Tuesday 1st August
Worked at my gown--wrote to Mr. Haydon--walked
with Granny.
Aug 1820
Wednesday 2nd
Worked at my gown--read the London
Magazine--walked with Drum.
Thursday 3rd
Friday 4th
Went to Reading with Drum--called at Mrs.
Valpy's &c.--pleasant morning--came home to dinner--Mr. Dickinson drank tea here.
Saturday 6th
Sunday 7th
At home--read Warbeck of Wolfstein--very good--walked
with Drum--last day of Lucy's being here, poor thing!
Monday 8th
At home--poor dear Lucy was married from our house at Shinfield
Church to Mr. Hill--the
wedding party Mr. & Mrs.
Hill, Mr. Goddard who gave her away, &
Charles Sweetser her brother all dined at our house, & then went off to drink tea
at her Mother's, & so home at
night to Silchester--God bless her, poor
dear thing! She lived with us twelve years--a most faithful, affectionate creature
as ever lived upon earth--we were all very fond of her, especially Drum & I--the Moncks called--walked with Drum & Granny.
Tuesday 9th
At home--heard from Miss James--wrote to Miss James--went to dine at Coley to keep little Bligh's birthday--the
Sherwoods came in the evening--a very pleasant day.
Wednesday 10th
At home--Heard from Mr. Haydon & Mrs.
Rowden--worked at my black gown for the poor Duchess of
York's death--poor dear Molly
was spayed--she never said a word, poor love--walked with Drum.
Thursday 10th
(I have been in a mistake all through this page as to date)
Mitford was indeed incorrect about most of the dates on this page from
Saturday August 5 through Wednesday August 10. Consulting a perpetual calendar,
we see that the numbers of Mitford's dates for this week were ahead by
one.
Finished my gown tail--wrote to Mrs.
Rowden--Mr. Dickinson
called--walked with Drum & the
pets--poor Molly very bad.Friday 11th
Saturday 12th
Sunday 13th
At home--heard from Eliza Webb--wrote to Mr. Dickinson & Mr. Haydon--the Dickinsons called--Molly better--walked with Drum & the pets.
Saw ten glow-worms in the ditch between
Captain King's & Will
Howell's--glow-worms very plentiful
this year, especially in that place.
Tuesday 15th
At home--heard from Mr. Haydon--dear Drum went to Town--got a
Cast of Napolean & an Angola tippet from Miss
James, dear Soul, through the Valpys, but did not get a letter she sent me at the same time--hope
it is not lost--wrote to Miss
Valpy--Captain Valpy
called--worked at my gown--walked with dear Granny--saw the brightest glow-worm I
ever saw in my life in Mr. Body's
lane--as bright as a star.
Wednesday 16th
At home--heard from Drum & Mr.
Haydon--worked a great deal--walked to Bertram House--looked very pretty--a great
many firtops fallen.
Thursday 17th
At home--heard from dear Drum--worked at my gown trimming--Mr. & Mrs. Dickinson
called, wanted me to go home with them--did not go.
Friday 18th
At home--went to Wokingham to meet dear Drum--called at the Newells
& Westbrooks--had a famous dinner at Wokingham, capital Venison pasty--saw
Mr. Fyshe Palmer--came home with
Drum in the evening--wrote to Miss James.
Saturday 19th
At home--heard from Miss James, Miss
Nooth, Miss Brooke &
Mrs. Jolliffe--wrote to Miss
James--did a great deal of work & walked with Granny.
Sunday 20th
At home--heard from Mr. Haydon--Captain
Tuppen called--wrote to Captain
Tuppen, Miss James, Miss Emily James, Miss
Nooth & Mr. Haydon--went
walking with Drum.
Monday 21st
At home--rained all day--could not
stir--did a great deal of work & read Dr. Drake's
Winter Nights--good.
Tuesday 22nd
At home--heard from Sir William--wrote to Miss Brooke--poor dear Luce sent me some flowers--walked with Drum.
Wednesday 23rd
At home--went to Reading--called on the Valpys (both), Mrs. Anstruther, Mrs.
