Mary Melissa Hoadley Dodge

Mary Melissa Hoadley Dodge (1861 – 24 December 1934) was an American heiress who moved to England and sponsored many causes during her life, including women's suffrage, Theosophy and the arts.

She was the daughter of Sarah Hoadley and William E. Dodge, Jr. from New York. The family wealth came from a mercantile business that developed into one of the largest copper mining and copper wire manufacturing companies in America called Phelps, Dodge & Co. Mary was one of six children and she, like her sister Grace Hoadley Dodge, remained unmarried and lived with her parents for several years. To seek some independence she moved to London, England; her father supported her decision and purchased a house for her in Brompton Square. She had a female companion from New York called Julia Schreiner who some years later married English diplomat Sir Robert H. Greg.

Dodge moved from Brompton Square to the more fashionable Eaton Square and then to Warwick House in the precinct of St James’s Palace;^[1] she also had a residence in Wimbledon called West Side House. She was well-connected in London society, and corresponded with authors, artists and others including Lord Baden-Powell, Henry James and John Singer Sargent. She took pleasure in spending her money on friends and once took seven guests to the Baltic Sea on board a hired yacht. One of the party, architect Edwin Lutyens, wrote of the experience:

... Miss Dodge is really a wonderful hostess and we are all such a happy party. We have everything you can think of ... and no one is allowed to pay for anything.^[2]

He also remarked that she seemed to tire easily and this was the result of an arthritic condition.

Another example of her generosity was when she hired His Majesty's Theatre and paid all production costs for six performances of an opera titled The Wreckers composed by another friend, Ethel Smyth.

Dodge gained a new companion at Warwick House, Countess Muriel De La Warr, daughter of Lord Thomas Brassey, who had divorced her husband Gilbert Sackville, 8th Earl De La Warr in 1902. Lutyens' wife, Emily, introduced them to Theosophy and to the works of Annie Besant. Dodge provided financial support for the Theosophical Society and for the construction of its London headquarters in Tavistock Square, designed by Lutyens.^[3] The building is now BMA House, the headquarters of the British Medical Association. In 1911 Besant returned from India with Jiddu Krishnamurti - identified as their future spiritual leader - and his brother Nityananda. Whilst in England the two stayed both with Dodge, at her Wimbledon house, and with De La Warr.

Dodge and De La Warr also supported the Suffragette movement and became involved with Francis Meynell. They helped him and George Lansbury purchase the Daily Herald, a bankrupt Labour newspaper. It was re-launched as a socialist daily newspaper and supported the militant suffrage campaign. Later the two ladies helped Meynell create the Pelican Press.^[4]

Despite her great wealth, Dodge was hit by the Depression years and had to cut back on her generosity. Her illness also confined her to a wheelchair in later years. She downsized in London and eventually moved to Wick Hall, Hove, on the south coast of England in about 1930, selling her houses in London and Wimbledon. Esmond Harmsworth, 2nd Viscount Rothermere became the new owner of Warwick House in 1923. Mary Dodge died on Christmas Eve 1934 leaving about three million dollars, mainly to family and friends.^[5]

References