>Citation bot at 00:30, 13 June 2021

2021-06-13T00:30:39Z

New page

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}}
'''Bapsy Paulet, Marchioness of Winchester''' (1902 – 6 September 1995), also known as '''Bapsybanoo Pavry''', was an Indian Parsi socialite and aristocrat.<ref name="burke">{{cite book |title= [[Burke's Peerage|Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood]]|publisher=Burke's Peerage & Gentry |editor= Mosley, Charles |editor-link=Charles Mosley (genealogist) |edition=107 |year= 2003 |page=4214 |ref=Burke |isbn=0-9711966-2-1}}</ref>

==Early life==
She was born Bapsy Pavry of [[Bombay]], the daughter of the [[Parsi]] Zoroastrian "Head Priest", the Most Rev. Cursetji Erachji Pavry (also spelled as Khurshedji).<ref>{{cite web|title=The Hindu newspaper|date=2004|url=http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/08/23/stories/2004082300460200.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041103052434/http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/08/23/stories/2004082300460200.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2004-11-03|work=[[The Hindu]]|accessdate=29 June 2009}}</ref> Her brother, Dr. Jal Pavry, and she travelled extensively, visiting Germany, Italy, Belgium, Greece, and Egypt, where they were received by [[Adolf Hitler]], [[Pope Pius XI]], [[Benito Mussolini]] as well as the respective monarchs of Belgium, Greece, Iran, Afghanistan and Egypt. In England she was received by King George and Queen Mary. She received an MA from Columbia University after initial schooling at [[St. Xavier's College, Mumbai|St. Xavier's College]] in Bombay.

She lived in England from a young age, where she pursued a "campaign to become one of the great figures of the age" by breaking into English high society.<ref>{{cite web | newspaper = The Daily Express | date = 2 September 2011 | title=Review - How to disappear: A memoir for misfits By Duncan Fallowell | first=Christopher | last=Silvester | url = https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/books/268726/Review-How-to-disappear-A-memoir-for-misfits-By-Duncan-Fallowell |accessdate=23 May 2018 }}</ref> She was painted several times by [[Augustus John]], including in 1930,<ref>{{cite web | title = Art UK | date = 1930 | url = http://artuk.org/discover/artworks/bapsybanoo-marchioness-of-winchester-d-1995-148912/view_as/grid/search/keyword:winchester--actor:john-augustus-edwin-18781961/page/1 |accessdate=20 February 2016}}</ref> and was the subject of an essay by [[Duncan Fallowell]].<ref>{{cite book | title = The Curious Case of Bapsy Parry, from A Memoir for Misfits, Duncan Fallowell | date = 2011 | isbn = 9781908526458 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XtnYAgAAQBAJ&q=bapsy+pavry&pg=PT51 |accessdate=20 February 2016| last1 = Fallowell | first1 = Duncan }}</ref>

Pavry and her brother Jal, also attended the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]] of the victorious Allies after the end of World War I. H. A. J Hulugalle, described her as the 'glamour girl' of the conference and mentions she was sitting in the gallery near to [[Ho Chi Minh]].<ref name="Hulugalle2004">{{cite book|author=H. A. J. Hulugalle|title=Selected Journalism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8BRlAAAAMAAJ|year=2004|publisher=Arjuna Hulugalle Dictionaries|isbn=978-955-8035-26-9}}</ref>

==Marchioness of Winchester==
In 1952, she married [[Henry Paulet, 16th Marquess of Winchester]] and became the Marchioness of Winchester, thought to be the only Indian Marchioness in history. Her husband, the childless widower Marquess, was ninety years old at the time. The Marquess left Pavry within weeks of the marriage for his former fiancée [[Evelyn St. Croix Fleming|Eve Fleming]], the mother of [[Ian Fleming]], the ''[[James Bond]]'' author, and a former lover of Augustus John. (After a brief engagement, Eve Fleming had refused to marry the Marquess because on remarriage she would have lost the substantial allowance granted in her husband's will).<ref>{{cite book | title = Ian Fleming, A Personal Memoir, Robert Harling | date = 2015 | isbn = 9781849549912 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=URqVCgAAQBAJ&q=enticement&pg=PT263 |accessdate=20 February 2016| last1 = Harling | first1 = Robert }}</ref> In 1957, the Marchioness sued Mrs Fleming, alleging that she had enticed the Marquess away, but despite initial success, the decision was overturned in Mrs Fleming's favour on appeal.<ref>{{cite web | title = The Telegraph, Calcutta, India | date = 6 April 2013 | url = http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130406/jsp/frontpage/story_16754314.jsp#.VshyqMd6uFI|accessdate=20 February 2016}}</ref> The Marquess lived out the remainder of his life in Monte Carlo with Eve Fleming, dying four months prior to his centenary in 1962.<ref>{{cite book | title = Augustus John, The New Biography, Michael Holroyd | date = 1996 | isbn = 9781784971397 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DK3XCQAAQBAJ&q=marquess+of+winchester+monte+carlo+eve+fleming&pg=PT571|accessdate=20 February 2016| last1 = Holroyd | first1 = Michael }}</ref>

