Lillian Bostwick Phipps
Encyclopedia
Lillian Stokes Bostwick Phipps (July 9, 1906 – November 27, 1987) was an American
socialite
and owner of Thoroughbred
steeplechase
racehorses
.
, the daughter of Mary Stokes and Albert Carlton Bostwick (1876-1911), her wealthy grandfather, Jabez A. Bostwick
, was one of John D. Rockefeller's
founding partners in the Standard Oil Company
.
Lillian Bostwick was raised in a Fifth Avenue
mansion in New York City
and as a young woman was listed in the 1930 New York Social Blue Book
http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Directory/Blue/index.html. Her father was a horseman and polo
player whose influence on her and brothers George Herbert Bostwick, Dunbar and Albert Jr.
led to them becoming involved with the sport of horse racing
. In 1942, her only sister, Dorothy
(1899-2001), became the first American woman to hold a helicopter
pilot's license.
In the 1930s, Lillian Bostwick and brothers Pete and Dunbar built and operated Bostwick Field in Old Westbury, New York
where they hosted international polo matches. First married in 1928 at Church of the Transfiguration
to Robert V. McKim of Aiken, South Carolina
, the couple had three daughters, including the fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer
. In November 1937 at St. Bartholomew's Church
she wed Court tennis
champion and Thoroughbred
breeder/owner
Ogden Phipps
, a member of the prominent Phipps family
and nephew of Ogden L. Mills
, the former United States Secretary of the Treasury
.
While her husband successfully invested in Thoroughbred horses for flat racing
, Lillian Bostwick Phipps purchased and raced a number of steeplechase
racers. She owned Neji
and Oedipus
, two very prominent horses that were voted American Steepchase Champion
s five times in all, and who were both inducted into the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame
. Mrs. Phipps won the American Grand National eight times with Oedipus (1951), Nedji (1955, 1957, 1958), Mako (1965), Top Bid (1973), Straight and True (1976), and Le Ronceray (1987).
A community benefactor, Lillian Bostwick Phipps served on the Board of Directors
of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York
, the Metropolitan Opera Association
, and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center
of which she was also its Chairperson.
Lillian Bostwick Phipps and her husband maintained residences in New York City, Saratoga Springs, Florida and at Summerville, South Carolina
where she died in 1987. Her interior design team of Robert Denning
& Vincent Fourcade
from the inception of their firm in 1960 had been involved with acquisitions and style in all of their fifteen homes and she has been credited with playing a significant role in launching the team.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
socialite
Socialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
and owner of Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
steeplechase
Steeplechase (horse racing)
The steeplechase is a form of horse racing and derives its name from early races in which orientation of the course was by reference to a church steeple, jumping fences and ditches and generally traversing the many intervening obstacles in the countryside...
racehorses
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
.
Biography
Born in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, the daughter of Mary Stokes and Albert Carlton Bostwick (1876-1911), her wealthy grandfather, Jabez A. Bostwick
Jabez A. Bostwick
Jabez Abel Bostwick was an American businessman who was a founding partner of Standard Oil.-Biography:...
, was one of John D. Rockefeller's
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
founding partners in the Standard Oil Company
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
.
Lillian Bostwick was raised in a Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue (Manhattan)
Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the center of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. The section of Fifth Avenue that crosses Midtown Manhattan, especially that between 49th Street and 60th Street, is lined with prestigious shops and is consistently ranked among...
mansion in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and as a young woman was listed in the 1930 New York Social Blue Book
Social Register
Specific to the United States, the Social Register is a directory of names and addresses of prominent American families who form the social elite, . The "Directory" automatically includes the President of the United States and the First Family, and in the past always included the U.S. Senators and...
http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Directory/Blue/index.html. Her father was a horseman and polo
Polo
Polo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Sometimes called, "The Sport of Kings", it was highly popularized by the British. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a...
player whose influence on her and brothers George Herbert Bostwick, Dunbar and Albert Jr.
Albert C. Bostwick, Jr.
Albert Carlton Bostwick, Jr. was a member of the wealthy and prominent Bostwick family who became a steeplechase jockey and a Thoroughbred racehorse owner, breeder and trainer.-Biography:...
led to them becoming involved with the sport of horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
. In 1942, her only sister, Dorothy
Dorothy Stokes Bostwick
Dorothy Stokes Bostwick Smith Campbell was an American heiress and an artist and author who became the first woman in the United States to hold a helicopter pilot's license.-Biography:...
(1899-2001), became the first American woman to hold a helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
pilot's license.
In the 1930s, Lillian Bostwick and brothers Pete and Dunbar built and operated Bostwick Field in Old Westbury, New York
Old Westbury, New York
Old Westbury is a village in Nassau County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the 2010 United States Census, the village population was 4,671....
where they hosted international polo matches. First married in 1928 at Church of the Transfiguration
Little Church Around the Corner
The Church of the Transfiguration, also known as the Little Church Around the Corner, is an Episcopal parish church located at 1 East 29th Street, between Madison and Fifth Avenues in the NoMad neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The congregation was founded in 1848 by the Rev. Dr...
to Robert V. McKim of Aiken, South Carolina
Aiken, South Carolina
Aiken is a city in and the county seat of Aiken County, South Carolina, United States. With Augusta, Georgia, it is one of the two largest cities of the Central Savannah River Area. It is part of the Augusta-Richmond County Metropolitan Statistical Area. Aiken is home to the University of South...
