The Marriage Drama of Frances Vane Stewart, 3rd Marchioness of Londonderry

  By Lauren Gilbert

Lady Frances Anne Emily Vane-Tempest, Marchioness of Londonderry (1800-1865) and her Son George Henry Robert Charles William Vane-Tempest, Viscount Seaham, later 5th Marquess of Londonderry (1821-1884) by Thomas Lawrence, public domain

The Hon. Frances Anne Vane Tempest was born January 17, 1800, in St. James’s Square, London. Frances Anne was admired and respected for her successes as a political and a society hostess, her business acumen, and her position in society. She capably ran estates in England and Ireland, and was known for being strong minded. Her background certainly prepared her to think for herself, to trust her own judgment, and to stand her ground. Her parents were fascinating people in their own rights.

Her father was Sir Henry Vane-Tempest of Long Newton, County Durham, 2nd Bearonet. He was born with the last name of Vane, and added Tempest by royal patent, after he inherited his late maternal uncle John Tempest’s estates in County Durham and Wynyard in 1793. This inheritance made him very wealthy, as the estates included significant coal mines. His uncle’s will required that the name Tempest be adopted. He replaced his uncle as M.P. for the City of Durham 1794-1800 and for County Durham 1807-1813. Also a sportsman, he owned a successful racing stable, including a horse named Hambletonian. (Henry gambled, and won, 3000 pounds on this horse to win at Newmarket in March 1799.) Sir Henry had a bad reputation as womaniser, and was known for having a bad temper. Henry Vane-Tempest’s father died in 1794, and he inherited the title, becoming 2nd Baronet. He had one sibling, his sister Frances, who married Michael Angelo Taylor, M. P. for the City of Durham. Frances’s marriage to Mr. Taylor caused an estrangement, but brother and sister eventually reconciled. Sir Henry also had an illegitimate son, named John, born about 1792, who apparently remained in County Durham. In April 1799, he married Anne Catherine McDonnell, Countess of Antrim.

Anne Catherine MacDonnell was born in 1775 in County Durham to Randal MacDonnell, 6th Earl of Antrim and 1st Marquis of Antrim and Viscount Dunluce, and his wife Letitia Morres. The Marquis and his lady left no sons. When he died in 1791, the Marquisate became extinct. However, the Earldom had a remainder which allowed it to pass on to daughters if there were no sons. As the eldest surviving daughter, Anne Catherine became Countess of Antrim and Viscountess Dunluce in her own right. She also inherited significant property in Northern Ireland. She met Sir Henry when she was about 18 years old, and her family tried to discourage the match, to no avail. Lady Anne and Sir Henry were married at her home in Hanover Square, London.

Although it seemed a good match, both being young, good looking and wealthy, unfortunately, it was not. Sir Henry was bad tempered and neglectful; both were extravagant and fond of partying. Lady Anne and Sir Henry alienated her family, and Lady Anne did not like Sir Henry’s sister, Frances Taylor, who visited frequently. Frances Anne, the only surviving child of the marriage, was born at Sir Henry’s estate of Long Newton, in County Durham. According to her own account, her parents were by turns neglectful and harsh, leaving her to form a close attachment to her aunt Mrs. Taylor, who was kind and paid attention to her. She also became scheming and independent.

Frances Anne was allowed to visit her aunt and formed a friendship with her half-brother. Sir Henry at least showed her affection, gave her money, and wrote his daughter affectionate notes when she was away. She formed a great attachment to him, although she and her mother never seemed to become close. Sir Henry’s death on August 1, 1813, was a serious blow to Frances Anne. She was 13 years old and a significant heiress.

The power structure changed. Frances Anne was now the owner of her father’s estates. Her father’s will left Frances Anne to the joint guardianship of her mother and her aunt. Her mother kept her own fortune and inherited personal property from Sir Henry, as well. Disagreements between Lady Anne and Mrs. Taylor flared up, and the result was that Frances Anne became a Ward in Chancery. Before leaving Wynyard, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor made sure that Frances Anne understood her position fully, and incited Frances Anne to oppose her mother. Frances Anne also had a temper and quarrelled with her mother. After a quarrel, in the heat of her anger, Frances Anne wrote to her aunt appealing for rescue. She was then about 14 years old. Her aunt responded by appealing to the Count of Chancery. The Countess of Antrim and Mrs. Taylor duly pursued the case in London.

