Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire (2024)

Do you recognise this person?

A shy English teenager, she blossomed after she was catapulted to fame by marrying an older, wealthier man. Although she had been born into a rich and influential family, her husband came from an even more prestigious family. After her marriage, she became universally adored; a trendsetting fashion icon, who turned heads whenever she entered a room. Everything she did, said and wore became news.

Yet her confident public persona hid a multitude of personal troubles. Her self-esteem became so low that she endured periods of loneliness and depression, and was occasionally subject to cycles of starvation and binge eating. She was a vulnerable woman who lived the life of an icon.

Of course, you might say, this thumbnail sketch is instantly recognisable: it is of Diana, Princess of Wales. Yet this description not only fits the former Princess, but also Georgiana Cavendish, the subject of Amanda Foreman’s 1998 biography, Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire, who died more than 200 years ago. Even more strangely, the two were related. Georgiana’s maiden name was “Spencer”, as was Diana’s, and she was Diana’s great-great-great-great aunt.

Both Diana and Georgiana Spencer were born at the family home at Althorp. Both sat for artists; Mario Testino painted Diana, just as Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds had both painted Georgiana, two centuries earlier.

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire - Gainsborough

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire - Reynolds

Both became popular, quickly achieving celebrity status. “The Morning Herald” and “The Daily Advertiser” each published at least one story a week about Georgiana from 1781. The public bestowed their affection and loyalty on her, when it became obvious that her marriage would never make her happy. It seemed as if everyone was in love with Georgiana, except her husband, who showed no concern even when she fainted at a ball during their engagement, preferring to carry on talking to his friends about dogs. Indeed the first chapter ends in a nearby rented villa on their wedding day, where another woman, a milliner called Charlotte, was nursing the baby she had had by the Duke.

Georgiana suffered the humiliation of being trapped in a very public ménage à trois, with her husband and her best friend “Bess”, Lady Elizabeth Foster, finding herself at the centre of 18th-century England’s best-known love triangle. The Duke expected two things from her: an heir, and not to gamble his fortune away, but for a long time, it looked as if Georgiana could do neither. She continued as an outwardly poised, flamboyant leader of fashion and the Queen of the ton, but she developed eating disorders, became addicted to drink and drugs, and through constant gambling, became heavily in debt. This is where the two histories diverge.

Lady Georgiana Spencer was just 17 in 1774, when she married the 26 year old William Cavendish, the 5th Duke of Devonshire. She had been contracted by her mother, Lady Spencer, to marry England’s most powerful aristocrat, and her dowry was immense. Georgiana’s father was wealthy, and she grew up moving between a series of palaces. Her new husband’s family, though, had vast estates, including Chatsworth, Hardwick, Londesborough, Bolton Abbey, Lismore Castle, Chiswick House, Burlington House and Devonshire House. The family owned the electoral boroughs which effectively controlled 23 seats in the House of Commons.

There were 200 peers of whom 28 were the highest ranking, Dukes. All the peers were entitled by birth to sit in the House of Lords, and 558 members of parliament (often their friends and relatives) would sit in the House of Commons. Britain itself still had less than ten million people, of whom only about 3 per cent were entitled to vote. As the wife of a Duke, Georgiana therefore immediately became one of the most influential figures of her time.

The periods of English history which stand out as most familiar, are probably the Tudors, the Victorians and the two World Wars. Other than that, our knowledge is patchy, unless we have studied history. Our views about the freedoms of Georgian females are likely to be inaccurate assumptions, based on our knowledge of the straight-laced and outwardly respectable Victorians.

Georgiana’s acquaintances were very different. They included titled ladies who sold their bodies to pay off their gambling debts, or to promote their husbands’ political careers. Others quietly disappeared abroad to give birth to illegitimate children—or adopted those of their husbands. Georgiana was in fact herself to do both of these. In the 18th century, a noblewoman was free to do largely as she pleased, once she had produced an heir.

Since William usually looked elsewhere for his sexual pleasures, Georgiana had to do something about it. She duly consulted a celebrated fertility “doctor”, James Graham, who was popular with the childless nobility. In his “Temple of Health and Hymen”:

“Infertile couples paid an exorbitant £50 a night to make love on the ‘electro-magnetic bed’ in his ‘celestial chamber’ to the strains of an orchestra playing outside, while a pressure-cylinder pumped ‘magnetic fire’ into the room.”

