Tart Weddings: Elizabeth and Augustus Hervey

Now it happens to be this opinionated gossiper's humble opinion that no good can come of people marrying solely in order to sleep together without guilt.  Just take Elizabeth Chudleigh and her flavor of the week, Augustus Hervey for example; disaster!

Elizabeth was quite the catch of the court and the fact that she was one of the Princess of Wales' maids of honour only added to her allure.  She had many admirers.  One of those admirers was James 6th Duke of Hamilton, who at the time was a minor and couldn't marry without his parents' consent.  He left for the grand tour with promises to return and wed Elizabeth (he would go on to marry Elizabeth Gunning on a whim) but her hormones were too wild to be able to wait that long.  The next man to come along was Augustus Hervey and he really had nothing to boast of.  Okay in the looks department and a zero in the heir department, Augustus was the second son of John Hervey and therefore joined the navy knowing his peer prospects were grim.  It was lust at first sight when the two met at Lainston House and it was there they made the rash decision to marry ASAP. James Who of Hamilton?

The remains of the chapel

Sneaking into a medieval chapel on Lainston grounds under the cover of darkness Elizabeth and Augustus sealed their fate.  Ironically the chapel was rarely used except for a mausoleum.  A single candle was used in the secret ceremony and the amount of witnesses you could count on one hand.  Without wasting a moment the couple immediately set out to consummate the marriage...since that was the only reason they got married in the first place.

Three days after the ceremony and bunny-like bedroom activities, duty called Augustus back to the sea.  In this case, absence did not make the heart grow fonder and Elizabeth chose to forget that the marriage ever happened, firstly to keep her maid of honour job and then because she regretted her hasty decision.  Augustus was surprised by his wife's rejection at first and then just shrugged it off and forgot about it too.

Elizabeth almost got away with the forgotten marriage too since there was no paperwork documenting the event.  However the greedy Elizabeth royally screwed herself when, years later, she visited the dying reverend who performed the marriage in order to gain paperwork proving they were married.  Why did Elizabeth do this when she herself had it set in her mind that the marriage never happened?  The covetous tart heard that Augustus may actually have a chance at the Earldom of Bristol after all.  In the end her actions screwed her.  She married the Duke of Kingston so she didn't need that paperwork to earn her a title after all, however it did earn her a trial for bigamy.

Quotables

"I know myself to be full of faults, but do not believe all the bad things said about me in the gazettes, I assure you I know how to defend myself, and the good Lord will not allow the envious and the wicked to destroy me."

-Elizabeth Chudleigh, Duchess of Kingston

Tart of the Week: Elizabeth Chudleigh

After recently finishing a book on this tart I think there is no better time than the present to discuss her actions of qualifying tartdom. Elizabeth Chudleigh was one of the premiere tarts of England in the 18th century. Her adolescent beauty attracted much attention and was the cause for appointing the title-less girl a position of Maid of Honour to the Pincess Augusta of Wales in 1743. The position paid a modest £200 a year I believe which was barely enough to cover Elizabeth's expanding lifestyle. She had many admirers, most being young lords. But for some reason the naive Elizabeth fell in lust with Augustus Hervey (a relative of Bess Foster), the commoner son of a Lord who was crazy for her. They barely new each other when he proposed. A secret marriage ceremony at night followed, with few witnesses. The bride and groom quickly rushed up to an inn to consummate their marriage and in the morning Hervey left for his naval duty. Elizabeth quickly realized the mistake she made. Married women were not allowed to be Maids of Honour and therefore she would loose her much-needed income. Hervey's salary was meager and therefore not suitable for the life Elizabeth dreamed of living. The marriage was kept safely secret. A baby was born and soon died, slipping under the radar of the societal gossips. Rumors circulated but were never followed up upon. Soon Elizabeth began ignoring her husband to the point of no contact. Hervey gave up trying and the two began detesting each other to the point where they both pretended the marriage had never happened. And why should they, the witnesses were few and elderly and there was no paperwork to prove its existence.

As a Maid of Honour (ha ha!) Elizabeth enjoyed the glamorous court life that her Princess was not really partaking in as much. Masquerades were coming into vogue at the time in England with the addition of venues such as The Pantheon. Elizabeth shocked many one night at the masquerade by showing up as "Iphigenia ready for the sacrifice." Although we can't be sure exactly how her costume looked, she was considered to be in a state of undress. Many prints were made of her supposed outfit, all different. A Big fan of the costume was King George II who upon seeing her, asked her if he could touch her exposed breast, Elizabeth responded by taking his hand and saying "Your Majesty, I can put it on a far softer place." She then guided his hand to his own head. What! Liz, you sly beast. The King was delighted, but most were not, including the other Maids of Honour. The refused to speak to her, despite being tarts themselves. She out-tarted even them.