In the process of the case, the Countess of Antrim consulted with John Beckett, Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department. Mr. Beckett, a friend of the late Sir Henry, offered her advice and (apparently) a flirtation. During this period, because no one could seem to handle her, Frances Anne was set up, in the care of her governess Mrs. Cade, in her own establishment, a house in Portman Square, London. Frances Anne, who was basically on her own, without effective supervision, made the acquaintance of Mr. Beckett’s younger brother, Edmund, who was about 24 and engaged to be married. Thus, drama began.

Frances Anne and Edmund began a relationship where they spent time together during the days and engaged in a clandestine correspondence. He even gave her a ring. This situation lasted about 4 months until Mrs. Cade came across their correspondence. Unbelievably, neither her mother nor her governess, nor Edmund’s brother (nor apparently Edmund’s betrothed) noticed this very shocking situation until this point. Frances had to give back the ring he had given her and his letters; Edmund returned the letters she had written to him. The whole affair remarkably seemed to have occurred without notice by society, and did not generate a scandal.

Marriage was an unavoidable issue for a major heiress of the time, and Frances Anne was no exception, despite her youth. Even though she was a minor and had guardians, she had no hesitation in speaking for herself and turned down more than one proposal. She was looking forward to being presented at court at age 17, but this plan was derailed by a marriage, this time by her mother. The Countess of Antrim remarried on June 27, 1817, to a singer named Edmund Phelps. She had met Mr. Phelps approximately a month or so previously. A wedding after such a brief acquaintance would have been surprising enough, but Mr. Phelps was a singer, a man of no fortune or connections of his own. The fact that he took his wife’s name, MacDonnell, afterwards did little to mask the state of affairs. Frances Anne did not attend, and the marriage was considered undignified, to say the least. Frances Anne’s presentation was postponed until 1818.

The newspapers reported Frances Anne’s presentation at court in February 1818. The Queen held a drawing room for the celebration of her birthday, which was attended by the Prince Regent and other members of the royal family. Frances Anne was presented by her mother, the Countess of Antrim. Following her presentation, she no was longer under her governess’s watch and, at 18, was maturing into a woman of some stature. Her mother and her aunt took her about to different society events. (Not together; they each accompanied her to separate events.) According to her biography, written by Edith, Marchioness of Londonderry, based on Frances Anne’s memoir, she met Lord Charles Stewart at her mother’s home early in February 1818.

Lord Charles Stewart was over 20 years older than she, a widower with a son, and she was not overly impressed, even though he was related to the Foreign Secretary, and was serving as Ambassador to Austria. Despite the slow start, she saw more of him at her mother’s home and at court. Mrs. Taylor did not care for the connection for various reasons, but the Countess of Antrim was completely supportive. As Frances Anne and Lord Charles saw more of each other, they became attached, and, in April of 1818, she accepted his proposal, without discussing the matter with either her mother or aunt. Although the Countess of Antrim approved, her aunt and uncle Mr. and Mrs. Taylor were quite angry. As one of her guardians, with Frances Anne being a ward in Chancery, Mrs. Taylor was not a force to be ignored.

The Countess of Antrim requested that the Lord Chancellor’s Court refer her daughter’s case to a Master to determine an appropriate settlement for daughter in relation to her impending marriage to Lord Stewart. Her mother’s petition was reported in the newspapers, including The Commercial Chronicle (London) of Saturday, April 25, 1818. Mrs. Taylor responded with a request of her own, asking that the Countess of Antrim denied contact with her daughter unless Frances Anne was accompanied by her governess. She accused the countess of promoting the match without the consent of either the Court or the co-guardian. She also included a memo detailing her reasons for opposing the marriage of Frances Anne and Lord Charles Stewart. Mrs. Taylor’s petition was also widely reported in great detail. The fireworks began, especially after the Lord Chancellor granted the injunction requiring that no one see Frances Anne without her governess being present.

Mrs. Taylor’s reasons for disapproving of the marriage included the facts that she considered Lord Stewart to be after Frances for her money, that he was too old for her, that he had a bad reputation, that insanity ran in his family, that his title would descend to his son by his previous marriage and Frances’s children would be disadvantaged, and that the marriage was improper for her. As the case went on, Lord Stewart refuted her charges. Although Frances’s fortune surpassed his, he had a respectable fortune and income of his own; he was willing to make settlements for Frances and any children; in his capacity as a soldier and ambassador, he was not a man of ill repute (although he had acquired a reputation of a ladies’ man and a drinker); the charge of insanity in his family was not proved. (He could not refute the age difference.)

The case went on for some months, and the Master ruled that the marriage would not be improper; it might not be the most advantageous marriage, but Lord Stewart had successfully established his situation, and Mr. and Mrs. Taylor had presented no evidence supporting Mrs. Taylor’s claims. In July 1818, although the Lord Chancellor sympathised with Mrs. Taylor, and had talked to Frances Anne himself, he felt he could not overrule the Master’s report, and found the marriage to be not improper. He commented specifically on Frances Anne’s determination to proceed with the marriage. He did, however stipulate that the couple could not celebrate the marriage until after the appeal to the House of Lords was resolved. (Data indicates that there was nothing preventing the settlement negotiations during the appeal.) Mrs. Taylor expressed her determination to appeal. Interestingly, newspaper reports indicate that a house was taken in Putney for Frances Anne and her governess Mrs. Cade in August. Lord Stewart returned to Vienna, where he indicated he planned to stay until the appeal was finished.

Newspaper accounts in November 1818 show that Frances Anne and Mrs. Cade were still in Putney. In January 1819, the Countess of Antrim was not yet in London, but Frances Anne had returned to London and was living in Norfolk Street. Although Mrs. Taylor had expressed her intent to appeal, newspaper accounts indicate she had apparently failed to pursue it vigorously, as the court questioned her about her intentions and ultimately dismissed the application in late January 1819. The Countess of Antrim held a dinner where she entertained Lord Stewart, Frances Anne and others at her home in Bruton Street in mid-February. Mrs. Taylor did try again to have the marriage blocked, but was unsuccessful. In late March 1819, the Order of Restraint preventing their marriage was finally discharged.

Lord Charles and Frances Anne were finally married at her mother’s house in Bruton Street, by special licence, on April 3, 1819. In accordance with Sir Henry’s will, Lord Charles Stewart and his wife took the last name of Vane by Royal Warrant. The entire affair was a cause célèbre. The case was covered extensively by newspapers across the United Kingdom and abroad. A romantic poem, called THE COUNTESS OF CARRICK, dedicated to Frances Anne by name, was widely advertised for sale in February 1819. The whole situation effectively destroyed her relationship with her aunt and uncle. The circumstances had to have been intensely uncomfortable and embarrassing for the couple themselves and their extended family, to have so much attention focused on such personal matters.

Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry (1778-1854) by James Godsell Middleton, photo by BotMultiChill, July 5, 2020-public domain

Fortunately, the couple enjoyed a long and prosperous marriage and had 6 children. She became a noted hostess. They purchased properties, including Holdernesse House (later renamed Londonderry House) in London and Seaham Hall in County Durham. Upon the suicide of Lord Charles’s half-brother in 1822, Charles became the 3rd Marquis of Londonderry. Subsequently, he was also granted the titles Earl Vane and Viscount Seaham, both of which were remaindered to heirs from his marriage to Frances Anne (an answer to Mrs. Taylor’s concern). They expanded the coal industry on their estates and developed a port at Seaham to facilitate shipping. Already quite affluent, they became even wealthier. Frances Anne was quite interested and active in these concerns and, before Charles died, their family was among the wealthiest in the UK. When Charles died in 1854, the title of Marquis of Londonderry went to his oldest son Frederick by his first wife, and the titles of Earl Vane and Viscount Seaham to his son George, his oldest son with Frances Anne. She ran the businesses herself. Sadly, Frederick died without an heir and Frances Anne’s son George became the 5th Marquis of Londonderry. Frances Anne died on January 20, 1865, at Seaham.

Sources include:

FRANCES ANNE The Life and Times of Frances Anne Marchioness of Londonderry and her husband Charles Third Marquess of Londonderry, by Edith, Marchioness of Londonderry, D. B. E. London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd. 1958.

THE LADIES OF LONDONDERRY Women and Political Patronage, by Diane Urquhart. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020 (1st published by I. B. Tauris & Co. Ltd. in 2007).

Christening record: City of West Minster Archives, Westminster Baptisms, transcriptions, via FindMyPast showing birthdate January 17, 1800, and baptism date February 14, 1800, in St. James, Piccadilly, Parish.

Marriage Record: Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Bans, 1754-1935; St. George, Hanover Square, 1798-1802, p. 132 of 616, showing marriage by special license at the home in Bruton Street by special license on the 3rd day of April 1819, via Ancestry .

Various newspaper articles from multiple cities, via BritishNewspaperArchive , including THE GLOBE, Friday, February 27, 1818, p. 2, London, England, one of many which covered her presentation; COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE, Saturday, April 25, 1818, p. 4, London, England, among those which discussed her mother’s petition regarding a settlement; BELL’S WEEKLY MESSENGER, April 26, 1818, p. 6-7, London, England, one of those which addressed Mrs. Taylor’s counter petition; BALDWIN’S WEEKLY JOURNAL, Saturday, July 18, 1818, p. 3, London, England which discussed the judgement; THE DURHAM COUNTY ADVERTISER, Saturday, August 29, 1818, p. 2, which mentioned her sojourn in Putney; MORNING POST, Saturday, February 6, 1819, p. 2, London, England, which contained the advertisement for THE COUNTESS OF CARRICK; EXETER FLYING POST, Thursday, April 9, 1819, p. 4, Devon, England, one of those which reported that the order of restraint was lifted; and the SUSSEX ADVERTISER, Monday, April 12, 1819, p. 4, Sussex, England, among the many which reported their wedding. THE LONDON GAZETTE, published May 26, 1819, issue: 17480, p. 906, found at TheGazette, reported the name change to Vane (as did other papers).

Images: Wikimedia Commons

Lauren Gilbert is fascinated with English literature and history, particularly the Regency era.  Lauren has a BA degree in liberal arts English and Art History.  A long-time member of JASNA, she delivered a breakout session at the Annual General Meeting in 2001.  She was keynote speaker for Jane Austen Fest in Mt Dora, FL in 2022.  A RATIONAL ATTACHMENT is her second novel.  Her essays appear in both volumes of CASTLES, CUSTOMS AND KINGS: True Tales by English Historical Fiction Authors. Her current project is a non-fiction book.  Visit her Amazon Author Page, her Facebook author page or  her website for more information.  

Iona, Clan Donald and the Cathedral of the Isles

by Regan Walker

The Isle of Iona is a very special place as anyone who has been there can tell you. A small isle that lies about a mile off the west coast of the larger Isle of Mull in the Scottish Hebrides, Iona has a long and illustrious history. Today is it a tourist destination and the faithful make pilgrimages to its shores and its Abbey Church. I have walked the white sand beaches, felt the constant breeze on my face and experienced the tranquility that characterizes this sacred place.

Iona Beach
Photo by Robert Guthrie, Wiki Commons

Surrounded by turquoise water, the rocky shores of the isle must have called to the early Irish missionary monks, Oran and Columba, who came here in 563 to establish a monastery from which they could evangelize the Picts. It was here the Book of Kells was originally created before it was taken to Ireland for safety.

Oran was the first monk to be buried on the isle and the small stone chapel, “St Oran’s Chapel”, was erected over his grave. Beginning with Somerled in the 12th century, the chapel became the burial chamber of the Lords of the Isles. He was the progenitor of Clan Donald. In my story of his descendant, Angus Og Macdonald, you can experience the ceremony to bury his father, Angus Mor, the Lord of the Isles.

St. Oran's Chapel
Photo by August Schwerdfege

The graveyard, Reilig Odhrain, named in Oran’s honor, that surrounded St Oran’s Chapel, became the burial place of various isle chieftains as well as Norse, Scottish and Irish kings. The tall carved crosses that stand before the chapel and the abbey are each dedicated to a saint. The hereditary master masons on Iona were famous for their stone carving.

St. Martin's Cross
Photo by Regan Walker

The most magnificent structures on the isle are the Abbey and the Abbey Church, hewn out of red stone and restored as you see them today. The pictures are my own.

Iona Abbey Church
Photo by Regan Walker

The church is a medieval masterpiece but today the inside looks nothing like it would have at the time of my story when the stones were painted with brilliant colors and the abbey lined with colorful tiles.

Inside the Abbey Church
Photo by Regan Walker

Ian Ross Macdonnell, author of Clan Donald and Iona Abbey: 1200-1500, with whom I consulted for my story, helped me to understand that Iona Abbey and the Abbey Church (the “Cathedral of the Isles”), are Clan Donald’s legacy. They stand as monuments to the faith of its chiefs who protected and maintained them for centuries. When a chief of Clan Donald, a Lord of the Isles, died, all the clans in the Isles came to Iona to honor him in death and to observe the ceremony that lasted eight days.

The Abbey Church
Photo by Regan Walker

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Regan Walker is an award-winning author of historical fiction set in the Regency, Georgian and Medieval eras. Her newest venture, The Clan Donald Saga, spans several centuries and tells the stories of the great sea lords, the Lords of the Isles, who plied the waters of the Hebrides in their galleys, ruling the western Highlands and the Isles for four hundred years. She has made several trips to Scotland as a part of her research. Regan lives in San Diego with her dog “Cody”, a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, who walks with her on the beach early every morning.

Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon – Haute Couturiere and Entrepreneur

by Tessa Arlen

In 1893 a thirty-year-old woman wakes up one morning to discover that her alcoholic and spendthrift husband has run off—again, this time with a pantomime dancer. There is no money in the bank and even if there were women in 1893 rarely had their own bank accounts, or access to their husband’s. The rent on her fashionable house, just off Berkley Square, is due next month, but she has no idea who their landlord is: that was again something husbands and fathers took care of.

Lucy, Lady Duff Gordon (nee Wallace)

Lucy Wallace is a hair away from destitution: a single mother with a five year old daughter and only an aging mother and a temperamental sister, Elinor, to turn to. Lucy’s worst dilemma is that she has not been educated to earn a living. Of course, she can read and write, and her embroidery and needlework are enviably fine, but beyond becoming a governess or a paid companion she has nothing to offer the world that will result in a salary large enough to keep them. She is a perfect example of a woman from the genteel class of 19^th century Britain.

The dressmakers of London

But Lucy has the beginning of a plan to earn money…it is a brave one and luckily she is not worldly enough to realize that the competition to design and make dresses is desperate in London. Thousands of modistes and milliners open and close shops all over the city every day.

In that moment she decides that she must divorce her husband—she can only obtain a divorce for desertion. Cruelty, incompatibility or stealing their wives’ money are not grounds for divorce in 1893. When women married their property and children belonged to the husband. Lucy is not so naïve that she does not knows that the social stigma will cost more than her solicitor’s fees. She won’t let herself think about the friends who will cut her, or point her out with pity as “That woman . . .” But divorce is the final hurdle to her freedom and however distasteful and frightening the divorce court is, she has no choice—if her husband returns he will drink away any money she has managed to make.

She lies in bed and calculates how far she can stretch the frugal sum she has put by from her dress allowance and her pin money. She can just about keep going until her business venture, if she dares to call it that, takes off.

Seamstresses at work in an atelier 1910

She must not let fear paralyze her. She throws back the bedclothes and gets out of bed: the first thing she must do is give her servants notice. As she says goodbye to women who have cooked, cleaned and cared for her for ten years, she cannot bring herself to fire the sixteen-year-old scullery maid, a workhouse orphan taken on only two weeks earlier. There is something about the girl that appeals to Lucy, and she is not so desparate that she must turn a young girl out on the street to starve? They are in the same boat!

Her mother is appalled about the divorce, but even more horrified that Lucy is thinking of going into ‘trade’. Her sister, married to a rich man, is determined that Lucy will make a go of a dressmaking business: after all Lucy’s doll’s clothes, made from scraps of silk and lace, were the envy of their childhood playmates! Elinor reassures her sister that success will be hers: Lucy has a flair for color, and eye for line and style—and anyway she has no choice but to succeed. Elinor has rich friends, and surely the more sophisticated of them won’t bat an eyelash about an unsavory divorce. Elinor promises that her rich husband will vouch for her credit.

The embellished skirt of a Lucile dress 1906

Gradually Lucy Wallace builds her clientele. It is slow going but she begins to succeed. Rich and titled women flock to her tiny little house and sip tea in her cramped drawing room as they wait for fittings for morning, afternoon, and evening dresses. They all agree that Lucy Wallace’s gowns are superbly original and for what is more than half the price of a Paris model! And there are no dreadful Channel crossings to be made, or the irritation of dealing with the patronizing attitude of the great fashion salons on the Rue de la Paix. Charles Frederick Worth is such a dreadful old snob, and it is impossible to get an appointment with Jacques Doucet these days.

The great fashion houses of Rue de la Paix, Paris

Lucy is helped by her scullery maid, the young orphan from the workhouse with a quick mind, deft hands and an aptitude for organization and arithmetic. Together the two women work long hours, taking on seamstresses, embroiders, and tailors as business grows.

There are set-backs: many of them. Cash flow is a nightmare, and Lucy has no skill as a businesswoman: the aristocracy are terrifyingly offhand about paying their bills on time, or in some cases ever. Silk merchants will not extend credit to single women; skilled workwomen are expensive and Lucy refuses to take advantage of cheap piecework labor (women making parts of a garment in their homes for starvation wages).

Piecework from home involved the whole family--for starvation wages

The dining room is her atelier; the drawing room full to overflowing with clients waiting for a fitting in the morning room; the three attic rooms house seamstresses. They moved to upmarket Hanover Square and to the luxury of space enough for fitting rooms galore!

The fashions change rapidly and to become a top designer Lucy can’t simply copy Paris models, she must be innovative, original and create her own look. Lucy’s label “Lucile” becomes known for its informality, its joie de vivre and its vibrant colors. She is fresh, daring and discovers that she has a flair for publicity.

Detail of one of Lucile's dresses

Lucy’s clients are ladies of fashion from a new generation: they are young society hostesses; stage actresses; women of title and means—even their husband’s mistresses patronize Lucy’s salon.  Lady Brook the Countess of Warwick, the Prince of Wales’s new mistress never pays for a single gown, but she reigns supreme in the sophisticated Marlborough Set where no woman would dream of wearing the same dress twice to a grand occasion. Mrs. Cynthia Asquith, the Prime Minister’s wife, brings her avant garde literary friends to be dressed by Lucy; The famous Westend stage actress Ellen Terry insists her costumes are designed by Lucy, and even Victoria Eugenie Julia Ena of Battenberg the Queen of Spain sends her maid over to make an appointment to consult with Lucy when her majesty is in London.

Bodice detail of a dress Lucy named "Happiness"

Lucy’s natural ability to listen to what her clients want and her tact to advise on what would actually suit them are among her greatest gifts. She creates what she calls Dresses of Emotion, each designed for its individual wearer. She gives her favorite gowns names: Passion Flower’s First Kiss; The Sigh of Lips Unsatisfied, and A Dream of Endless Summer. She also develops a talent for publicity! 

Lucile Ltd. is one of the first fashion houses in London to introduce their new season’s models in a live mannequin show.

As a new century dawns Lucy is ready to prise women out of hard, unforgiving whalebone corsetry and into softer more alluring and female lines—her silky lingerie is displayed in the Rose Room of her new Hanover Square salon, on a bed once slept in by Louis XIV mistress the Marquise de Montespan.

Lucile was the first fashion house in London to introduce the new season's models in a live mannequin parade

When Lucy marries Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon, society is willing to accept that Lucy has reached the pinnacle of success. She may not be presented at court because she is a divorcee, and worst of all in trade, but she can, and does, open a fashion house in New York, Chicago and with unashamed audacity in Paris.

Truly, could life be more perfect? Lucy Duff Gordon has become one of the most sought after haute couturières of the early 1900s, but as history has taught us: change is constant. On one bitterly cold night in April 1912 a catastrophe of such magnitude occurs and changes the course of Lucy Duff Gordon’s life forever. And once again she must rise above social ostracization and public humiliation to find a way out of this dilemma to save not only her business, but her marriage.

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Tessa Arlen writes historical fiction when she is not toiling away in her garden. She is the author of the Edwardian mystery series: Lady Montfort and Mrs. Jackson; the Woman of World War II mystery series. Poppy Redfern. And two standalone historical novels: In Royal Service to the Queen and A Dress of Violet Taffeta.

The Gunning Sisters & the Cost of Celebrity

by Nancy Bilyeau

On an autumn day in 1760, a woman's funeral was held in London. So many mourners mobbed the church--one count puts the crowd at ten thousand--that it suggests the burying of a royal. But the deceased was far from royal. 

She was Maria Coventry, born Maria Gunning and raised in obscurity in County Roscommon, Ireland. Yet during the second half of her short life Maria would have been well accustomed to mobs.

The Gunning sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, were beautiful no doubt, but their effect on the population was extreme if not bizarre. We are told that at times they required sword-bearing guards to protect them from fevered crowds, that people stayed up all night to be in position to catch just a glimpse of one descending from a carriage.

In George Selwyn's memoirs, he writes, "Someone proposes a stroll to Betty's fruit shop [in St. James's Street]. Suddenly the cry is raised ' The Gunnings are coming!' and we all tumble out to gaze and criticise."

Horace Walpole wrote of them as "two Irish girls of no fortune who make more noise than any of their predecessors since the days of Helen, and are declared the handsomest women alive."

Aristocratic men who ordinarily would have been keen to make financially prudent marriages ("acre to acre" went the saying) abandoned all pragmatism and fought to marry a penniless Gunning sister within weeks, even days, of coming into contact with her.

Maria married an earl, and Elizabeth married a duke and, after he died, a second duke. 

Attractive young women had caused sensations at the English court before, whether it was Anne Boleyn in the 16th century or Frances Stewart in the 17th century. In the mid-18th century, the fame that was attainable for a young beauty changed in nature, becoming greater in scope and more threatening too.

Maria, Countess of Coventry, credit: wikipedia

One of the changes that affected the Gunnings was the growth of the popular press.

"So it was that a free press and a very weak libel law created a climate of speculation and gossip far freer than we have today, far more direct, personal and scurrilous," wrote Stella Tilyard. "Information, paid for by eager editors, poured into publishers' offices and straight into type. Readers were discovering the heady pleasures of scandals in high places."

Along with a bolder press came the rise of the British portrait painter. Sir Joshua Reynolds, first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, is believed to have created the concept of celebrity, "a hybrid of fame driven by commerce and the cult of personality," according to the book Joshua Reynolds: The Creation of Celebrity.

In an article published in The Guardian, curator Louise Cooling writes that "Catherine Maria 'Kitty' Fisher was the most celebrated courtesan in England in the 1760s and was one of the first celebrities to be famous simply for being famous." It was a portrait of Kitty painted by Joshua Reynolds, posing her as Cleopatra dissolving a pearl, that turned her into "an 18th century Kardashian" and "the original influencer," according to The Guardian.

Reynolds' portrait of Kitty Fisher

It was a spectacular portrait of Elizabeth Gunning by Reynolds that brought her a rush of special attention. She sat for the artist for an unusually long time. He worked on the portrait from January 1758 to June of the following year. It is praised by art historians as one of the first examples of Reynolds; "fully realized aesthetics."

It could be fairly argued that it was the Gunning sisters who carry the distinction of being the original influencers. They did inspire a cult of personality.

We know next to nothing of Kitty Fisher's early life. As for the Gunning sisters, much more has been written about their background. But how much of it is accurate is up for debate. Some tales carry a whiff of the apocryphal.

Their father was John Gunning of Castle Coot, yet it does seem clear there was a shortage of money. The mother and children took a house in Dublin while the father hid from creditors. There is one story that an actress, Mrs. Bellamy, heard raised voices on the other side of a wall, rushed inside the strange house to help, interrupted a fight over eviction, and rescued Mrs. Gunning and her "beautiful children" with a loan.

Some reports say the sisters afterward dabbled in acting, others that, when they had the chance to attend a ball in Dublin, their mother begged a theatrical contact to lend her daughters costumes so they could go to the ball. Their own dresses were close to rags. Shades of Cinderella...

Whatever they wore, Elizabeth and Maria caused a sensation at the Dublin ball. Their mother was advised to "take them to London." Somehow she raised the money t do just that.

"Thus the captivating aristocratic Gunning sisters, whose distinguishing feature was that there were two of them, were sent on a carefully managed progress from their home in Ireland to England in 1750 to be launched on the marriage market," wrote Tilyard.

In 1752, both Elizabeth and Maria married two of the most eligible single men in England. They were judged successes--though whether their marriages were happy is another matter.

It was when between Elizabeth was between husbands that she posed for Reynolds. Both sisters were quite tall; Elizabeth's willowy figure in the portrait and fashionable coloring suggest why she might have been so celebrated.

Elizabeth Gunning

Her first husband, the Duke of Hamilton, was a notorious rake and gambling addict who insisted on marriage shortly after meeting her. The second, John Campbell, the Duke of Argyll, was despised by Walpole as "sordidly covetous." Nonetheless, Elizabeth seems to have developed a steeliness about the whole business. She had eight children, served as a Lady of Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte, and died at Argyll House at age 57.

The older sister, Maria, had a different kind of marriage and court career. She possessed an impulsive, outspoken nature that some people found charming. When George II asked her if she were sorry that there were no more masquerades that season, she answered that no she was tired of them, but there was one thing she did want to see—a royal funeral. The King used to tell this story himself "with much amusement."

Her marriage did not turn out to be a happy one. When she and the Earl of Coventry went to France, she began using rouge as the other ladies did, including Madame de Pompadour, but her husband hated it, and once chased her in public to rub it off her face. 

More seriously, the earl had a flagrant affair with none other than Kitty Fisher. Maria, unlike most other aristocratic wives, did not look the other way.

According to one account, "in the park Lady Coventry asked Kitty Fisher for "the name of the dressmaker who had made her dress." Kitty Fisher answered she ..."had better ask Lord Coventry as he had given her the dress as a gift." To that, Maria raged at her "impertinence."

Maria's health deteriorated. While one theory is tuberculosis, another frequently repeated story is that she died of lead poisoning caused by overuse of cosmetics. (This was the same cause of death rumored to strike down her rival Kitty Fisher.) There was no autopsy, so we'll never know.

She didn't slow down willingly. One chronicler wrote, "With all the spirit of a true belle, however, she refused to quit the paths of pleasure, and was seen attending a celebrated murder trial only a few days before she was forced to take to her bed."

Maria Coventry died at the age of twenty-seven.

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Nancy Bilyeau wrote about the art world of 1764 London in her historical novel The Fugitive Colours, with Joshua Reynolds and Kitty Fisher appearing as characters. The book was published in the US, the UK, Canada and Australia on March 12th.

"A cracking historical spy thriller."- Historical Novel Society

"Deftly written and deeply atmospheric, The Fugitive Colours is a book 

you'll have trouble putting down!"

--Kate Quinn, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Diamond Eye

Links:
Amazon
Bookshop.org


www.nancybilyeau.com

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