WEMYSS & MARCH, Rt Hon Countess of (Amanda Claire Marion nee FEILDING) 1943-2025

[Richard R]

She was d of Basil Percy Terence FEILDING 1907-86 (gt gs of 7^th Earl of DENBIGH 1796-1865, as well 2xgt gs of 1^st Earl of DUCIE 1776-1840, 3xgt gs of 1^st Earl of CARNARVON 1741-1811, 4xgt gs of 2^nd Earl of EGREMONT 1710-64, etc) and his wife & 2^nd cousin Margaret Mary 1908-89 d of Lt-Col Rowland Charles FEILDING DSO 1871-1945 (gs of 7^th Earl of DENBIGH &c as above) and Edith Mary 1879-1961 d of Frederick Annesley STAPLETON-BRETHERTON (formerly Bretherton) 1841-1919 sometime head of that gentry family of Rainhill and Hon Isabella Mary PETRE 1848-1919 d of 12^th Baron PETRE 1817-84 and Mary Theresa CLIFFORD 1823-95 gd of 6^th Baron CLIFFORD OF CHUDLEIGH 1759-1831, as well gd of 8^th Baron ARUNDELL OF WARDOUR 1740-1808. She m 1^st 1968 (div 1993) Joseph Chase Hurt b 1939 reg Q4 Essex s of William Palmer MELLEN 1902-53 by his 1936 m reg Q3 Essex to Bridget Florinda 1912-2008 d of Capt Henry Albert Le Fowne HURT CMG RN 1881-1969 scion of that gentry family f/o Alderwasley (and 3xgt gs of 4^th Earl of CARLISLE 1693-1758, etc) and Mabel Alleyne JESSOP 1883-1964 scion of that gentry family of Overton Hall (gd of Sir John Gay Newton ALLEYNE 3^rd Bt 1820-1912, as well gt gd of Sir Henry FITZHERBERT 3^rd Bt 1783-1858, etc), and had two sons. She m 2^nd 1995 as his 2^nd w the 13^th Earl of WEMYSS & [9^th] MARCH b 1948, who survives her.

Obit in the Times of 28 May 2025:

E X T R A C T

Amanda Feilding obituary: ‘Crackpot countess’ who studied LSD benefits

Countess of Wemyss and March who led a lifelong campaign for the approval of trepanation and research into the medical benefits of psychedelic drugs dies aged 82

On a December afternoon in 1970, 27-year-old Amanda Feilding bored a hole in the front of her skull using a pedal-operated dentist’s drill. She called it “a conscious decision” for which she had prepared meticulously, even to the point of having a spare drill at hand. Such preparedness was prudent because the first drill malfunctioned once she had commenced the gruesome procedure.

Trepanning, as the operation is known, is an ancient practice. There is evidence of its existence in neolithic times. However, unsurprisingly, when a healthy and elegant upper-class young woman decided to self-trepan and have the operation filmed, it raised questions about her sanity. Within hours of completing the procedure, Feilding, dressed in a Moroccan kaftan, her bandages concealed beneath a silk turban, attended a cocktail party with her pet pigeon, Birdie, perched on her shoulder.

The combination of trepanning and her interest in researching the medical benefits of administering microdoses of LSD led her to being known for more than 60 years by such pejorative sobriquets as “Lady Mindbender” and “the Crackpot Countess” as well as laudatory ones such as “the Queen of Consciousness”. Given that in her early twenties her drink was spiked with a massive dose of LSD, which might easily have killed her, many of her friends were amazed that throughout her life, Feilding persisted in championing research into the possible medical benefits of the drug…

…Her mother was Catholic, her father an atheist [who] encouraged her to take a contrary view to almost everything the government of the day advised.

Amanda Feilding was born in 1943, the fourth child of Basil Feilding and his wife, his second cousin Margaret Feilding. The Feildings are related to the Earls of Denbigh. Through the marriage of the daughter of the 7th Earl, Lady Ida Feilding, and the Conservative politician William Malcolm Low in 1872, they are also related to the former prime minister David Cameron [the late Countess’ third cousin once removed].

Feilding was brought up at Beckley Park in Oxfordshire, an ancient estate whose lands are thought to have historical links to King Alfred. Remodelled in Tudor times…“We ran wild there as children,” Feilding once told a friend. “We were like the Mitfords without the politics.”

…Joe Mellen, another believer in the beneficial effects of trepanation and the efficacy of LSD usage to treat things such as depression, became Feilding’s partner in the 1960s. [He] supported Feilding’s exercise in auto-trepanation.

…In 1995 she became Lady Neidpath — and, on her father-in-law’s death in 2008, the Countess of Wymess and March — when she married a fellow devotee of trepanation, Lord Neidpath. She and Jamie Neidpath, as he was known to his friends, exchanged wedding vows in the shadow of the Bent Pyramid of Sneferu, part of a necropolis outside Cairo.

…Feilding is survived by her husband, the 13th Earl of Wemyss and 9th Earl of March, and by two sons through her relationship with Mellen — one of them, Rocky Feilding-Mellen, was a Conservative councillor questioned over the 2017 Grenfell disaster.

Amanda Charteris, Countess of Wemyss and March (also known as Amanda Feilding), was born on January 30, 1943. She died on May 22, 2025, aged 82

https://www.thetimes.com/article/ef8cf6bf-73b1-4533-9a13-85b2393e1dc8

[dpth...@gmail.com]

"She m 1st 1968 (div 1993) Joseph Chase Hurt b 1939 reg Q4 Essex s of William Palmer MELLEN"

The late Daniel Willis, author or compiler of several genealogical works, once said that Lady Wemyss had confirmed to him that she never actually married Mellen, and it can be seen in the announcement that it speaks only of "her relationship with Mellen".

[Richard R]

Thanks.

The Times obit is ambiguous on this point. I took my marriage info & dates - including a divorce date - from the print and online editions of Debrett and Burke.

It's strange that the late Countess did not contradict the information in print, given she had told at least one person - no longer with us - that there was no marriage.

[dpth...@gmail.com]

I had a note to that effect in my files, but did not originally remember whether he had published that information, or told me personally. However, I have now found it in Willis's "The Descendants of Charles II, Volume 3", page 139.
 He gives only the Wemyss marriage, but also lists the issue by Mellen. In a footnote he says: "Some sources claim that they married but Lady Wemyss has confirmed that they did not."

I do know that Willis contacted directly many people for their information to include in is works, including knocking on doors in small Hungarian villages for some of his work, so I have no doubt that the information above came from direct contacts he had with Lady Wemyss.

[dpth...@gmail.com]

lengthy article with photographs in The Tatler

https://www.tatler.com/article/amanda-feilding-obituary-countess-wemyss-march-lsd


There are many articles about this interesting woman online.

A 2022 article:

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/amanda-feilding-psychedelics-beckley/

Another interesting 2022 article about a dispute with an art dealer:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/high-court-french-lawyers-london-france-b2237741.html

[Richard R]

Thanks for giving the background to the Willis information, most useful.