HARRY H. MORGAN, EX-DIPLOMAT, DIES
Father of Famous Morgan Twins, Lady Furness and Mrs. Reginald C. Vanderbilt.
SERVED NATION 40 YEARS
Held Many Posts in Consular Branch -- Father, a Louisiana Jurist, Once Envoy to Mexico.
LONDON, March 19.---Harry Hays Morgan, who held many important posts in the American Consular Service, died today at the home of his daughter, Viscountess Furness, where he had been gravely ill for a week. He was 73 years old. At the bedside were Lady Furness, her sister, Mrs. Reginald C. Vanderbilt, and their brother, Harry H. Morgan Jr. The third daughter, Mrs. Benjamin Thaw Jr., who made daily inquiries from Oslo, left hurriedly for London when she learned of her father's death.
Retired from Service in 1925.
Harry Hays Morgan, who spent more than forty years in the service of the State Department as Consul and Consul General in various places, retiring in 1925, was the father of the beautiful "Morgan twins" -- Gloria and Thelma.
Gloria is now the widow of Reginald C. Vanderbilt and Thelma is Lady Furness of London. Both are widely known in society here and abroad.
The wedding Gloria Morgan and Reginald C. Vanderbilt in 1923 was a social event of the first magnitude.Mr. Vanderbilt died in 1925, leaving her a widow at the age of 20. She has a daughter, Gloria Laura Morgan Vanderbilt, now 9 months old.
Last month Surrogate Foley in New York approved the continuance of a $4,000 monthly allowance for the daughter from the Vanderbilt estate. George W. Wickersham, the child's guardian, told the court that her mother's income did not exceed $1,400 a year.
In 1926 Thelma Morgan was married to Lord Furness, the shipping owner, and one of the richest men in England, who was about twenty years older than she.
Daughter Prominent in London.
The first intimation that Mr. Morgan received that his daughter Thelma had been married to Lord Furness came when Mr. Morgan arrived in New York from Buenos Aires on the liner Southern Cross, on July 6, 1926, and was asked by newspaper reporters if he was on his way to visit his new son-in-law.
"What son-in-law?" he demanded.
"Lord Furness," he was told.
"Did Thelma marry Lord Furness?" he asked. "That's the first I ever heard of it. Well, I'm sure he'll make an excellent husband for her, and I'll gladly give my blessing to them both."
He explained his ignorance of the wedding by saying that he had been at sea for fifteen days.
Lady Furness has been prominent in British society, according to reports from London, and has been seen frequently in the company of the Prince of Wales at charity balls and other events. Her marriage to Lord Furness was her second. In 1922 she was married to James Vail Converse, grandson of the late Theodore N. Vail, former president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. This marriage ended in divorce in 1925. A year before she filed her divorce action, the then Mrs. Converse went to California and entered the films, appearing in several productions.
Mr. Morgan had two other children -- Harry Hays Morgan Jr., who is in the diplomatic service, and Mrs. Benjamin Thaw Jr. of Pittsburgh, who was formerly Consuelo, the Countess de Maupas of France.
Was Trained by Tutors.
Born in 1860 at New Orleans, he received instruction from private tutors in Brussels, Belgium and Bonn, Germany, and also attended Phillips Exeter Academy. He entered the diplomatic service as Secretary of Legation at Mexico City in 1882.
Among posts which he later held were the Consul Generalship at Hamburg during the early part of the World War, before America's entry; representative of the United States Food and Fuel Administration in Cuba, United States Commissioner to Belgium to negotiate in connection with reconstruction, and the Consul Generalship in Antwerp.
When he retired, it was as Consul General at Buenos Aires. After his retirement, he and his wife went to Europe to live. They were divorced in Paris six years ago, Mrs. Morgan charging desertion.
Mr. Morgan was a member of a prominent family. He was the son of Philip Hickey [sic] Morgan, who served as justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, justice of the International Court of Egypt and envoy to Mexico.
