Rosa Frederica Baring FitzGeorge


Rosa Frederica Baring FitzGeorge, was the second daughter of Mr. William Henry Baring, J.P. and Elizabeth Hammersley, of Norman Court in West Tytherley, Hampshire, England. She was a descendant of the famous Sir Francis Baring of the Baring banking family. Her maternal uncle was Thomas Weguelin, partner of Thomson, Bonar, and Company of London, Director and Governor of the Bank of England.

First marriage

She married first to Captain Frank Wigsell Arkwright August 29, 1878 at Sanderstead, Surrey Court, England and had two children, a son Esme Arkwright, and a daughter Vera Nina Arkwright, later known as Vera Bate Lombardi. The Arkwright marriage ended in divorce in 1885 and Rosa then married the co-respondent George William Adolphus FitzGeorge.

Second marriage

Rosa Baring married a second time November 25, 1885 in Paris, France to Colonel George William Adolphus FitzGeorge, the eldest of the three sons of Prince George, Duke of Cambridge and Louisa Fairbrother. It is said that Rosa FitzGeorge later used the title "Lady FitzGeorge" while in New York City, in pursuit of wealthy American families to find a husband for her daughter Vera.
Rosa Baring FitzGeorge was not friendly with the families of her two husbands. She made "plenty of capital of the royal blood in the veins of her husband" and as the daughter-in-law of the Duke of Cambridge, Rosa flourished in New York and Chicago as “Lady FitzGeorge". According to the Marquise de Fontenoy her marriage to Colonel FitzGeorge "gave great offense" to his father, Prince George.

Children

By her first marriage to Frank Wigsell Arkwright:
By her second marriage to George William Adolphus FitzGeorge:
Following her parents' divorce Rosa Baring FitzGeorge’s second child Vera Bate Lombardi grew up with her Baring grandparents though she is said to have become the surrogate god child of Margaret Cambridge, Marchioness of Cambridge, wife of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Teck. Rosa Frederica Baring Fitzgeorge was the maternal grandmother of Magic Realist painter Bridget Bate Tichenor, who lived in Mexico from 1956–1990.