Harry Crosby was an American heir, World War I veteran, bon vivant, poet, and publisher who for some epitomized the Lost Generation in American literature. He was the son of one of the richest banking families in New England, a Boston Brahmin, and the nephew of Jane Norton Grew, the wife of financier J. P. Morgan, Jr. As such, he was heir to a portion of a substantial family fortune. He was a volunteer in the American Field Service during World War I, and later served in the U.S. Ambulance Corps. He narrowly escaped with his life.
Crosby in 1919
(L-R) Philip ('the Vulture") Shepley, Harry Crosby, George Richmond ("Tote") Fearing, and Stuart Kaiser shortly after Armistice Day, 1919, displaying their decorations
Julien Bryan in front of his Ambulance 464 in April 1917 near Verdun
The RMS Aquitania in 1914
Jane Norton Grew, known upon her marriage as Mrs. J. P. Morgan Jr., was an American socialite, art collector, and dilettante horticulturalist. Born in Boston to an affluent family, she married J. P. Morgan Jr., son of American financier J. P. Morgan, in 1890 and became prominent in both London and New York society, playing host to royalty including The Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. Grew curated and managed the Morgan library and art collection, and became involved in horticulture on her Long Island estate in Glen Cove.
1906 portrait by John Singer Sargent
The Morgan's brownstone, now part of the Morgan Library & Museum.