Tuppen, Mrs. Marsh, &c--dined at
Mrs. Newbery's--came home in the evening--Mrs.
Dickinson & Miss Eliza
Webb called whilst I was out--wrote to Mrs. Dickinson with a proof, &
Mrs. Jolliffe.
Thursday 24th
Went coursing to Mortimer Westend, where poor dear
Lucy joined us--Moses killed two hares
& a rabbit--a delightful day--came home to dinner--Harry & Mrs. Marsh called--wrote to
Sir William Elford & Eliza Webb--read the Festival of
Flora--very pretty.
Friday 25th
Waited at home for Lady Madelina--Mr.
Body called--Lady Mad. did
not--had a note from Mr. MacFarlane with his Poem of
the Wanderer--finished the work for my new gowns.
Saturday 26th
At home--heard from Mrs. Dickinson--went into Reading to call on Lady Madelina Palmer--found her very agreeable--saw a great many
people--came home with the
Rigbys--wrote to Mrs. Rigby &
Mrs. Dickinson.
Sunday 27th
Mrs. Dickinson called--Lucy & Mr.
Hill dined here--poor little Anne, our Cook, went away--wrote to Mr.
MacFarlane.
Monday 28th
Tuesday 29th
At home--walked with dear Drum & dear Granny & the pets to Arborfield Mill
over the tumbling bay--ducked Molly--a
charming walk--saw Mrs. & Miss Brooke
returning from Southampton, &
Richard Body--read Mrs. Graham's Residence in the Mountains
east of Rome--not good--wrote to Eliza
Webb.
Wednesday 30th
Thursday 31st
At home--went coursing with dear
Drum to Mortimer Common--Moses
killed 4 hares & a rabbit--capital sport--delightful day--Mr. Dickinson & Captain
Tuppen called whilst I was out--finished my letter to Miss Nooth.
Gloss of Names Mentioned
Nature
glow-worm
- species: Lampyris noctiluca
- genus: Lampyris
- family: Lampyridae
A nocturnal beetle found throughout Europe and Asia, a member of the bioluminescent
family of insects commonly called lightning bugs or fireflies. The female forms are wingless, and thus became known as worms. Found in old-growth meadows, verges, hedgerows, and heaths, peaking in June and
July. A favorite subject for poets from at least the early-modern period; in Mitford's
time, a common subject, particularly for sonnets, by authors who include Charlotte
Smith, Anna Maria Porter, William Wordsworth, and John Clare.
fir
- species: Abies alba
- genus: Abies
- family: Pinaceae
Evergreen coniferous trees found through much of North and Central America, Europe,
Asia, and North Africa. Unlike other conifers, firs bear erect cones that are raised
above the branches like candles; at maturity, the cones disintegrate to release winged
seeds. One of Mitford’s favorite foraging trees; she calls her collecting activity fir topping. Mitford would likely have been familiar with the European silver fir, which was
brought to England in the 17th century. Other types of firs such as Douglas firs and
noble firs, native to North America and used as Christmas trees, were introduced to
the UK in the nineteenth century.
flower
Flowering plants, whether domesticated or wild.
brown hare
- species: Lepus europaeus
- genus: Lepus
- family: Leporidae
Hares and jackrabbits are wild members of the rabbit family. Brown hares are small,
furry mammals with golden brown fur with white underbellies and tails and black-tipped
ears. They have longer ears and more powerful legs than European rabbits and live
alone or in pairs, rather than in groups. Thought to be introduced into Britain from
Eurasia with the Romans or earlier.
rabbit
- species: Oryctolagus cuniculus
- genus: Oryctolagus
- family: Leporidae
Small, grey-brown furry mammal that lives in groups in networks of underground burrows.
Same species as domesticated rabbits, and raised for meat, fur, and as companion animals.