The Marchioness lived for a short time in the medieval surroundings of the Winchester house near [[Southampton]] but after separating from her husband, left to live in London.

In the 1960s, the Marchioness had an audience with the Shah of Iran, which was used to persuade him to allow maintenance of the ancient Zoroastrian sites of worship in Iran.

==Later life==
After the death of her brother Jal in 1985, the Marchioness returned to [[India]] and lived out the rest of her life there, dying in 1995.

She was active in global Zoroastrian affairs, using her status to petition the Iranian government to improve the status of the persecuted Iranian Zoroastrians.

==Legacy==
After the death of her brother in 1985, the Marchioness established the Dasturdaza Dr. Jal Pavry Award for International Peace and Understanding at [[Columbia University]]'s [[School of International and Public Affairs]] in memory of her brother, Dr. Jal Pavry. The fund provides an award to students at SIPA for the best paper on the topic of international peace and understanding.<ref>{{cite web | title = Metro UK Newspaper | date = 2009 | url = http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?Marchionesss_%A3500K_wish_granted_14_years_after_her_death&in_article_id=693292&in_page_id=34|accessdate=29 June 2009}}</ref> She also established two fellowships at Oxford University in her name and that of her brother.<ref>{{cite web | title = Nuffield Department of Medicine, Medical Sciences Division, Oxford University | date = 29 June 2015 | url = http://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/joint-bapsybanoo-marchioness-of-winchester-and-dasturzada-dr-jal-pavry-memorial-lectures | accessdate = 20 February 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160311110146/http://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/joint-bapsybanoo-marchioness-of-winchester-and-dasturzada-dr-jal-pavry-memorial-lectures | archive-date = 11 March 2016 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

Despite living in England for most of her adult life, she only visited [[Winchester]] once, immediately after her marriage in 1952, but felt snubbed as few people welcomed her, and never returned. Nevertheless, on her death she bequeathed [[pound sterling|£]]500,000 to the town of Winchester to be used to build a [[community centre]] in the grounds of the [[Winchester Guildhall]] in her name so that the community would be forced to acknowledge her.<ref>{{cite web | title = Hampshire Cultural Trust | url = http://hampshireculturaltrust.org.uk/content/marchioness-winchester-frank-salisbury | accessdate = 20 February 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170511111216/https://hampshireculturaltrust.org.uk/content/marchioness-winchester-frank-salisbury | archive-date = 11 May 2017 | url-status = dead }}</ref> [[Winchester City Council]] struggled to carry out the bequest for 14 years, by which time the sum had grown to £1.4 million. Finally, in June 2009, a room in the Guildhall was refurbished and renamed after her with a huge portrait of her in her state robes by [[Frank O. Salisbury|Frank Salisbury]] taking pride of place.<ref>{{cite web | title = The Sunday Guardian, India | date = 25 May 2013 | url = http://www.sunday-guardian.com/news/indian-marchioness-bapsybanoo-gets-her-due|accessdate=20 February 2016}}</ref>

==Notes and references==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pavry, Bapsybanoo}}
[[Category:1902 births]]
[[Category:1995 deaths]]
[[Category:Date of birth missing]]
[[Category:People from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Parsi people]]
[[Category:English marchionesses|Winchester, Bapsybanoo Pavry, Marchioness of]]
[[Category:Paulet family|Bapsybanoo]]
[[Category:Date of death missing]]
[[Category:Disease-related deaths in India]]
[[Category:Columbia University alumni]]
[[Category:British people of Parsi descent]]
[[Category:British Zoroastrians]]

Bapsybanoo Pavry - Revision history

>Citation bot at 00:30, 13 June 2021