The Devonshire Children's Portraits

Henry Howard, Harriet Cavendish, 1798

Henry Howard was a well-known portraitist and history painter in the late- eighteenth and early- nineteenth centuries, who unfortunately doesn't get as much notice nowadays.  Luckily, his visit to the Devonshire family around 1798 resulted in three portraits of Georgiana's three [legitimate] children, Little G, Harryo, and Hart.  Though, I must apologise for the not-so-great quality of the photos of these portraits which now hang in the King William bedroom at Althorp, you can still decipher a certain je ne sais quoi quality to these portraits.  What is it...what is it...oh I know!

Awkward adolescence.

Henry Howard, Georgiana Dorothy Cavendish, 1798

These three portraits were painted when the painfully shy Little G was about 15, the painfully awkward Harryo was about 13, and Hart (who, perhaps, doesn't look totally uncomfortable) was about 9 or 10.  The ages of the daughters, specifically, is of interest because, outside of the rare family group portrait, adolescence is rarely commemorated in portraiture.  Baby and childhood portraits were common enough, and young women were often painted before they were married, or at least when they were in the marriage market.  However, this strange and, somewhat brief, period of youth was rarely portrayed in individual portraits.

 You can almost imagine adult Little G and Harryo cringing every time they passed these portraits; cursing their hair do and choice of headband.  While Little G's posture hints at a discomfort in sitting for her portrait, Harryo's somewhat more confident pose is mismatched with her still childish appearance.  ...and yeah, um, Hart just looks like any elite little boy-heir of the time in his portrait, so I'm just gonna leave that here as a contrast to his poor sisters.  In conclusion, rich eighteenth-century teenagers, they're just like us.  That would make the Devonshires similar to our camera-weilding parents and grandparents, snapping photos of their teenagers out of love, blind to any awkwardness.   When Howard was commissioned with these portraits, by either the Devonshires, or Lady Spencer, the children had already endured a two-year absence of their mother, after she was exiled to the continent by their father upon discovering her pregnant with Earl Grey's child.  It may be safe to say the separation of family members influenced commissioning such portraits.

Henry Howard, William Cavendish, Marquis of Hartington, 1799

If you would like to see these portraits, they are on display in Althorp House, amongst other lovely family pictures of Georgiana and her Spencer siblings as children.  However, if you can't make it to the glorious home, Althorp's website now has an amazing virtual tour.

Harryo's Orthodontic Adventure

Many people get to share the joys of a trip to the orthodontist. Ah yes, poking, prodding, teeth molds making you gag, the whole experience tends to be a joyous affair. But as much as we all enjoy the thrill of a new head gear our excitement couldn't even match that of Harryo when the dentist came to visit her at Hardwick Hall to fix some crooked teeth.

Knowing what we do about the art of dentistry in the eighteenth century you may not be surprised when I say Georgiana wrote as a fretful and concerned mother about her twelve year-old daughter's experience.

"My poor Harryo has had her four front teeth brought over by Mr Bott. The operation lasted 3 hours, and, I am afraid, was dreadful, but she is setting by me tollerably easy and with three very pretty even teeth instead of their standing edgeways ; and besides, there is now perfect room for her eye teeth which before were so close we were afraid she must have had 2 double teeth out to make room. The agony was, I fear, very great. I dar'd not go to her lest I shd destroy her courage. She describes it like the slow pain of drawing out a tooth, continu'd a long while without the crash."

Ouch!  One must wonder what she did in her recovery time to keep herself occupied since movie rental wasn't invented yet.

Racky and Madame "Right Now"

In the November following Georgiana's death, her daughter, Harryo, wrote to her married sister to tell her how quality family was going without her or her mother.

"Caroline began last night before the Bessboroughs and all of us assembled, reading out loud a letter of Madame de Maintenon..."

Madame de Maintenon, or Françoise d'Aubigné was a simple widow whom the great Sun King, Louis XIV fell in love with later in his life.  She was very pious Catholic so when the king set his eyes on her, she made it known she would not become a royal mistress.  Her allure was so great that Louis resorted to marrying Madame de Maintenon, but in secret.  She was never recognized as queen but there was an unspoken knowing among all at Versailles that she was to be regarded with the same respect a queen would have.  Although she was not always popular with those close to Louis such as his family, Françoise and her simplicity kept the king grounded and their relationship was that of two friends who respected each other.*

Harryo continues her account,

"...in which she excuses her conduct toward Louis and says, ['If I did not go to his room, to whom would he be able to confide his secrets'] or words to that effect, and describing in short scenes too what we are so often witnessing.  This was to lead to every sort of question to Lady E.,whether Madame de Maintenon was right in her conduct, whether she was ambitions or only making generous sacrifices, etc.  I fancied Lady E. was embarrassed."

Three years later Bess married the Duke of Devonshire, in a marriage that was not so secret.

*For further reading, a new biography on Madame de Maintenon has just hit shelves this summer.

Georgiana's Grandchildren

When Georgiana died in 1806 only one of her three (four, including her illegitimate daughter Eliza Courtney) children were married.  Georgiana lived to see her eldest daughter, Little G, marry and begin having children.  Little G would end up bearing twelve children, all who would survive until adulthood.  Quite amazing, especially when one considers how difficult it had been for her mother to have children.  Georgiana got to play the proud grandmother to Little G's first four children but was never to meet her other sixteen grandchildren.