, the couple had three daughters, including the fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer
Lilly Pulitzer
Lillian Pulitzer Rousseau , better known as Lilly Pulitzer, is a socialite and prominent fashion designer. She is known for founding Lilly Pulitzer, Inc., which produces clothing and other wares featuring bright, colorful prints...
. In November 1937 at St. Bartholomew's Church
Saint Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, New York
St. Bartholomew's Church, commonly called St. Bart's, is a historic Episcopal parish founded in January 1835, and located on the east side of Park Avenue between 50th and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.-Former structures:...
she wed Court tennis
Real tennis
Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original indoor racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis , is descended...
champion and Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
breeder/owner
Horse breeding
Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...
Ogden Phipps
Ogden Phipps
Ogden Phipps was an American stockbroker, court tennis champion and Hall of Fame member, thoroughbred horse racing executive and owner/breeder, and an art collector and philanthropist...
, a member of the prominent Phipps family
Phipps family
The Henry Phipps family of the United States was founded by Henry Phipps, Jr., the son of an English shoemaker who emigrated in the early part of the 19th century to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania before settling in Pittsburgh. When a child, Henry Phipps was a friend and neighbor to Andrew Carnegie...
and nephew of Ogden L. Mills
Ogden L. Mills
Ogden Livingston Mills was an American businessman and politician.-Biography:The son of Ogden Mills and Ruth T. Livingston, he had twin sisters Beatrice Mills and Gladys Livingston Mills. Odgen L. Mills was the grandson of Darius O...
, the former United States Secretary of the Treasury
United States Secretary of the Treasury
The Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, which is concerned with financial and monetary matters, and, until 2003, also with some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United...
.
While her husband successfully invested in Thoroughbred horses for flat racing
Flat racing
Flat racing is a form of Thoroughbred horse racing which is run over a level track at a predetermined distance. It differs from steeplechase racing which is run over hurdles...
, Lillian Bostwick Phipps purchased and raced a number of steeplechase
Steeplechase (horse racing)
The steeplechase is a form of horse racing and derives its name from early races in which orientation of the course was by reference to a church steeple, jumping fences and ditches and generally traversing the many intervening obstacles in the countryside...
racers. She owned Neji
Neji (horse)
Neji was an American Champion Thoroughbred steeplechase racehorse. Foaled in England, Neji was purchased at age three by Lillian Bostwick Phipps who brought the gelding to race in the United States under future Hall of Fame trainer Pete Bostwick....
and Oedipus
Oedipus (horse)
Oedipus was an American Champion Thoroughbred steeplechase racehorse. Sired by 1929's flat racing Horse of the Year Blue Larkspur and foaled in Kentucky, Oedipus was purchased by Lillian Bostwick Phipps and was conditioned by future Hall of Fame trainer Pete Bostwick.Oedipus raced from 1948...
, two very prominent horses that were voted American Steepchase Champion
Eclipse Award for Outstanding Steeplechase horse
The American Champion Steeplechase Horse is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded as part of the Eclipse Award program since its inception in 1971. It is awarded annually to the top horse in steeplechase racing....
s five times in all, and who were both inducted into the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...
. Mrs. Phipps won the American Grand National eight times with Oedipus (1951), Nedji (1955, 1957, 1958), Mako (1965), Top Bid (1973), Straight and True (1976), and Le Ronceray (1987).
A community benefactor, Lillian Bostwick Phipps served on the Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York
Visiting Nurse Service of New York
Visiting Nurse Service of New York is the largest and oldest not-for-profit home health care provider in the United States.Lillian Wald, the founder of VNSNY, began making home nursing visits in 1893....
, the Metropolitan Opera Association
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
, and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Saratoga Performing Arts Center
The Saratoga Performing Arts Center is an amphitheater in Saratoga Springs, New York, which presents summer festivals of all kinds of music , dance, and opera, as well as a Wine & Food Festival...
of which she was also its Chairperson.
Lillian Bostwick Phipps and her husband maintained residences in New York City, Saratoga Springs, Florida and at Summerville, South Carolina
Summerville, South Carolina
Summerville is a town in the U.S. state of South Carolina situated mostly in Dorchester County with small portions in Berkeley, and Charleston counties. It is part of the Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area as designated for statistical purposes by the U.S. Office...
where she died in 1987. Her interior design team of Robert Denning
Robert Denning
Robert Denning was an American interior designer whose lush interpretations of French Victorian decor became an emblem of corporate raider tastes in the 1980s.-Early life:...
& Vincent Fourcade
Vincent Fourcade
Vincent Gabriel Fourcade was a French interior designer and the business and life partner of Robert Denning...
from the inception of their firm in 1960 had been involved with acquisitions and style in all of their fifteen homes and she has been credited with playing a significant role in launching the team.