Later in life, Elizabeth, still as a Maid of Honour, became the mistress of the Duke of Kingston, a handsome old bachelor Duke. However, when she heard that Hervey was next in line as the Lord of Bristol she immediately got paperwork from the dying vicar who conducted her marriage. Her greed would come to haunt her later. In 1769 the elderly Duke made Elizabeth's dreams come true by marrying her. Unfortunately he died soon afterwards, and Elizabeth was devastated because she did truly love him. Things only got worse for Elizabeth after that. The Meadows family, feeling Elizabeth seduced the Duke into neglecting them their rights to his money, researched and brought to public her crime of bigamy. Oops, yes Elizabeth was still married to the very much alive, Lord of Bristol. This culminated in many lawsuits and trials, most notably the trial by peers, which was the talk of the town. All the aristocrats crowded into Westminster Hall to witness her humiliation. She was found guilty and striped of her title of Duchess of Kingston, which she never truly gave up. The crime for bigamy was to be branded on the thumb but the sly Duchess/Countess managed to evade that as well. Her remaining days were spent traveling the continent and avoiding more lawsuits. Despite her misgivings, Elizabeth was a forgiving soul, and even lent money to the same family who ruined her with charges of Bigamy.

For more information on this tart check out, Scandalous Women.

Book Review: Elizabeth

Elizabeth: The Scandalous Life of the Duchess of Kingston by Claire Gervat

This book promised to be filled to the brim with gossip, just look at that boasting title. After all, it was about the notorious tart, Elizabeth Chudleigh who "accidentally" married two men and showed up to a masquerade partially nude. It had to just be dripping with the goods! Unfortunately for me, this book failed to deliver.

Gervat should be commended for her research which is never a small feat in a biography such as this. What confused me was the time line in the book. I remember being about a quarter of a way through the book and realizing that it had already covered the majority of her life. The dates were scare so while I was in the mindset that Gervat was discussing Elizabeth in her 20's, she was really in her 40's. The majority of the book took place in her last years (I always get so bored in those out of the public eye years!). So it is mainly the pace that bothers me. I like a nice even biography. I was also disappointed in the lack of scandal promised, especially in the topic of her "Iphigenia" masquerade costume. We are left to assume Gervat could not find substantial information about it; I would be entertained with a whole chapter. She did do nicely in dragging out the Peer bigamy trial for as long as she could, so the book is a good source for information on that. Otherwise, I would say a good reference book but not the best in scandalous 18th c biography.

There is one review of this book on Amazon that seems to have a similar opinion, although probably better stated!

Size Matters

What better to make an entrance into society than with a 3 foot hairdo. Georgiana blasted into the London scene in full couture splendor upon her marriage at the age of 17. She immediately got to work on establishing herself as a fashion icon. Whether this was her intention or not, one can only guess, but her celebrity began with her fashion trends.

The first notable trend she began was the three-foot hair tower. Hair was already large at the time, especially due to French influences, Georgiana simply took it one step further. The hair towers required scented pomade, pads of horse hair, and at least two hairdressers in order to be constructed. To this, Georgiana would add scenes such as the classic ship in sail or stuffed birds. As with every trend in London, woman immediately took to the look and tried to make it more outrageous by making their hair even taller or more ornate.

Georgiana never seemed to acknowledge when people took to her fashions; while London society attempted to imitate her by making her vogues more outlandish, she would simplify and create an even bigger buzz. Her next hair fad was the infamous ostrich feather which she would drape in a large arch across the front of her hair. When Lord Stormont presented her with one over four feet long every lady of refinement went on a wild goose chase to find the rare length of feather. Of course scandal developed. Only the very wealthy could afford the feathers, which they snobbily flaunted to the point where Queen Charlotte banned them from court. This couldn't have come at a worse time for the fashion elite. The Duchess of Kingston's trial for bigamy was approaching and everyone who was anyone would be showing up in their best in order to outdo each other at the embarrassment of their fellow Peeress. Feathers were forbidden from the trial. This was a devastating blow; like banning Gucci from fashion week. The only lady who seemed unaffected by the ban was the one who started the fashion trend; Georgiana brought snacks to munch on with Lady Derby at the trial instead of her signature feathers.

Although (probably due to the ban) large ostrich feathers was only a short-lived fad it lived on through the decades. In satirical prints, Georgiana would forever be identified as herself by being portrayed with ostrich feathers in her hair.

Check out this collage I made of the hair tower. I only used Reynold portraits because I'm lazy, but it serves a purpose; if you were being painted by one of the most fashionable artists in society you would be portrayed in only the hottest trends. The portraits were painting from 1775-1779.Satirical Prints related to the D of D and her hair:

Lady All-Top May 1776

The Preposterous Head Dress, or Feathered Lady March 1776

Matthew Darly, Vis a Vis May 1776