 86

cause_of_death: Natural causes

claim_to_fame: Historical Figure

best_know_for: Rosemary Kennedy was the third child and eldest daughter of Joseph and Rose Kennedy and her brothers included future president John F. Kennedy. She was slower to crawl, slower to walk and to speak than her brothers and she reportedly displayed developmental delays from an early age after a bungled delivery led to oxygen deprivation. Despite her apparent intellectual disabilities, Rosemary participated in most family activities. In the diary she kept as a teenager she described people she met, dances and concerts she attended, and a visit to the Roosevelt White House. When her father was appointed US Ambassador to Britain in 1938, Rosemary went to live in London and was presented at court along with her mother and sister Kathleen. Upon return to the states she allegedly exhibited mood swings and disruptive behavior. Fearing Rosemary would be an embarrassment and roadblock for his male offspring to achieve great power at all political levels, without telling anyone Joseph instructed Dr. James W. Watts to perform a frontal lobotomy. The horrifying surgical procedure – which involved severing the connection between the frontal lobe and other parts of the brain – became popular in the 1940s and 1950s with American and British doctors who claimed to be seeking a ‘cure’ for patients with certain mental health conditions that were deemed socially unacceptable. When they completed the surgical procedure, It quickly became apparent that the procedure had caused immense harm. Kennedy's mental capacity diminished to that of a two-year-old child. She could not walk or speak intelligibly and was incontinent. For the next six decades she was housed at a facility in Ohio, hidden from view and rarely spoken of until she died at the age of 86.

Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington