36 Facts About Henrietta Bingham

Henrietta Bingham was a wealthy American journalist, newspaper executive and horse breeder.

Henrietta Worth Bingham was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on January 3,1901, to Robert Worth Bingham, a lawyer who was an aspiring politician, and Eleanor "Babes" Miller who had married in 1896.

Henrietta Bingham was attractive and charismatic, and as she passed through her adolescence, she took advantage of this, flirting with boys, and noticeably to many people, her father.

Henrietta Bingham became her father's favorite over her brothers and he petted and spoiled her.

Henrietta Bingham did well at school and in 1920 she became the first member of her family to enter an elite university: Smith College.

Henrietta Bingham struggled and was persuaded to try again for re-entry in 1921.

Henrietta Bingham formed a friendship with her English composition instructor, Mina Kirstein and they became so close as to declare their love for each other.

When Henrietta Bingham restarted her freshman year at Smith she again got into difficulty, not only academically but by not keeping to the college's regulations.

The Bingham family travelled to England separately from Kirstein but, when it was time for the rest of the Binghams to return home, Henrietta persuaded her father to let her stay on with Kirstein as chaperone.

Henrietta Bingham's letter asked for help for an attractive 21-year-old American woman with irrational fears and a "homosexual tendency" possibly due to her childhood experiences.

Henrietta Bingham, she wrote, had developed an attraction towards Kirstein herself.

Henrietta Bingham reluctantly agreed to psychoanalysis in London and refused to return to America even when her father asked for her urgently.

Kirstein and Henrietta Bingham enjoyed the bohemian nightlife in London and through David Garnett they made contact with the Bloomsbury Group.

Carrington wrote she "almost made love to her in public" and then found from Garnett that Henrietta Bingham had been continually asking after her and wanting to see her again.

Henrietta Bingham had already caught the eye of Stephen Tomlin who was charismatic, widely read, and an accomplished writer and sculptor.

Back in Kentucky, Henrietta Bingham was unsettled, partly because she was disapproved of there.

Henrietta Bingham's contemporaries knew she was "crazy about girls" though her father had not yet realized.

Henrietta Bingham gave her the job of book editor in the local Courier-Journal he owned.

Henrietta Bingham had thought marriage would sort out all the misunderstandings she was having with the other people close to her.

In June 1924 the Binghams returned in England and Henrietta again become strongly involved with Bloomsbury social life.

Henrietta Bingham was her first and only female lover although Carrington found many women attractive to the point of having feelings of love or lust for them.

For Christmas Henrietta Bingham departed to the French Riviera with two girlfriends where she was photographed out walking in men's clothes, arm in arm with her two partners.

Henrietta Bingham was rapidly accepted into New York society and her apartment became a gathering place particularly for Southerners, both black and white.

When her family returned home Henrietta Bingham stayed with Beatrix at the home of Rosamond Lehmann, Beatrix's sister, and wrote syndicated articles for US newspapers about the English social scene, later turning to more serious topics such as the treatment of prisoners in European countries.

Henrietta Bingham accompanied her father and her stepmother to London where she easily socialized with the younger aristocracy.

Henrietta Bingham set about attracting Jacobs and went to all her matches.

Henrietta Bingham purchased a magnificent 450-acre country estate, called Harmony Landing, at Goshen intending to use it for breeding thoroughbred horses and pedigree dogs.

Jacobs and Henrietta Bingham were photographed together and were reported as being "almost inseparable".

Robert Henrietta Bingham resigned his ambassadorship shortly before his death in December 1937 but at his funeral in Kentucky the two women felt they had to stand away from each other because anti-homosexual attitudes were strengthening in America at this time.

When Jacobs returned to Europe for the 1938 tennis season Henrietta Bingham had to stay behind to manage the estate and that winter Jacobs could not stay at Goshen for prolonged periods because of the social ostracism.

Henrietta Bingham started drinking more heavily and their relationship was drifting apart.

The horse breeding business was reasonably successful but Henrietta Bingham had a nervous breakdown and afterwards she required periodic hospitalization and nursing care at home.

Henrietta Bingham was advised to undergo electroconvulsive therapy and frontal lobotomy to counter her depression and erratic behavior but she refused these treatments.

Henrietta Bingham visited England, meeting Garnett, Jones and a few other old friends.

Henrietta Bingham lived until 1968 with a paid nurse to look after her.

Henrietta Bingham died on June 17,1968, and was buried beside her father at Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville.