James Hamet Dunn - Personal

Personal

In 1901, James Dunn was married to Gertrude Paterson Price, the daughter of a prosperous Quebec City lumber dealer. They had the following children before divorcing in 1926:

1. Mona Dunn (c.1902-died 1928). Widely described as 'the most beautiful girl in England' she became the mistress of Lord Birkenhead (F.E. Smith), Lord Chancellor in the Coalition Cabinet of Lloyd George, described by Alan Clark (The Tories 1999) as having a 'vigorous private life'. Her portrait by William Orpen hangs in the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, and may be viewed on their web-site. Her sad death from peritonitis was a crushing blow to Birkenhead as well as her father.
2. Sir Philip Gordon Dunn, 2nd Baronet Dunn (1905–1976), who was father of two daughters Serena Dunn, Lady Rothschild and the author Nell Dunn.
3. Joan Molesworth Dunn (c.1910-1982) who married 1928 (and was divorced 1 November 1929 by) Hubert Duggan, an MP, and stepson of Lord Curzon. On 1 November 1929, her former husband was granted custody of a child born on 5 August 1929. She married secondly her lover Anthony (Jenkinson, who subsequently committed suicide in October 1935.). She married thirdly, in 1943, Charles Dutton, 7th Baron Sherborne.

Following the divorce from his first wife in 1926, Sir James Dunn married Irene Clarice Richards, the former wife of Francis Archibald Kelhead Douglas, 11th Marquess of Queensberry. The 1928 death of his daughter Mona Dunn from his first marriage sent him into a state of depression and for a time he thought about cutting back on his business activities and returning home to his native New Brunswick. However, in 1929, his new wife gave birth to a daughter, Anne, who lifted his spirits a great deal. Anne Dunn grew up to be an artist, studying under Henry Moore and in Paris, France with Fernand Léger and at the Académie Julian. Nevertheless, Dunn and his second wife divorced in 1942 following which he married his long-time personal secretary, Marcia Anastasia Christoforides. Although thirty-six years his junior, “Christofor” as she was nicknamed, was very bright, intensely loyal, and a devoted partner. James Dunn would seek her input on most every business matter for the rest of his life.