Little G's Boundless fertility made up for her brother's lack of any offspring; Hart never married.  Harryo, the middle child, would have four children with her husband.  Her illegitimate daughter, Eliza Courtney married well and had four surviving children.  Let's meet some of them.

George Howard (1802-1864) followed in his uncle's footsteps and was more interested in his books and achievements than settling down to married life.

Lady Georgiana Howard (1804-1860) married a hunk.

Lady Harriet Elizabeth Georgiana Howard (1806-1868) was born shortly after her grandmother's death and seems to of inherited many of her grandmother's qualities.  She was a society hostess and BFF to Queen Victoria, serving as one of her Mistresses of the Robes.

Lady Blanche Georgiana Howard (1812- 1840) would follow in her grandmother's footsteps by marrying a future Duke of Devonshire.  Sadly though, she didn't live to become a Duchess of Devonshire for her husband received the title after her death.  Her uncle Hart outlived her.

Lady Elizabeth Dorothy Anne Howard (1816-1891) married the son of Earl Grey, Georgiana's former lover.

Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville (1815-1891) became a famous politician whose career spanned over half a century.  Not too surprising, when you consider his lineage. 

Eliza Ellice (1818-1899) despite being descended from an illegitimate child found herself a peeress as the Viscountess Hampden of Glynde.

Sir Charles Henry Ellice (1823-1888) was a successful army general.

Devonshire Progeny: Harryo

When Georgiana gave birth to her second child in 1785 everything was set up grandly for the birth of the Devonshire heir. What came out was another girl, to be named after her aunt, Harriet; although she would henceforth almost always be referred to as 'Harryo.' Not only was a girl born but a typical middle child. Harryo lacked the physical charms of her famous mother. She may have been fashionably pale but she lacked her mother's figure and her chubbiness was constantly commented on. She also decided to lack her mother's love of fashion, but this was more an act of defiance. In fact, Harryo seemed to be more cynical and perhaps a little bitter than her siblings Little G and Hart were. What physical charms Harryo lacked she made up with her cleverness and intelligence. Many would comment through the years on her interesting conversation and obvious smarts. Put all these aspects together and we have some very interesting perspectives on living with the Devonshires. We also have a big Bess-hater. All in all, Harryo's appeal and complexity lies in her contemporary edge. Clearly, she was born in the wrong century.

Every Cavendish reacted to their mother's exile in a different way. Harryo reacted with typical teenage bitchiness. She managed to make peace with her mother before her death in 1806 but afterward was left feeling alone and isolated. To make matters worse she was trapped in her home without her siblings and with her father and...Bess. Bess whom Harryo claimed to always hate despite her always being around. To make matters worse, Bess took over Georgiana's place, sitting at the head of the table; a position reserved for the next lady of the household, not the head of the household's mistress. Aunt Harriet took pity on Harryo and spent more time with her to rescue her from her bad home life. Bess was also attempting to aid Harryo in finding a husband. Bess' choice was Granville Leveson-Gower, a man who had been involved with Harriet and was the father of two of her children. Harryo sneered at the match, despite Granville's good looks. Instead, she went through a series of other suitors, the first being Harriet's son, John. Just as Harryo began to fall in love with the cousin he became interested in Lady Jersey's daughter, Elizabeth. Harriet, hating the idea of becoming in laws with such a woman, tried to convince him to go for his cousin.

Eventually, John's indecisiveness lost him the option of Harryo who moved on to various other suitors including other cousins and friends of her brother. But it all came back to her aunt's boyfriend, Granville. The tall dark and handsome had taken an interest in the short and "stout" Cavendish spinster but she still talked about him with disdain. Although, it was becoming apparent that this disdain was only a facade to mask her true feelings. The truth was Harryo attempted to hate him because she knew he was attached to Aunt Harriet. One time Bess was giving a dinner with the Bessboroughs and invited Granville too. Lord Bessborough and his youngest son showed up but all waited for Harriet and Granville to appear. Things became more and more awkward while everyone waited and Bess continued to wink at Harryo across the table. Finally, a note came saying neither would show up. The men were cranky but Bess and Harryo were enraged, knowing the cause of the no-shows.

Eventually Granville began showing more interested in Harryo (after all he needed a wife) than in Harriet. At first Harriet was unhappy with this, but she slowly began to realize she would rather have him marry someone she loved than any ol' snotty heiress. After a roller coaster of a courtship Granville nervously got on one knee and asked Harryo to be his wife, and she gladly accepted. Granville and Harriet were never to renew their romantic relationship again, but she forever remained his trusted friend and correspondent. Harryo quickly began having children and even accepted her aunt's illegitimate children with her husband into her family where they were raised lovingly. Granville continued to get ambassador positions across Europe, including Paris and the Hague, good thing Harryo was fluent in other languages! In the end, Harryo turned out to be quite like her mother, hosting fabulous get-togethers in whatever city she was stationed in and inspiring all with her intriguing conversation.