Description:Millicent Fanny St. Clair Erskine was born in 1867 in Fife. In 1884 she married Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1851-1913) who became the fourth Duke of Sutherland following the death of his father George Granville William Sutherland-Leveson-Gower in 1892. Millicent became the Duchess of Sutherland in 1892.
Known to her many friends and correspondents as Millie, Duchess Millicent was a very successful London hostess who had literary aspirations, writing both fiction and drama. However, she was also a serious activist for social reform. She started the North Staffordshire Cripples Aid Society, and assisted in founding a technical school at Golspie in Sutherland.
During her marriage to the Duke of Sutherland she gave birth to two daughters and two sons. The eldest daughter, Victoria, unfortunately died before she was three, leaving her two sons George and Alastair, and a daughter Rosemary.
When the First World War broke out in 1914, Duchess Millicent was amongst the first to establish a Red Cross Ambulance Unit in Belgium. Her unit developed into a British Red Cross Hospital Unit in France. She was awarded the Belgian Royal Red Cross, the French Croix de Guerre and the British Red Cross for her efforts during the conflict.
The Sutherland Papers contain a wealth of documents relating to the life of Duchess Millicent, including personal correspondence and photographs.