Traditionally the fur has been felted for hats as well as used to line garments. The
meat was an important staple in the diet of the poorer classes, purchased, hunted
or trapped, sometimes in violation of game and enclosure laws enacted from the 18th
century forward. Prefer grasslands with nearby treelines or hedges. Native to the
Iberian peninsula and southern France, but has been widely introduced elsewhere. UK
rabbits are believed to have come with the Normans and populations increased during
the eighteenth-century with changing agricultural methods such as predator control
and field crop farming.
Places
Publications
The London Magazine
- Author: No author listed.
- Date:
1820 to 1829 1732 to 1785 1820 1829 27 February 1821 April 1821
An 18th-century periodical of this title (The London Magazine, or Gentleman’s Monthly Intelligencer) ran from 1732 to 1785 . In 1820, John Scott launched a new series of The London Magazine emulating the style of Blackwood’s Magazine, though the two magazines soon came into heated contention. This series ran until 1829, and this is the series to which Mitford and her correspondents frequently refer in their letters. Scott’s editorship lasted until his death by duel on 27 February 1821 resulting form bitter personal conflict with the editors of Blackwood’s Magazine connected with their insulting characterization of a London Cockney School. After Scott’s death, William Hazlitt took up editing the magazine with the April 1821 issue.
Warbeck of Wolfstein
- Author: Margaret Holford
- Date: 1820
Winter Nights; Or, Fire-side Lucubrations
- Author: Nathan Drake
- Date: 1820
Persons, Personas, and Characters
Haydon Benjamin Robert
- Plymouth, England
- London
Benjamin Robert Haydon was a painter educated at the
Royal Academy, who was famous for contemporary,
historical, classical, biblical, and mythological scenes, though tormented by
financial difficulties and incarceration. He painted William Wordsworth's portrait in 1842 and
painted a cameo of Keats in his epic canvas
Christ's Entry into Jerusalem(1814-20). MRM was introduced to him at his London studio in the spring of
1817, and Sir William Elford was a
mutual friend, and Haydon’s own acquaintances included several prominent
British Romantic literary figures. He completed
The Raising of Lazarus in
1823
. He wrote a diary and an autobiography, both of
which were published only posthumously, and he committed suicide in 1846.
George Paston's
Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth
Century (1893) contends that Mitford was
asked to edit Haydon's memoir, but
declined.
Mitford Russell Mary
- Mrs. Mitford
- Ashe, Hampshire, England
- Three Mile Cross, parish of Shinfield, Berkshire, England
Mary Russell was the youngest child of
the Rev. Dr. Richard Russell and
his second wife, Mary Dicker; she was born about 1750 in Ashe, Hampshire. (Her
birth date is as yet unverified; period sources indicate that she was ten years
older than her husband George, born in 1760.) Through the Russells, she was a
distant relation of the Dukes of Bedford (sixth creation, 1694). She had two
siblings, Charles William and Frances; both predeceased her and their parents,
which resulted in Mary Russell inheriting
her family’s entire estate upon her mother’s death in 1785. Her father’s rectory in Ashe was only a
short distance from Steventon, and so she was acquainted
with the young Jane Austen. She married
George Mitford or Midford on October 17, 1785 at New Alresford,
Hampshire. On the marriage allegation papers, both gave their
addresses as Old Alresford. Their only daughter,
Mary Russell Mitford, was born two years
later on December 16, 1787 at New
Alresford, Hampshire. Mary
Russell died on January 2, 1830 at
Three Mile Cross in the parish of Shinfield,
Berkshire. Her obituary in the 1830
New
Monthly Magazine gives New Year’s day as the date of her death.
George Mitford
- George Mitford Esq.
- George Midford
- Hexham, Northumberland, England
- Three Mile Cross, Shinfield, Berkshire, England
Father of Mary Rusell Mitford, George Mitford was the son of Francis Midford, surgeon, and Jane Graham. The family name is sometimes recorded as Midford. Immediate family called him by nicknames including Drum, Tod, and Dodo. He was a member of a minor branch of the Mitfords of Mitford Castle in Northumberland.
Although later sources would suggest that he was a graduate of the University of Edinburgh
medical school, there is no evidence that he obtained a medical degree and he did
not generally refer to himself as Dr. Mitford, preferring to style himself Esq.. In 1784, he is listed in a Hampshire directory as surgeon (medicine) of Alresford. His father and grandfather worked as apothecary-surgeons and it seems likely that
he served a medical apprenticeship with family members.
