ARISTOCRATIC WOMEN

The Social, Political and Cultural History of Rich and Poweful Women

Part 1: The Correspondence of Jemima, Marchioness Gray (1722-97) and her Circle

Introduction by James Collett-White, Bedfordshire County Records Office

This project includes microfilm copies of a large corpus of letters written by women to women, thus bringing the eighteenth century to life from a woman’s point of view. In it are answered a number of the questions students will inevitably ask about women’s attitudes in this period.

The letters form part of the Wrest Park (Lucas) Archive deposited at the Bedfordshire Record Office, County Hall, Cauldwell Street, Bedford, MK42 9AP. The archive is substantial and the main focus of this project is to publish the exchanges of correspondence between Jemima, Marchioness Grey and her daughters as well as to her friend Catherine Talbot. It should be realised that a considerable number of letters written to women mentioned in this project (for instance, those by male correspondents) have not been microfilmed. Where these are referred to in the text the Bedfordshire Record Office (BRO) number will be asterisked. The archive is available for study at BRO during normal office hours.

Brief Biographies of the Correspondents

Jemima Grey and her two daughters

GREY, Jemima (1722-1797)
(Jemima (née Campbell), Marchioness Grey & Baroness Lucas)

A large proportion of the letters filmed here are to or from Jemima, Marchioness Grey. She was the daughter of John Campbell, later 3rd Earl of Breadalbane (1696-1782) and Amabel his wife (née Grey). By 1734 Jemima emerged as the likely heiress of the estates at Wrest Park, Bedfordshire), Burbage, (Leicestershire), Colchester, (Essex) and Crudwell (Wiltshire), belonging to her maternal grandfather Henry Grey (1671-1740) Duke of Kent. She was brought up by him with his two youngest daughters Mary and Anne Sophia (qv). At the Duke’s London house at 4 St James Square, Piccadilly she met Catherine Talbot, who became an intellectual companion and lifelong friend.

At the onset of his last illness the Duke tried to ensure the continuity of the estate and the preservation of the Grey title. On 19 May 1740 he was granted a special remainder to make Jemima, Marchioness Grey on his death.

On 22 May 1740 she married Philip Yorke (1720-1790), eldest son of the Baron Hardwicke (later the1st Earl of Hardwicke), Lord Chancellor and a member of the council of regency during George II’s absence from the realm. On 5 June 1740 Jemima’s father died and she became Marchioness Grey and inherited the bulk of his estate.

Philip Yorke was a man of scholarly and cultured tastes. He privately printed The Athenian letters (1741), co-written with his brother Charles, and was editor of several political collections including Walpoliana (1783). He had built a Persian altar at Wrest and employed Capability Brown to transform Wimpole. He was a friend of the earlier patrons of Gothick. Although he was an MP from 1741 to 1764 (1741-47 for Reigate; 1747-64 for Cambridgeshire), a Privy Councillor *1760) and Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire (1757-1790) he did not shine on a wider stage. After his father’s death in 1764 he became 2nd Earl of Hardwicke and was a minister without portfolio in Rockingham’s short lived government in 1766. From the 1760s he was dogged by ill health. In his early years he was an inveterate traveller and his travel diaries have been published in the Bedfordshire Historical Record Society (BHRS) Volume XLVII pages 125-163. They can be contrasted with Jemima’s letters describing many of the same places. Jemima became lifelong friends of Philip’s sisters Elizabeth Anson, Margaret Heathcote and Mary Yorke his sister-in-law.

Jemima and Philip had two daughters, Amabel (1751-1838) and Mary Jemima (1756-1830). The letters between mother and daughters reveal the close friendship between them, as their children grew from infancy to adulthood. Jemima’s later years were enriched by her role as grandmother to Mary Jemima’s three sons. She died 11 January 1797.

Published Sources:

J. Godber’s The Marchioness Grey of Wrest Park. BHRS Volume XLVII, 1968

GREY, Amabel (1751-1833)
(Amabel (née Grey) Lady Polwarth, later Baroness Lucas and Countess de Grey)

Amabel was the elder daughter of Philip and 2nd Earl of Hardwicke and Jemima, Marchioness Grey. She married Alexander Hume-Campbell, Lord Polwarth (1750-1781) in 1772. On her mother’s death in 1797 she became Baroness Lucas of Crudwell and the owner of her extensive estates. On 25 October 1816 she was created Countess de Grey.