Females in the 18th century could take the initiative in many areas. Both the Spencer and Cavendish families were reformist Whigs, but the Duke’s position made it impossible for him to become involved in politics. Georgiana therefore became the public face of the family’s political ambitions. Although women could not vote at the time, and were barred from the House of Commons, Georgiana was an intelligent, insightful woman. She was very interested in Enlightenment philosophy, and understanding the importance of public relations very well, she became:

“a passionate contestant in the political arena. She devoted herself to the Whig party: campaigning, scheming, fund-raising and recruiting for it until the day she died.”

Georgiana made Devonshire House, the couple’s London home, the centre of activities for Britain’s fashionable opposition party. The Whigs were great landowners who contested the power of the crown (which at that time sat rather uneasily on the head of the increasingly insane George III) and who supported the American War of Independence. George III and his prime minister William Pitt were furious that Georgiana had tempted the vain, idle Prince of Wales into her inner circle, thereby enabling her later to save the fragile Whig coalition government from collapsing:

“No one in England knew that the fate of the government rested on a woman’s influence with a spoilt youth.”

Whig society was liberal and worldly. It was artistic, gossipy, and not what we would consider polite. After glittering, spectacular balls and lavish dinners with large quantities of alcohol, the women would withdraw, in order for the men to continue their postprandial boozing. The toasting went on for so long that chamber pots were provided, and one French visitor observed that:

“The man with occasion to use one, does not even interrupt his talk during the operation.”

Georgiana was intelligent, funny and charming. She was a patron of both the sciences and the arts; an amateur chemist and mineralogist, an accomplished musician, poet and novelist. A French diplomat wrote of her in his memoir: “When she appeared, every eye was turned towards her; when absent, she was the topic of universal conversation”. Georgiana enjoyed poking fun at everyone, including herself. When big hair started to become fashionable, she created a sensation by creating an elaborate three-foot tower, padded out with wads of horsehair and embellishments, such as a ship in full sail, or a still life with waxed fruit and stuffed birds. Other ladies, slaves to fashion, followed her lead, teetering beneath stacks of hair so tall that they had to ride seated on the floors of their carriages:

Georgiana went through the family money like water, spending huge amounts of money on clothes, partying, drinking, and gambling, sometimes all night. She turned her drawing room into a casino, with a commercial “bank” and professional croupiers:

“I do assure you it is innate,” she said, “for I remember playing from 7 in the morning till 8 at night at lansquenet with old Mrs. Newton when I was 9 years old and was sent to King’s Road for the measles.”

But she accumulated huge debts, unbeknown to her husband. A friend, the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan advised: “paying only encourages them”. So she told endless lies, making light of her debts to both her friends and her bankers, and even borrowing money from the Prince of Wales.

When Georgiana was blackmailed in 1787, she confessed to the Duke that she was unable to repay her debts. Her self-esteem had become so low that she was totally dependent on her friend Bess, who lived with with the couple as the Duke’s mistress. Bess was torn between helping Georgiana pay her debts, and convincing the Duke to separate from her.

Although by modern standards, this story may seem scandalous, there is no evidence that Georgiana, Bess and the Duke of Devonshire were not all perfectly happy with their arrangement. Historians say that at that time, men accepted the fact that married women had romantic relationships with other women, as this allowed them to find comfort without harming the essential fabric of society. Georgiana’s relationship with Bess, seems to have been a romantic, and possibly a physical or sexual one, too. This was nothing new for Georgiana.

In a visit to France in 1775, Georgiana had become intimately acquainted with Marie Antoinette and the Duchesse de Polignac. Rumours about their relationship had spread like wildfire around the Court at Versailles. On her return to England, Georgiana then established a passionate relationship with Mrs Mary Graham. One of her letters says: “I want to say above all that I love you, my dear friend, and kiss you tenderly.”

Georgiana then met Bess in 1782, and they began a relationship which would last their entire lives. Their letters contained passionate language, which indicates the intensity of their relationship:

“God bless you my angel love, I adore and love you beyond description.”

“I declare to God I am half mad … Oh Bess, every sensation I feel but heightens my adoration for you.”

Georgiana had several miscarriages, but eventually gave birth to three children: first two daughters and then Hart, a long-awaited male heir. Georgiana also had a child out of wedlock with Charles Grey, a Whig politician, who would later go on to become prime minister. His government passed the Reform Act in 1832, which finally saw the reform of the House of Commons, and the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire in 1833, following William Wilberforce’s Slave Trade Act of 1807. (Now however we are more likely to remember him as giving his name to Earl Grey tea.)