He married Mary Russell on October 17, 1785 at New Alresford, Hampshire. On the marriage allegation papers, both gave their addresses as Old Alresford; they later came to live
at Broad Street in New Alresford. Their only child to live to adulthood,
Mary Russell Mitford, was born two years
later on December 16, 1787 at New
Alresford, Hampshire. He assisted Mitford's literary career by representing her interests in London and elsewhere with theater
owners and publishers. He was active in Whig politics and later served as a local
magistrate. He coursed greyhounds with his friend James Webb.
Mrs. Dickinson
- Catherine Allingham Dickinson
- Middlesex, England
- St. Marylebone, Middlesex, England
Catherine Allingham was the daughter of Thomas Allingham. She married Charles Dickinson
on August 2, 1807 at St. Giles, South Mimms, Middlesex. They lived in Swallowfield, where their daughter Frances was born, and where they were visited by the Mitford family. According to Mitford, Catherine Dickinson was fond of match-making among her friends
and acquaintances. (See
Mitford's February 8th, 1821 letter to Elford
. Her husband Charles died in 1827, when her daughter was seven. Source: L'Estrange).
Lucy Sweetser Hill
- Hill Sweatser Lucy
- Stratfield Saye, Berkshire, England
Beloved servant for twelve years in the Mitford
household who, on 7 August 1820 married
Charles Hill. She is the basis for
the title character in the Our Village story. Source:
Needham Papers,
Reading Central Library.
Charles Dickinson
- Dickinson Charles
- Mr. Dickinson
- Pickwick Lodge, Corsham, Wiltshire, England
- Farley Hill, near Swallowfield, Berkshire, England
Friend of the Mitford family. He was the son of Vikris Dickinson and Elizabeth Marchant. The Dickinson family
were Quakers who lived in the vicinity of Bristol, Gloucestershire. On August 3, 1807, he married Catherine Allingham at St Giles, South Mimms, Middlesex. They lived at Farley Hill, near Swallowfield,
Berkshire, where their daughter Frances was born, and where the Mitfords visited them.
Charles Dickinson owned a private press he employed to print literary works by his
friends (See letters to Elford from March 13, 1819 and June 21, 1820). He wrote and
published an epic poem in sixty-six cantos, The Travels of Cyllenius, in 1795. Upon his uncle's death, Charles Dickinson inherited the considerable wealth
his extended family had amassed in the West Indies.
Mr. Sherwood
- Sherwood Thomas
Practiced medicine in Reading. He was a
friend of John Berkeley Monck, and likely
others in the Reading political
scene. Sources:
Needham Papers, Reading Central Library
;
History of Parliament Online. ReadingBorough
http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/constituencies/reading.
Charles Hill
- Hill Charles
Schoolmaster at Silchester,
Berkshire, England. Spouse of Mitford servant Lucy Hill, whose marriage to him caused her to
leave her position in the Mitford household. Source: NeedhamPapers, Reading Central Library.
Elizabeth James
- Elizabeth Mary James
- Miss James
- Bath, Somerset, England
- 3 Pembroke Villas, Richmond, Surrey, England
Close friend and correspondent of Mary Russell Mitford. She was the eldest daughter of Thomas Webb and Susanna Haycock. Her father
died in 1818 and her mother in 1835. After her parents’ deaths, she lived with
her two younger sisters, Emily and Susan, in Green Park Buildings, Bath,
Walcot, Somerset; High Street, Mortlake, Surrey; and 3 Pembroke Villas,
Richmond, Surrey. According to Coles,
referring to Mitford’s diary, letters were also addressed to her at Bellevue,
Lower Road, Richmond (Coles 26). She was buried at St. Mary Magdalene, Richmond,
Surrey. In the 1841 census, she is listed as living on independent means; in the 1851
census, as landholder; in the 1861 census, she as railway
shareholder.
Frances Rowden St. Quintin
- Rowden St. Quintin Frances Arabella Fanny
Educator, author, and Mitford
tutor. Also taught Caroline Lamb and
L.E.L.. Worked at St. Quintin School at 22 Hans Place, London, started by M. St. Quintin, a French emigre. St. Quintin and his first wife originally ran a school in Reading;
Frances Rowden became his second wife after his first wife's death. In
The Queens of Society
by Grace and Philip Wharton, the authors note that, while unmarried, Frances Rowden
styled herself Mrs. Rowden (1860: 148). Rowden wrote poetry, including
Poetical Introduction to the Study of Botany (1801) and
The Pleasures of Friendship: A Poem, in two parts (1810, rpt. 1812, 1818); also wrote textbooks, including
A Christian Wreath for the Pagan Dieties (1820, illus. Caroline Lamb), and
A Biographical Sketch of the Most Distinguished Writers of Ancient and Modern Times (1821, illus. Caroline Lamb). (See
Landon's Memoirs
; See also
L'Estrange, ed. The Life of Mary Russell Mitford: Told by Herself,(21)
.
Molly
Mitford's dog, whom she describes in a letter of 1820-11-27 as a pretty little Spaniel with long curling hair--so white & delicate & ladylike.
Eliza Webb
- Webb Elizabeth Eliza
- Wokingham, Berkshire, England
- Sandgate, Kent, England
Elizabeth Webb, called Eliza, was a neighbor and friend of Mary Russell Mitford. Eliza Webb was the youngest daughter of James Webb and Jane Elizabeth
Ogbourn. She was baptized privately on March 3, 1797, and publicly on June 8, 1797 in
Wokingham, Berkshire. She is the sister of Mary Elizabeth and Jane Eleanor
Webb. In 1837 she married Henry Walters, Esq., in Wokingham, Berkshire. In
Needham’s papers, he
notes from the Berkshire Directorythat she lived on
Broad street, presumably in Wokingham. Source: See
Needham’s letter to Roberts on November
27, 1953
.
Valpy
A friend of MRM, and
one of Dr. Richard Valpy’s as yet unmarried daughters by his second wife,
Mary Benwell, though it is unclear which of his
daughters this is. All of Dr. Valpy’s daughters eventually married, and of the
daughters by his second wife,
Mary was married by 1810
, so the reference must be to either Frances (unknown wedding date),
Penelope, or Catherine. Penelope and
Catherine appear to have shared a double wedding on 10 October 1823
.
Anthony Blagrave Valpy
- Valpy Anthony Blagrave Captain, RN
- Reading, Berkshire, England
- Blagdon, Somerset, England
Son of Dr. Richard Valpy and Mary Benwell. Spouse of Anna Harris Valpy. They had four children. He became a captain in the Royal Navy and later retired
to Blagdon, Somerset with his family.
Richard Body
- Body Richard
- Arborfield, Berkshire, England
- Wokingham, Berkshire, England
Charles Fyshe Palmer
- Palmer Charles Fyshe
- Long Fyshe
- Luckley House, Wokingham, Berkshire, England
- Wokingham, Berkshire, England
Charles Fyshe Palmer was the son of
Charles Fyshe Palmer and Lucy
Jones. He married Lady Madelina Gordon Sinclair in 1805 at Kimbolton Castle in Kimbolton,
Herefordshire
. They lived at Luckley House, Wokingham,
Berkshire and at East Court, Finchampstead,
Berkshire. Through her siblings, Lady Madelina was connected
to several of the most influential aristocratic families in the country, and
Charles Fyshe Palmer’s marriage to Lady Madelina thus gained him access to
aristocratic houses, including the Holland
House.
A Whig politician, Palmer began running for Parliament elections as the
member for Reading
after 1816, and appears to have served off and
on in that role until 1841. He led the
Berkshire meetings to protest British government’s handling of the Peterloo Massacre in 1819. On March 16, 1820, Palmer ran for a seat in Parliament against
two other candidates. The votes ran: John
Berkeley Monck (418 votes), Charles Fyshe Palmer(399 votes), and John Weyland(395 votes.) Mitford’s
letters around this time indicate she much preferred his opponent J. B. Monck, and she had earlier satirized
Palmer in 1818 as vastly
like a mop-stick, or, rather, a tall hop-pole, or an extremely long
fishing-rod, or anything that is all length and no substance.