She was brought up in her parents’ houses, having a special affection for Wrest Park. During her marriage she lived in rented houses in Bedfordshire. Later she had a villa at Putney. She was an accomplished amateur artist, taught by Alexander Cozens. She did seven sketches of Wrest and Wimpole for Catherine the Great’s dinner service. She also wrote fairy stories and translated Petrarch. In later life she became a noted collector. She ran the Wrest estate with the help of her nephew and heir Earl de Grey (1781-1859).

Her husband, apart from trying farming, had no paid occupation. His passion was for hunting but he did share his wife’s cultural interests. His estrangement from his father saddened Amabel. The last part of his life was marred by ill health and he died in 1781 aged 30. The marriage was childless but Amabel was a devoted aunt to her sister’s children. She died 4 May 1833.

GREY, Mary Jemima (1756-1830)
(Mary Jemima (née Grey) Robinson)

Mary Jemima was the younger daughter of Philip, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke and Jemima, Marchioness Grey. She married Thomas Robinson, 2nd Baron Grantham in 1780. He was the eldest son of the noted diplomatist, Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham, who represented England in negotiations with Maria-Theresa and Frederick the Great. Like his father, Thomas was a career diplomat and his service included 3 years as commissioner of trade and plantations (1780-2) and 2 years as Foreign Secretary (1782-3). The marriage negotiations nearly foundered when it was discovered that Grantham had little assets other than his salary. Mary was given the choice and accepted him. They had three sons: Thomas Philip, b 1781 – later Earl de Grey and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1841-4); Frederick John, b 1782 – later Viscount Goderich and 1st Earl of Ripon, who held many political posts from 1809 to 1846, including that of Prime Minister from 1827 to 1828, following the death of Canning; and Philip, b 1783.

She shared his enthusiasm for improving Newby Park in Yorkshire. Part of the alterations to the first floor were to create bedrooms for their three sons near their mother’s. Unfortunately their marriage was short lived; Grantham dying 20 July 1786. She brought up the boys with the help of her brother-in-law Frederick Robinson and his wife. Advice was given by her mother and sister. Her letters are very child-centred and give a useful insight into child care at the end of the eighteenth century. Weaning, diet and later education are discussed exhaustively. Mary Robinson died 7 January 1830.

Jemima, Marchioness Grey’s Friends and Relations

ANSON, Elizabeth see YORKE

GREGORY, Jemima, daughter of David and Mary (née Grey) Gregory, was brought up with Amabel, Countess de Grey and was a constant correspondent of hers throughout her life, sharing her literary interests. She was employed as the tacker of George III’s shirts in the Royal Household.

GREY, Anne Sophia (1730-1780) only surviving child of Henry Duke of Kent by his second wife. Although younger than Jemima she was a constant correspondent in later years. Despite opposition from her grandmother, she married John Egerton (1721-1787), who became Bishop of Durham in 1771. She died in 1780. Only two of her letters are in this series. The rest of her correspondence to Jemima Grey has the reference L30/9/32/1-63*.

GREY, Mary (1719-1761) was the youngest daughter of Henry Duke of Kent by his first wife. She was brought up with Jemima Grey, who was her devoted friend and to whom he wrote constantly after her marriage. In 1743 she married David Gregory, who was Dean of Christchurch from 1756 to 1767. They had three sons and a daughter Jemima. Mary Gregory died in 1761. Jemima Gregory (qv) was adopted by Jemima, Marchioness Grey. The waywardness of the sons however was a constant theme in family letters.

HUME-CAMPBELL, Amabel see GREY

HUME-CAMPBELL, Elizabeth, 2nd wife of 3rd Earl of Marchmont, who had considerable estates in Scotland and one at Hemel Hempstead (Hertfordshire). The estrangement between her son Lord Polwarth and her husband could not be healed even during the former’s last illness. She died 4 March 1797.

MADDOCKS, Mary, daughter of Isaac Maddocks, Bishop of Worcester 1743-1759. She married James Yorke (1730-1803) who held a number of clerical appointments including Dean of Lincoln, Bishop of St Davids, Bishop of Gloucester and from 1781-1808 Bishop of Ely. She wrote letters to Jemima Marchioness Grey with vivid descriptions of all the places that the Yorkes lived in. They had seven children, whose activities Mary chronicled from childhood to adulthood. She advised Mary Baroness Grantham how she should set up her nursery.

