Janet Gladys Aitken
Canadian-British aristocrat and socialite (1908–1988) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Janet Gladys Aitken (later Campbell, Montagu, and Kidd; 9 July 1908 – 18 November 1988) was a Canadian-British aristocrat and socialite. The daughter of Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, she grew up at Cherkley Court in Surrey. She was the first wife of Ian Campbell, later the Duke of Argyll, and the mother of Lady Jeanne Campbell. Her second husband, who was a son of the 9th Earl of Sandwich, died in World War II. She married a third time to the Canadian army officer Major Thomas Edward Dealtry Kidd.
Janet Gladys Aitken | |
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 Aitken in 1926 | |
| Born | 9 July 1908 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Died | 18 November 1988 (aged 80) Ewhurst, Surrey, England |
| Resting place | St. Michael's Churchyard, Mickleham |
| Other names | Janet Campbell Janet Montagu Janet Kidd |
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| Spouses | William Drogo Sturges Montagu
(m. 1935; died 1940)Thomas Edward Dealtry Kidd
(m. 1942; died 1979) |
| Children | 4, including Lady Jeanne Campbell |
| Parents |
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An accomplished equestrian, Aitken served as a director of the All England Jumping Course at Hickstead for over twenty years. In her later life she obtained a license as a helicopter pilot and bred Fjord horses on her farm in Ewhurst, Surrey. A prominent socialite of her time, she was known to entertain members of the international jet set, politicians, and royalty at her second home in Barbados, where she was a friend and neighbour of the American diplomat W. Averell Harriman. In 1987, the year before she died, Aitken authored an autobiography titled The Beaverbrook Girl.