Lady Lettice Ashley-Cooper

Lady Lettice Mildred Mary Ashley-Cooper OStJ (12 February 1911 – 24 November 1990) was a British aristocrat, socialite, and airwoman. One of the Bright Young Things of the 1920s,^[1] she served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during World War II.^[2]

Lettice Mildred Ashley-Cooper

Biography

Lady Lettice Mildred Mary Ashley-Cooper was born in Wimbledon, London in 1911,^[3][4] the daughter of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury and Constance Sibell Grosvenor.^[4]

In 1936, her name was linked with the name of Edward VIII as a possible future wife; the King had declared that the future queen had to be "English, good, beautiful and a sportswoman", and the newspaper identified four names: Lady Anne Hope, daughter of the viceroy of India; Lady Mary Grosvenor, daughter of the Duke of Westminster; Lady Angela Montagu-Douglas-Scott, sister of the Duchess of Gloucester; and Lady Lettice Ashley-Cooper.^[5]

In the World War II, she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, promoted Corporal in charge of the Orderly Room in October 1939^[6] and commissioned as an Assistant Section Officer in June 1941.^[7]

She was appointed Officer of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (O.St.J.).^[4]

In 1974, she wrote Two 17th Century Dorset Inventories and in 1986 Unusual Behaviour, published by Gollancz.