Category: French Revolution

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An Infamous Mistress

Stew’s Introduction

A Right Royal Scandal. Murden, Sarah and Joanne Major. South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword History, 2017.
A Right Royal Scandal. Murden, Sarah and Joanne Major. South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword History, 2017.

We are extremely fortunate to have Sarah Murden and Joanne Major grace (no pun intended) our site today with their guest blog. Sarah and Joanne are the co-authors of an extremely fascinating biography of the infamous courtesan, spy, and survivor of the French Revolution, Grace Dalrymple Elliott. They are meticulous with their research, especially with a subject that did not leave a whole lot behind for historians. Sarah and Joanne live in the UK and consider themselves “history detectives” who write/blog about all things having to do with the Georgian and early Victorian Eras. Their new book A Right Royal Scandal picks up where Grace leaves off with the reader’s entrance into the beginning of the Victorian Era. You can visit with Sarah and Jo on their web site https://georgianera.wordpress.com as well as purchase their books on www.Amazon.com.

Research Background

Portrait of Georgiana Augusta Frederica Elliott (Seymour), later Lady Charles Bentinck. Painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1784). Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Portrait of Georgiana Augusta Frederica Elliott (Seymour), later Lady Charles Bentinck. Painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1784). Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Being able to add so much information to Grace Dalrymple Elliott’s story was something of a happy accident. We were researching the Reverend Charles Cavendish Bentinck (ancestor of the British royal family) and his wife Sinnetta Lambourne who had gypsy blood (they are the subjects of our book A Right Royal Scandal: Two Marriages That Changed History).

King George IV when Prince of Wales. Painting by Richard Cosway (c.1780–1782). National Portrait Gallery. PD-100+
King George IV when Prince of Wales. Painting by Richard Cosway (c.1780–1782). National Portrait Gallery. PD-100+

The Rev. Cavendish Bentinck’s father had been married twice and his first wife was Georgiana Seymour, Grace’s daughter. Reputedly, the Prince of Wales was Georgiana’s father.

Meet Grace and Her Family

Portrait of Mrs. Grace Dalrymple Elliott. Painting by Thomas Gainsborough (1778). Metropolitan Museum of Art. PD-100+ Wikimedia Commons.
Portrait of Mrs. Grace Dalrymple Elliott. Painting by Thomas Gainsborough (1778). Metropolitan Museum of Art. PD-100+ Wikimedia Commons.

Grace Dalrymple Elliott was an infamous eighteenth-century courtesan. Married young to Dr. (later Sir) John Eliot, a messy and public divorce and criminal conversation trial ensued when Grace was discovered in a bagnio with the worthless Viscount Valentia. An earl, a prince and a French duke became, in turn, the lovers of the beautiful Grace and she picked her protectors wisely. Read More An Infamous Mistress

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Grace Under Fire

Definition of Courtesan

Portrait of Grace Elliott. Painting by Thomas Gainsborough (c. 1782). Frick Collection. PD- 100+ Wikimedia Commons.
Portrait of Grace Elliott. Painting by Thomas Gainsborough (c. 1782). Frick Collection. PD- 100+ Wikimedia Commons.

From the 2016 edition of Merriam-Webster:  a woman who has sex with rich or important men in exchange for money : a prostitute who has sex with wealthy and powerful men.

Allow me to introduce you to a Scottish woman, Grace Dalrymple Elliott (1754–1823). She was one of the more intriguing personalities of her time (kind of like Kim Kardashian to some of today’s star gazers). While Grace’s exploits were dutifully reported at the time by several of London’s widely read gossip newspapers, she is virtually forgotten today (as I’m sure Kim will be forgotten 200 years from now).

Grace and the French Revolution

I always get excited when I find something new (at least to me) about the French Revolution. This is especially true when it comes from a contemporary source. This time it is courtesy of Grace’s memoirs.

Portrait of Mrs. Grace Dalrymple Elliott. Painting by Thomas Gainsborough (1778). Metropolitan Museum of Art. PD-100+ Wikimedia Commons.
Portrait of Mrs. Grace Dalrymple Elliott. Painting by Thomas Gainsborough (1778). Metropolitan Museum of Art. PD-100+ Wikimedia Commons.

What we really know about Grace comes from her book and memoir Ma Vie Sous La Révolution (Journal of My Life During the French Revolution) that was published by her granddaughter after Grace’s passing in 1823. Despite Victorian censuring and I’m sure lapses in Grace’s memory, the book provides an interesting glimpse into the Revolution from the view of a participant. Other than this brief memoir, historians (e.g., Joanne Major and Sarah Murden, co-authors of An Infamous Mistress) have had to piece together her life from various third party sources and historical records. Read More Grace Under Fire