On December 16, 1910, he was elected as the temporary chairman of the New York City Council of the Boy Scouts of America.[6]
During World War I, he was the commander of the 3rd Battalion of the African American 15th New York Infantry which was inducted into Federal service as the 369th Infantry Regiment (nicknamed "The Harlem Hellfighters"). In September 1918, during the Battle of Champagne-Argonne, he was stuck six times by German machine gun fire. Severely wounded, he was sent home to recover.[7] For his bravery, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honour. The latter was presented to him in July 1919 by Ambassador Jean Jules Jusserand.[8] When the men of the 3rd Battalion returned home after the war, he was there to greet them, his fractured leg still in a sling.[9]
He became president of the Witteman Aircraft Corporation in 1921 and the Atlantic Aircraft Corporation in 1923.[10]
He married his first wife, Mary Ridgeley Sands, on September 19, 1905, at Trinity Church in Manhattan, New York City.[12] They divorced in March 1922.[13] They had one son together, Lorillard Suydam Spencer Jr., on June 11, 1906.[14]
He married Katherine Emmons Force on December 6, 1922.[13] They had two sons, Stephen Wolcott Spencer on April 22, 1925, and William Hurlbut Force Spencer on June 13, 1927.[15]
Legacy
Lorillard S. Spencer by Arthur Jule Goodman
The earliest Filipino Boy Scout troop recorded in history was named after him due to the monetary support provided by his mother, who was an American charity worker in Sulu, Philippines.[16] The Lorillard Spencer Trophy serves as the perpetual award to a local Boy Scout council in the Philippines obtaining the highest record of advancement and membership for the year. The trophy is inscribed as "The Lorillard Spencer Trophy Presented by His Mother in Loving Memory of a Loyal Scouter".[16]
^ abUnited Press (June 12, 1939). "Lorillard Spencer Dead". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved 2010-10-19. Lorillard Spencer, 56, former executive in several airplane companies and prominent in Newport society died at his home Friday after a long illness ...
^Edgar L. Murlin (1916). The New York Red Book. J.B. Lyon Company, Albany, New York.
^"Mrs. Lorillard Spencer To Run Mission In Jolo". The New York Times. December 5, 1913. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved 2010-10-19. Mrs Lorillard Spencer, Noted New York matron in company with an Episcopal deaconess will instruct the savage tribesmen of the Philippines in Christianity ...
^"Mrs. L. Spencer Dies In Home At Newport". The New York Times. April 7, 1948. Retrieved 2010-10-19. Mrs. Caroline S. Berryman Spencer, widow of Lorillard Spencer, who was prominent in New York and Newport society and was editor of the Illustrated American.....
^ ab"Miss Katherine Force To Wed Major Spencer. Their Marriage to Take Place Tomorrow at the Home of Her Sister, Mrs. William K. Dick". The New York Times. December 5, 1922. Retrieved 2012-11-26. Although the engagement of Miss Katherine B. Force, daughter of Mrs. William H. Force, to Major Lorillard Spencer has never been formally announced, it has been rumored for some time, and their wedding will take place tomorrow at the home of Mrs. William K. Dick, 7 East Eighty-fourth Street. Mrs. Dick, who was formerly Mrs. John Jacob Astor, is Miss Force's sister.
^"Stephen W. Spencer". July 29, 2010. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved 2012-11-26. Born in New York, NY, on April 22, 1925, he was the son of the late Katherine (nee Force) and Lorillard Spencer. His father was a highly decorated World War I veteran.....
^ abBoy Scouts of the Philippines (1996). Diamond Jubilee Yearbook. Boy Scouts of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines.