In 1791, Georgiana was banished to the Continent for two years, where she gave birth to Charles Grey’s daughter, Eliza. Bess accompanied her, and chose to stay with Georgiana for several months, rather than return to the Duke, who insisted that the child (interestingly, an ancestor of the Duchess of York) was handed over to Grey’s parents, who brought her up.

The affairs of this privileged circle continue to sound like a modern day soap opera. Georgiana’s sister Harriet, had two illegitimate children by Lord Granville Leveson-Gower, and also had an affair with Sheridan. Sheridan’s wife was jealous, and had an affair with Georgina’s husband (the Duke). Lord Granville eventually married Georgiana’s daughter: Harriet’s niece, “Harryo”. Thus she became stepmother to her own two cousins, while another legitimate cousin, Caroline, went on to become the notorious Lady Caroline Lamb, the mistress of Byron.

Georgiana’s own many affairs nearly caused her husband to divorce her, despite his own profligacy, and that of their circle. Double standards for men and women were taken for granted. The social mores allowed him to produce a number of children out of wedlock, but not Georgiana. Eventually their household would include three children by Georgiana, two by Georgiana’s close friend, Bess Foster, and one by a former mistress of the Duke. For more than 20 years, until Georgiana’s early death, she, Bess and the duke lived together. Three years after Georgiana died, the Duke married Bess, who: “felt it her severe duty to be the Duchess of Devonshire”. It seems as though Georgiana might have forseen this, as upon her death in 1806, Georgiana had made Bess the sole guardian of her papers, thus giving her security for at least a time.

In a way, this biography is a tale of decadence and excess, and this was the slant taken when rewriting it as a script, for the film “The Duchess”. The film hypes it up, creating scenes of great palladian houses, public celebrity and female flamboyance. The camera lovingly dwells on the rustling pastel silks, gorgeous gowns with glittering flashes of diamonds, plate, carriages, and lavish dinners. There is a constant entourage of footmen and servants, wild parties, love and sexual intrigue—and just a nod to party politics.

Keira Knightley did her best with the script, but was forced to portray Georgiana as a doe-eyed victim; a misunderstood woman. Her passionate devotion to the Whig cause was presented as a trivial diversion. The film barely mentions Georgiana’s part in the Westminster election of 1784. Yet in reality, this was the most notorious public episode of her life. Georgiana canvassed the streets for the Whig candidate, Charles James Fox, and was pilloried by the press for her efforts. He was not a relative, nor was his constituency a family borough, yet Georgiana was willing to bring a torrent of abuse on herself. She became the first woman to appear on political platforms, and famously traded kisses for votes on the hustings:

Many obscene cartoons show satirists, including the famous Thomas Rowlandson, shamelessly caricaturing her sexual reputation:

Nevertheless, Georgiana’s family pressed her to continue the campaign, criticising her for breastfeeding her daughter, “Little G”, not for street politics. In fact well-read society women of the time were influenced by Rousseau’s view that breastfeeding was preferable to having a wet-nurse. Georgiana’s action was part of her Enlightenment philosophy, but the film uses it to make a different point, from current feminist perspectives.

The film’s focus is entirely on the bedroom, and not on politics, capitalising on Georgiana as “the empress of fashion”, to mislead the audience. It travesties her very real political influence, making a simplistic point about the lack of political rights for females. When they are newly married, the Duke complains that women’s clothes are too complicated. “You have so many ways to express yourself,” Georgiana pouts at her husband, “but we have only hats.” It is a cheap joke.

There are some credibly theatrical moments in “The Duchess”. For instance on Georgiana’s wedding night, her new husband demands the scissors, to cut her out of the bridal finery, into which she had been sewn. In another comic scene Georgiana, slightly the worse for drink, staggers into the candles in the ballroom, and her huge starched wig catches fire. This elicits the wonderful line: “Please put out Her Grace’s hair.” True to 18th century erotica, Georgiana wears white stockings and pink garters in bed. We can also believe that the Duke does not care if a servant hears his noisy grunts as he indulges in sex with various women, or threatening his wife with exile.

But these are details, and taken as a whole this film is flawed. It is only very loosely based on the book, and seems more intent on showing us a modern drama, skewed to modern tastes and preconceptions. Surely Georgiana, the film pleads, must have the heart of a modern girl who just needs a bit of love and understanding. The Georgians were really just like us, but dressier. The poster blares a blatant reference to Diana: “there were three people in the marriage”.

The film remains narrow in its focus, with no wider perspective on the historical era. It begins with the moment when Georgiana receives the marriage proposal, and ends with her return to the Duke after the end of her affair with Charles Grey and the birth of their illegitimate daughter. Charles Grey is portrayed as the only other person with whom Georgiana has a sexual relationship, and the portrayal of her relationship with Bess is coy, making Bess merely her confidante, to whom she tells intimate secrets.

Historical biographies are not my chosen reading, and I would usually find them a bit of a slog. The attraction of this one was Chatsworth, the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire’s estate. It is in Derbyshire (many miles from the county of Devon, which may be confusing to a non-English reader) and was the “local” stately home, which I used to visit as a child. The building itself is a lavish pile, with extravagantly ornate Baroque furnishings and heavy use of gilt on all the surfaces, and the grounds, landscaped by Capability Brown, are breathtaking, gentle grassy slopes, with a lake, mature trees, and cultivated areas. Herds of deer roam, and you can get a glimpse of one or two if you are lucky. For as long as I can remember, these aristocrats have allowed the public open access to their grounds. Picnic-makers and walkers alike are free to wander, walk or drive through, without charge. I was interested in the dynasty, and this biography proved to be a fascinating read, although a little dry in parts. It did begin as Amanda Foreman’s doctoral thesis for Oxford University, after all, and has an strictly academic flavour.

Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire is a long book, nearly a thousand pages, in four sections:

I - Debutante
II - Politics
III - Exile
IV - Georgiana Redux

There is also an Introduction and an Epilogue, a “Note on 18th Century Politics” a Chronology, Notes, and a Select Biography, all of which are quite comprehensive. It is illustrated, with monochrome reproductions of contemporary portraits, etchings and cartoons from the time, often two to a page and quite small. They are grouped in the centre.

I am pleased to have read a reliable, well-researched biography of this remarkable woman. She was not just the “it” girl of her time, a fashion-plate and pioneer of big hair, friend of Marie Antoinette, and the real life inspiration for Sheridan’s Lady Teazle, in “A School for Scandal”. She was a force to be reckoned with in politics, as well as in society. I did not find the book “mesmerizing”, as Antonia Fraser claimed in the “Literary Review”, but it was an absorbing read, and certainly shed new light for me on the nobility of eighteenth-century England. I can happily recommend this as a great read for either a scholar or a general reader.

This is a Biography of the notorious Georgiana, The Duchess of Devonshire, chatelaine of Chatsworth and 5 other amazing properties. This book was used to inspire the movie, The Duchess http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0864761/. Thanks to dear Marlene here is a fascinating blog post about the movie and the wedding of Lady Georgiana Spencer (yes those Spencers) to the Duke. http://twonerdyhistorygirls.blogspot.... [This blog is Absolutely Fascinating and once you start reading you will be sucked in]

The author admits that biographers often become irrationally attached to their subjects "Biographers are notorious for falling in love with their subjects. It is the literary equivalent of the Stockholm Syndrome" and that is a detail that colors this book. It is also contagious, while reading I found myself worrying about 'poor' Georgiana's debts and pondering how much her dowry was? Georgiana has been dead for over 200 years, but the author brings her to life.

Much ado has been made about the comparison of Georgiana and her great-great-great-great-(etc) niece Lady Diana Spencer. Both married when they were young and innocent, both had difficult relationships with their fathers, both married older, established men who weren't prepared to make room in their lives for a wife. Both married men who had a mistress to provide love and were looking for a wife to finish their appearance, both men required a legitimate heir. "The Duke was used to being flattered and cosseted by his mistress, Charlotte Spencer, and resented the emotional demands that Georgiana made upon him."
"The Duke was used to his bachelor life: love he received from his mistress, companionship from his friends; from his wife he expected loyalty, support, and commitment to the family’s interests."

