Ambrose Lanfear Norrie was an American businessman and social leader during the Gilded Age.
Early life
Norrie was born on July 27, 1857 in New York City. He was the eldest son of Gordon Norrie and Emily Frances Norrie. Among his siblings was Mary Lanfear Norrie, Dr. Van Horne Norrie, Sara Goodhue Norrie, Adam Gordon Norrie, Emily Lanfear Norrie, who died unmarried in 1936. His paternal grandparents were Mary Johanna Norrie and Adam Norrie, a native of Aberdeen, Scotland who was an iron merchant and a founder of St. Luke's Hospital. His maternal grandparents were Ambrose Lanfear and Mary Lanfear. His aunt, Louisa Sarah Lanfear, was married to Ogilvie Blair Graham and David A. Ogden Jr.. Among his cousins was Norrie Sellar, a prominent cotton broker who married Sybil Katherine Sherman.
In 1890, Norrie's engagement to heiress Frances Evelyn "Fannie" Bostwick was announced. She was the daughter of Jabez A. Bostwick, a founding partner of Standard Oil. However, a month later, Bostwick it was declared that by "mutual consent" the engagement was off. Fannie eventually married Capt. Albert J. Carstairs of the Royal Irish Rifles, and became the mother ofJoe Carstairs before that marriage ended and she remarried three more times, including her last to Serge Voronoff. On April 23, 1893, Norrie's family again announced his engagement to Amy Bend at a grand ball, Amy, a close friend of Emily Vanderbilt Sloane, was the daughter of banker George H. Bend and was called "the New York society beauty par excellence." However, Again, less than a month later, Amy called the engagement off and, shortly thereafter, was courted by William Kissam Vanderbilt. After rumors that she was to marry John Jacob Astor III proved false, Amy later married Cortlandt F. Bishop in 1899. Norrie was also reportedly engaged to Emily Montague Tooker, daughter of Gabriel Mead Tooker. The purported impending marriage never took place and, instead, Emily married J. Wadsworth Ritchie in 1895. In 1895, Norrie was married to Ethel Lynde Barbey. Ethel was the daughter of Henry Isaac Barbey and Mary Lorillard Barbey, and granddaughter of tobacco magnate Pierre Lorillard III. Among her many siblings was Hélène Barbey, the wife of Count von Pourtalès; Eva Barbey, who married the Baron de Neuflize; and Pierre Lorillard Barbey, who married Florence Flower. Together, they were the parents of:
Emily Margarita "Rita" Norrie, who married John Wells in 1917. She later married Jacques de Morsier.
Valérie Norrie, who married Joseph Pozzo di Borgo, 4th Duke Pozzo di Borgo, in 1924. The Duke was a former lieutenant of François de La Rocque, head of the French social party. She inherited Villa Fantaisie from her brother upon his death in 1977.
Norrie died after an attack of pneumonia at his home, 15 East 84th Street in New York City, on December 22, 1910. He was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. After his death, she married Count Armand de Jumilhac, a relative of the Duke of Richelieu, in 1914.
Descendants
Through his son, he was the posthumous grandfather of Christopher Lorillard Norrie, a farmer living in New York.
Legacy
Norrie was the namesake of Norrie Park, Norrie School, Norrie mine, Norrie location and Norrie Street in Ironwood, Michigan.