Mitford also mentions Palmer in connection with a legal issue surrounding
the Billiard Club, in her letter to Talfourd of 31 August 1822
. Mitford also mentions the ways that Palmer’s political opponents
sometimes undermined his Whig reformist positions by referencing the noble
privileges (and money) he accrued by marrying the Lady Madelina Gordon in 1805.
Charlotte Nooth
- Nooth Charlotte
- Ireland
A friend of Dr. Richard Valpy, who resided at Kew, Surrey, but often visited Paris. She wrote a poem to Dr.
Valpy and published volumes of poetry in 1815 & 1816, including a verse tragedy, as well as a novel, Eglantine, published by A.J. Valpy
Miss Brooke
- Brooke Miss
A correspondent of Mitford's, to whom she writes at 11 East Cliff, Brighton. William Colessuggests that this could be a summer address, and that she was a resident of Reading. She was courted by Dr. Valpy in October 1823. Forename unknown. Possibly the daughter of Mrs. Brooke and Mr. Brooke. Source: Letter from William Coles to Needham, 10 November 1957
,
Needham Papers,
.
William Tuppen
- William Tuppen Captain
- Captain Tuppen
In Mitford's time, a captain retired from the Royal West regiment of the London militia.
Later became a magistrate and served as mayor of Reading.
Emily James
- James Emily
- Bath, Somerset, England
- 3 Pembroke Villas, Richmond, Surrey
Friend of Mary Russell Mitford, and sister to Elizabeth James and Susan James and cared for pupils with her. She
was born about 1782 in Bath, Somerset, the daughter of Thomas Webb and Susanna
Haycock. Her father died in 1818 and her mother in 1835. After her parents’
deaths, she lived with her two sisters in Green Park Buildings, Bath, Walcot,
Somerset; High Street, Mortlake, Surrey; and 3 Pembroke Villas, Richmond,
Surrey. She died on August 29, 1863, at 3 Pembroke Villas, Richmond, Surrey and
was buried at St. Mary Magdalene, Richmond, Surrey.
Sir William Elford
- Elford William Sir baronet Recorder for Plymouth Recorder for Totnes Member of Parliament
- Kingsbridge, Devon, England
- Totnes, Devon, England
According to L’Estrange, Sir William was first a friend of
Mitford’s father, and
Mitford met him for the first time in the
spring of 1810 when he was a widower nearing the
age of 64. They carried on a lively correspondence until his death
in 1837.
Elford worked as a banker at Plymouth Bank (Elford, Tingcombe and Purchase)
in Plymouth, Devon, from its
founding in 1782. He was elected a member of
Parliament for Plymouth as a
supporter of the government and Tory William
Pitt, and served from 1796 to 1806. After his election defeat
in Plymouth in 1806, he was elected member of Parliament for Rye and served
from July 1807 until his resignation in July 1808. For his service in
Parliament as a supporter of Pitt, he was made a baronet in 1800. After his
son Jonathan came of age, he tried to
secure a stable government post for him but never succeeded. Mayor of
Plymouth in 1796 and Recorder for Plymouth from 1797 to 1833, he was also
Recorder for Totnes from 1832 to 1834. Sir William served as an officer in
the South Devon militia from 1788, eventually attaining the rank of
Lieutenant Colonel; the unit saw active service in Ireland during the Peninsular Wars. Sir
William was a talented amateur painter in oils and watercolors
who exhibited at the Royal Society from 1774 to 1837; he
exhibited still lifes and portraits but preferred landscapes. He was elected
to the Royal Society Academy in 1790. He was also a
talented amateur naturalist and was elected to the Royal Linnaean
Society in 1790; late in life, he published his findings on an
alternative to yeast.