Georgiana married in 1774. Her trousseau included 65 pairs of shoes, 48 pairs of stockings and 26 1/2 pairs of gloves plus other clothes worth £1486 (£1,486.00 in 1774 is equivalent to £179,728.09 in 2016 or $247,707.29) [where does she get these marvelous toys? https://www.measuringworth.com/ppoweruk/ ] And like her famous descendant she took London and the press by storm. "In less than a year Georgiana had become a celebrity. Newspaper editors noticed that any report on the Duchess of Devonshire increased their sales.
The Duke was a Whig, the Whigs are separately fascinating they rose to prominence by bringing William of Orange to rule and deposing James II.The Whigs liked to portray themselves as political martyrs, popular in the country (which they were not), but barred from government because of the King’s dislike. The Whigs supported the American Revolution against the crown and felt that they were the spokesmen for the 'rights of man'. What I as a modern person found profoundly ironic was that these were the limousine liberals of their day. The Duke was insanely wealthy, as were his fellow Whigs. In 1770's the population of Great Britain was approx. 10 million but only 300,000 men were eligible to vote for members of the House of Commons. And some seats weren't really open to voting. The Duke controlled 11 seats as that the rich would buy up the houses of 'eligible voters' until they 'owned a seat' and essentially appointed the MP. "There were very few electoral boroughs in Britain which the aristocracy did not own or at least have a controlling interest in."

Georgiana became an important hostess, advisor and campaigner for the Whigs. She was the queen of the haute ton, an eighteenth century IT girl and so much more. She was involved with the who's who of the late 1770s. Among her friends were the King and Queen of France. The political influence of women wouldn't be seen again until the 20th century "The accession of Queen Victoria in 1837 had a further dampening effect on women’s participation in public life"

Alas dearest G had flaws a plenty. She was a degenerate gambler and was constantly in debt. Her charm and her husband's wealth we able to put off her creditors but up to her death she was never totally honest with anyone about her complete indebtedness. Her pin money was £3000 / annum [£346,400.00 in 2016] but she would lose that in one night playing faro [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faro_(c...]. She spent much of her short life consumed with fear that her massive debts would be exposed, and borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. Multiple times she would go to the Duke and 'confess' her debts, but never in full, one of these admissions had her threatened with permanent separation.

Georgiana struggled to conceive; when her husband's mistress died his illegitimate daughter was brought into the household and passed off a a poor relation of the Spencers. Much like Mrs. Bennet is P&P Georgiana was desperate to produce an heir. Once she had produced the future sixth Duke of Devonshire her husband would no longer be barred from borrowing money against the estate.

During a visit to Bath; to encourage the duchess' fertility, the Devonshires met a woman who would play a large part in the rest of their lives, Lady Elizabeth Foster (Bess). She would be the Duke's mistress and Georgiana's companion, an unusual set up. Not that this was an era of marital fidelity. Besides Prinny and his infamous debauchery it seems like everyone was having an affair. One thing that stood out to me was when her eldest was out one of her potential suitors was described as "At thirty-five Bedford was certainly not too old for Little G, although he had several illegitimate children and currently enjoyed two mistresses" Can anyone imagine thinking this guy was a 'catch' for your daughter or sister?

While the emotional parts of the book impressed me I have to say I was completely distracted by the spending, excess and expense. It was utterly mind blowing. "Westminster election personally cost the Devonshires over £30,000.[ £3,368,000.00 2016]. When the eldest Cavendish daughter married in 1801 she received a £30000 dowry [£2,094,000.00 ] to put this in to some kind of perspective, albeit an odd one in 1794 "Lord Egremont’s superb mansion in Piccadilly. . .is sold to Mr. Mills, of Yorkshire for the sum as is said, of £16,000. [ £1,647,000.00 ], During Little G's season "Georgiana recorded in June after a supper ball for 1,000 people." And toward the end of her life Georgiana tried to come clean with her husband regarding her debts "The Duke had been expecting a sum of £5,000 or £6,000, not the £50,000 Georgiana eventually presented to him. [£3,687,000.00 2016] following the Duchess' death more creditors both real and imagined drove her total indebtedness to close to £100000.

The book is meticulously researched and uses many letters to and from the Duchess to share innermost feelings and actions. This book will also put the idea that our ancestors were much more moral and proper right into the recycle bin. This was the era of Sensibility and there is much collapsing, weeping and gnashing of teeth by both sexes which I found dreadfully amusing.

The text ends at 67% on the kindle with the remainder of the book made up of footnotes. There are also a ton of fabulous illustrations and copies of paintings.

Vocab:
inchoate - just begun and so not fully formed or developed; rudimentary

apposite- apt in the circumstances or in relation to something: "an apposite quotation"

jeremiads - a long, mournful complaint or lamentation; a list of woes.

Mystery: Wednesday feels G uses this in a letter to her mother but I can't find any modern definition or reference.

belamiste