Robert Gould Shaw II (sometimes referred to as RGS II) (June 16, 1872 – March 29, 1930) was a wealthy landowner, international polo player of the Myopia Hunt Club and socialite in the greater Boston area of Massachusetts. He was one of the prominent figures of the boom years at the turn of the century, sometimes called the Gilded Age.[2]
Born in 1872 into one of the wealthiest and most influential families in Boston, he was a first cousin of Civil War soldier Robert Gould Shaw. As an adult, RGS II gained a reputation for alcohol abuse and promiscuity. His first wife was Nancy Witcher Langhorne, and they had a son, Robert Gould Shaw III (called RGS III or "Bobby"). RGS II and Langhorne divorced after four years of marriage. She moved to England after some time, where she met and married Waldorf Astor, who later succeeded his father as Viscount. RGS II married again and had four other sons, including Louis Agassiz Shaw II.
Quincy's side of the family had Anglo-American roots extending back to passengers on the Mayflower. His paternal grandparents were Robert G. Shaw and Elizabeth Willard (née Parkman) Shaw. His maternal grandfather, Louis Agassiz, was a prominent paleontologist, glaciologist, geologist, and scholar of the Earth's natural history who immigrated from Switzerland in 1846.[4]
Nancy Witcher Langhorne (left), first wife of RGS II, and their son Robert Gould Shaw III (right)
On October 27, 1897, RGS II married Nancy Witcher Langhorne (1879–1964) in New York City. She was the 18-year-old daughter of railroad millionaire Chiswell Dabney Langhorne and Nancy Witcher Keene. They had one son:[10]
The marriage was unhappy for both and Shaw's friends accused her of being puritanical and rigid, while Nancy's friends contended that he was an alcoholic[12] and a womanizer.[13] Nancy left Shaw numerous times during their brief marriage, the first time during their honeymoon. In 1903, Nancy's mother died and she divorced him,[1] returning to Mirador, her childhood home.[14] After his ex-wife and son moved to England, Shaw had a limited role in his son Bobby's life.[13]
Shaw was married to Mary Hannington (1874–1937) and they had four sons:[17][10]
Gould Agassiz Shaw (1904-1955) Married three times. First to Hilda Shaw (née Burt) and had two children: Penelope Gould "Penny" Shaw (1925-)and Yolande Agassiz Shaw (1931-~1960).[18] They divorced and remarried to divorcée and club singer Margaret Graham Vogel Shaw (née Townsend) and had one child: Alexander Agassiz Shaw (1951-). She died in 1951 of a throat virus at 29.[19] Married thirdly and lastly to Brazilian Rita Shaw (née Garcia) and moved to Brazil.[20] Died of cardiac arrest in Recife, Brazil.[21]
Alexander Agassiz Shaw (1905-1967) Married first to Helen Shaw (née Ellsworth) and had one child: Robert Gould Shaw IV (1928-2021). [22] They quickly divorced that same year and he later remarried to Dianne Shaw (née Duncan) who had a daughter Phyllis from a previous marriage. [23] Died in Topsfield, Massachusetts.
Paul Agassiz Shaw (1912–1983) World War Two Veteran, Investor, and Livestock Breeder. Married first to Elizabeth "Betty" Shaw (née Pope) and had children: Paul Agassiz Shaw Jr., Robert Gould Shaw V., and Frederic Patrick Shaw. After Elizabeth's death, he later married June Shaw (née Battles). Died in Naples, Florida.[25]
Shaw purchased a tract of land in Oak Hill, Newton, shortly after the death of its owner, William Sumner Appleton in 1903 (father of William Sumner Appleton Jr.). He commissioned Boston architect James Lovell Little Jr. to design and construct several buildings on the property, including outbuildings of a carriage house and horse stable in 1910,[26] a cow barn in 1912,[27] and a primary residence (the Appleton/Shaw House) in 1912.[28] As the Gilded Age gave way to the Progressive Era and eventually the Great Depression, the Shaw fortune collapsed.[29]
Shaw died at the Plaza Hotel after a brief illness in 1930.[10]
The vacant and decaying Shaw estate in Newton was sold in 1939 to Dr. William Fitts Carlson. Carlson used the property as the new campus for Mount Ida Junior College. Adjoining tracts of land were converted into the Wells Avenue office park in the 1970s, and the Charles River Footpath (since renamed the Helen Heyn Riverway) in the 1990s.[30]
In a 1982 episode of Masterpiece Theatre that chronicled the life of Nancy Astor, Pierce Brosnan portrayed RGS II as a profligate and promiscuous gambler. In this version, Nancy Langhorne Astor continued to love RGS II after her marriage to Waldorf Astor, but this has not been documented. For this performance, Brosnan was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor in 1985.[32]
References
^ abG.E. Cokayne; Vicary Gibbs; H.A. Doubleday; Geoffrey H. White; Duncan Warrand; Lord Howard de Walden, eds. (2000). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant. Vol. XIII:Peers created 1901 to 1938. Gloucester, United Kingdom: Alan Sutton Publishing. pp. 215–6.
^Biographical History of Massachusetts, Eliot, Vol. IX
^ abBoston Museum of Fine Arts (1918). "Introduction". Quincy Adams Shaw Collection (Italian Renaissance sculpture. Paintings and pastels by Jean François Millet. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts. pp. 1–4.
^Parkman, Francis (1849). "Chapter I:The Frontier". The California and Oregon Trail: Being Sketches of Prairie and Rocky Mountain Life. New York: George P. Putnam. pp. 9–18.
^Sherwood, RJ (1973). "Obituaries: Philip Drinker 1894 – 1972". The Annals of Occupational Hygiene. 16 (1): 93–4. doi:10.1093/annhyg/16.1.93.
^Gorham, J (1979). "A medical triumph: the iron lung". Respiratory Therapy. 9 (1): 71–3. PMID10297356.
^The Harvard Education and Research Center for Occupational Safety and Health (2010). "2010-2011 Student Handbook"(PDF). Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Harvard Education and Research Center for Occupational Safety and Health. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
^P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science (2011). "Philip Drinker '17". Distinguished Alumni: Great Talents & Bright Minds. Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: Lehigh University. Archived from the original on June 15, 2011. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
^Council of Independent Colleges (2006). "Holbrook Hall". Council of Independent Colleges Historic Campus Architecture Project. Washington, DC: Council of Independent Colleges. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
^Council of Independent Colleges (2006). "Hallden Academic Support Center". Council of Independent Colleges Historic Campus Architecture Project. Washington, DC: Council of Independent Colleges. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
^Council of Independent Colleges (2006). "Shaw Hall". Council of Independent Colleges Historic Campus Architecture Project. Washington, DC: Council of Independent Colleges. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
^Shaw, Colin Gould (December 2005). "Robert Gould Shaw II". Newton, Massachusetts: Newton Conservators Inc. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
City of Newton Massachusetts Atlas (1886): Section V, Ward 5. The location of the tract of land purchased by Robert Gould Shaw II in 1903 (property owned by William Sumner Appleton) is clearly visible on this 1886 map of Newton, Massachusetts.
