Maureen Guinness

Maureen Constance Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava (née Guinness; 31 January 1907 – 3 May 1998) was an Anglo-Irish socialite, known as one of the "Guinness Golden Girls". Early life and family Maureen Constance Guinness was born in Grosvenor Place, London on 31 January 1907. She was the second daughter of Ernest Guinness and Marie Clothilde Russell (1880–1953), daughter of Sir George Russell, 4th Baronet. Together with her elder sister Aileen and her younger sister Oonagh, the three Guinness sisters were known as the "Golden Guinness Girls". Guinness attended a finishing school in Paris, after which she debuted in society in 1925. She became known as the most extroverted, flamboyant, and most photographed of the three sisters. She married her cousin, Basil Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 4th Marquess of Dufferin and Ava on 3 July 1930 at St Margaret's, Westminster. Her father-in-law died while the couple were on honeymoon, leaving her husband his title and Clandeboye Estate, near Belfast. They had three children, Perdita, Caroline, and Sheridan. Public life Guinness and her husband divided their time between London and Clandeboye, living at 4 Hans Crescent, Knightsbridge in London. Guinness preferred London, but would throw large parties at Clandeboye, where she was known for her practical jokes. Her husband was killed in 1945 in Burma during World War II, leaving Guinness widowed with three young children. He left the estate heavily mortgaged due to gambling debts, but Guinness had the money to redeem it, buying the estate for £192,000. She then created the Clandeboye estate company, similar to the Iveagh Trust. On 14 September 1948 she married Major Desmond Buchanan, a former army officer and antiques dealer. They divorced in 1954, after which she married Judge John Maude on 20 August 1955. They lived largely apart for a number of years, and Guinness continued to use her title from her first marriage. Guinness was known for her unusual sense of fashion, and is believed to have provided inspiration for Barry Humphries’ character Dame Edna Everage and Osbert Lancaster's Maudie Littlehampton in The Daily Express. After the death of her father in 1949, she and a cousin became the first women to sit on the board of the Guinness Brewery.