Tart Weddings: Grace and Dr John Elliott

When Grace Dalrymple stood at the alter of St Pancras [Old Church] in 1771 she couldn't have been more opposite of her intended husband.  Dr Elliott was not just twice Grace's age but he was also shorter and fatter than his supermodel-like young bride.  And don't even get me started on the opposite personalities!

At the time of the engagement Grace was quite common and quite unknown.  Yet, being the daughter of an Edinburgh lawyer she had a strong upbringing which molded her for a marriage above her station.  Dr Elliott had made a good name for himself as a doctor which brought the marriage a certain amount of attention.  The Rambler's Magazine described the blushing bride as:

"...now on the verge of 17, tall and very elegantly shaped; her features beautiful, and not in the least marked by any degree of that provinciality which distinguishes the females from the north; her complexion was clear as the clouds of a May morning, and tinged with the roseate blush of Aurora; her disposition lively, her temper mild and engaging."

Can we be so surprised, then, that these same notable features, so stunning to those witnesses when Grace walked up the aisle in her best gown in 1771, were not just noticed by Dr Elliott?  It took Grace less than three years to grow bored of her workaholic and toad-ish husband and scandalize him with a highly publicized affair which received more than a fair amount of attention in the press.