Monday, March 28, 2011

Fashionably Late

A funny thing happened on the way to Grosvenor Square.  *Begins fanning slowly*

The Duchess of Atholl and her sister, Mrs Mary Graham were attending a party with Mary's husband Mr. Thomas Graham.  The coach came to a sudden stop on Park Lane and the three passengers were shocked when the person opening the door was not the footman but a highwayman wielding a gun.  Two other ruffians held the horses while the pistol-wielder demanded jewels and money.  Unbeknownst to the robber, Mr. Graham had a history of heroism when it came to his wife and her jewels.  He had once ridden all night to retrieve her jewelery box for a ball she was attending, so a brute waving his pistol in the face of his wife was certainly not going to get away with it.  The robber also didn't see Mr. Graham in the corner of the coach amongst all the puffy skirts of the ladies.  With jedi-like reflexes Mr. Graham lept across the ladies and dove for the surprised thief and proceeded to wrestle the pistol away from the thief on the ground.  The two men holding the horses wisely ran away when they realized the coach contained an action hero.  The comontion of the scuffle and the women's alarm drew the attention of the watch who relieved Mr. Graham of his heroic duties and took the purpetrator into custody. 

When everything was straightened away the group realized that this unneccesary affair had made them late for the party.  They proceeded to their destination where Mr Graham bashfully shadowed the ladies the whole night. He wasn't being overly protective, he simply meant to use his wife's skirt to hide his muddy shoes and stockings that he had aquired in the fight.

12 comments:

  1. ‘Graham, Thomas, Baron Lynedoch. army officer, was born on 19 October 1748, . . On 26 December 1774, in a joint ceremony, he married Mary (1757–1792), the second daughter of Charles, ninth Lord Cathcart, while her eldest sister, Jane, married John Murray, fourth duke of Atholl.

    . . Mary's health, however, continued to weaken, and the Grahams—a loving but childless couple—returned to the continent in 1790. She died of consumption at sea off Hyères on 26 June 1792, and he never ceased to mourn her. The disrespectful treatment of her body by the French revolutionary authorities—at Toulouse her coffin was broken open by drunken officials in search of contraband—embittered Graham, who became an ardent Francophobe and supporter of the war . .

    [Aftera ‘good war’] . . in May 1814 he was made Baron Lynedoch of Balgowan, in the county of Perth, with a pension of £2000 a year . . He regularly voted in the House of Lords, in person or by proxy, in support of Catholic emancipation, parliamentary reform, and other liberal legislation, . . When aged eighty-five he was offered command of the Portuguese army . .

    . . he died at his town house, 12 Stratton Street, Piccadilly, . . At his request, his funeral was simple. A steamer carried his coffin to Dundee, whence it was taken through Perth to Methven churchyard. There he was laid to rest in the mausoleum that already contained the remains of his mother and his beloved wife.’ [DNB]

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hiding because of mud!? Oh my! I would have been talking about his heroism to anyone who would listen, and the minute they doubted it pointed out the mud and told them to ask any of the others who were with me. What a story! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. His humility just makes him all the more attractive!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That's a danger a Jedi warrior must contend with - the possibility of mud. Perhaps that is why they tend to favor brown robes over silk stockings and knee breeches?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Omg she must have been terrified for her husband. At least she knew she had a man that obviously loved her very much.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I find that I'm actually fanning myself after that exciting account! Good lord!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Whoa! I think that Mr. Graham's beating most of the other hunks out there. Humble, smart, strong, sensitive, and brave. It's the perfect combination.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yep, for sure crushing on Mr. Graham now.

    ReplyDelete