He
married his first wife, Mary Davies
of Plympton, on January 20, 1776 and they had
one son, Jonathan, and two daughters,
Grace Chard and Elizabeth. After the death of his
first wife, he married Elizabeth Hall
Walrond, widow of Lieutenant-Colonel Maine Swete
Walrond of the Coldstream Guards.
His
only son Jonathan died in 1823, leaving him without an heir.
Henry (Harry) Marsh
- Marsh Henry
MRM's letters in December 1820 indicate that Henry Marsh was involved in a local political
tiff with Henry Hart Milman. The rift between Henry Marsh and H.H. Milman is well documented. See The History of Parliament online.
Madelina Gordon Sinclair Palmer
- Palmer Sinclair Gordon Madelina Madalina the Lady
- Lady M.P.
- Lady Mad.
- Lady Madelina Palmer
- Gordon Castle, Bellie, Moray, Scotland
- Chapel Street, Grosvenor Place, London, England
Lady Madelina Gordon was born on June 10, 1772,
the daughter of Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon, and Jane Maxwell, at
Gordon Castle, Bellie, Moray, Scotland. Her first husband was Robert Sinclair,
7th Baronet Sinclair; they married in 1789 and had one child, John Gordon
Sinclair. Her second husband was the Reading Whig politician Charles Fyshe Palmer. They married in 1805 at
Kimbolton Castle in Kimbolton, Herefordshire. They lived at Luckley House,
Wokingham, Berkshire and at East Court, Finchampstead, Berkshire. Through her
siblings, Lady Madelina was connected to several of the most influential
aristocratic families in the country. Her sister Charlotte Gordon became
Duchess of Richmond through her marriage to Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of
Richmond, 4th Duke of Lennox and 4th Duke of Aubigny. Her sister
Susan Gordon became Duchess of Manchester through her
marriage to William Montagu, Duke of Manchester. Her
sister Louise Gordon became Marchioness Cornwallis through
marriage to Charles Cornwallis, Marquess of Cornwallis.
Her sister Georgiana Gordon became Duchess of Bedford
through marriage to John Russell, Duke of Bedford. Her
brothers were George Duncan Gordon, who became 5th Duke of
Gordon, and Lord Alexander Gordon. Charles Fyshe Palmer’s marriage to Lady Madelina
thus gained him access to aristocratic houses, including the Holland House. Lady Madelina’s name is
variously spelled Madelina and Madalina, although Madelina
appears to be the more common and standard spellling of the name, as an
anglicization of the French Madeline. For more on the Palmers, see note 2 in
The Browning’s Correspondence rendering of Mitford’s letter
of 12 March 1842 to Elizabeth Barrett Browning
.
Maria Dundas Graham, Lady Callcott
- Maria, Lady Callcott Callcott Graham Dundas Maria
- Cockermouth, Cumberland, England
- Kensington Gravel Pits, London, England
Mitford writes of this adventurous woman as Mrs. Graham and references her travel publications,
Journal of a Residence in India of 1812
and her journal, Three Months Passed in the Mountains East of Rome: during the year 1819
. She was known for her multiple publications on her travels in India, Chile, and
Brazil, and as Maria Graham, she published the first English biography of the artist Nicholas Poussin: Memoirs of the Life of Nicholas Poussin (1820).. A polymathic enthusiast, she traveled widely in her life, and met her first husband, Lieutenant Thomas Graham, on board the HMS Cornelia bound to Bombay on a trip with her father and siblings in 1809
. During an extended trip to South America,
Thomas Graham died on a voyage from Brazil to Valparaíso, Chile on 9 April 1822
, after which Maria resided in Chile and Brazil, where she served as governess to the Brazilian emperor's daughter, Donna Maria. Her description of an earthquake in Quintero, Brazil influenced
Charles Lyell's explanations in Principles of Geology (1830) of land mass formation by what we would now call tectonic activity. After her return to England in 1826, she met and married the landscape artist Augustus Wall Callcott (1779-1844), who was knighted in 1837, making her Lady Callcott for the last years of her life. Source: ODNB.