TALBOT, Catherine (1721-1770), author, was the daughter of the second son of the Bishop of Durham and niece of Charles Talbot, Lord Chancellor. She was born after her father’s death. She and her mother formed part of the household of Thomas Secker (1693-1768), who was chaplain to George II, 1732; Bishop of Bristol, 1734 and Oxford, 1737; Dean of St Paul’s, 1750; and Archbishop of Canterbury, 1758-1768. When he was Rector of St James Piccadilly Catherine met the Greys, who lived close by at 4 St James Square. Catherine shared with them their intellectual interests. Talbot’s education was encouraged by Secker and she was described as making progress “equally rapidly in all arts”. She was an accomplished artist, musician and linguist. She was especially interested in theology and also knew astronomy and geography. She was a great friend of Bishop Butler, Lord Lyttelton, William Pulteney, Earl of Bath, Mrs Montagu and Samuel Richardson (reading his Sir Charles Grandison before publication). Talbot acted as Secker’s almoner and on his death in 1768 she inherited £13,000 from his will. Talbot was a contributor to Samuel Johnson’s Rambler, but achieved fame with her Reflections on the Seven Days of the Week (1770) which went through 10 editions by 1784. She died of cancer in 1770.

Her vivid account of her visit to Wrest Park is written in code (L31/106* and decoded transcript by J Godber).

Published Sources:

Dictionary of National Biography

Reverend Montague Pennington’s A series of Letters between Mrs Elizabeth Carter and Miss Catherine Talbot 1741-1770 published 1809.

YORKE, Elizabeth (1725-1760) daughter of 1st Earl of Hardwicke. She marked in 1748 George 1st Lord Anson, (1697-1762) Admiral of the Fleet and Circumnavigator, who had estates at Shugborough (Staffordshire) and Moor Park (Hertfordshire). Mrs Delaney’s comments about her appears unjust: “She is a little coxcombical and affects to be learned”. Jemima Marchioness Grey was devoted to her and her grief at her death comes across in a letter she wrote to Mary Gregory. Her letters to Jemima have not been microfilmed (L30/9/102/1-13* and L30/9/3/1-116*). She also became a friend of Catherine Talbot (see L30/21/1/1-10 on Reel 9).

YORKE, Margaret (1733-1769) sister of Elizabeth. She married Sir Gilbert Heathcote of Stocken Rutland, where she led an isolated life.

YORKE,Mary see MADDOCKS

The Arrangement and Content of the Letters

Reels 1-5

Letters to Jemima, Marchioness Grey

The letters to Jemima should be used with her letters in reply (L30/9A/1-9 (Reel 10), L30/11/122 (Reel 5), L30/13/9 (Reel 8) and L30/21/3 & 5 (Reel 9), Jemima’s correspondents were either friends or relations who knew most of the other people in her set. The letters are therefore full of references to mutual acquaintances, especially to their health. Part of the year they lived in London and were involved in the political and court life of the capital. Often they had been brought up or visited Wrest park, the old house and great garden, seat of the Greys. Love for Wrest is a theme that echoes throughout the correspondence. They shared a common intellectual and cultural background in which it was understood that women would enjoy literature including history, books in foreign languages and, of course, novels.

Women’s attitudes to their husbands and to bringing up children feature regularly in the letters.

Despite arranged marriages, Jemima and her two daughters were clearly fond of their respective husbands. The later letters reveal a warm and caring approach to children, in which nurses who were too old to have a romp were dismissed. While these general themes appear in a number of the letters, individual groups have their special interests and these will now be highlighted.

Mary Gregory’s letters (L30/9/50/1-43) show her involvement in the restoration of Christchurch Deanery, Oxford. One of Anne Sophia’s (L30/9/52/1-2) is an appeal to Jemima to help her in the difficulties of her engagement to her future husband. Jemima’s daughter Amabel’s letters (pre 1772, L30/9/51/1-18 and 1772-1796, L30/9/60/1-371) show her developing interests in art and her special love for Wrest. She gives a detailed description of her bridal tour to Scotland in 1772. Her letters are full of her husband Lord Polwarth’s activities such as farming and hunting. His health increasingly predominates in the letters until his death in 1781. Amabel’s comments on her sister’s marriage negotiations shed an important light on how these were conducted. From 1781 Amabel’s letters concentrate on Wrest, her sister’s family and her father’s health.

Her sister Mary Baroness Grantham’s early letters (L30/9/54/1-18) date from when she was a child having a seaside holiday in Brighton. Letters when she was in her twenties refer to the famous Queen Charlotte’s Bed embroidered by Mrs Pawsey at Silsoe. The letters after her marriage (L30/9/81/1-158) give a detailed picture of her short marriage and the bringing up of her children, including Thomas, the future Earl de Grey (Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1841-1844) and Frederick, the future Earl of Ripon and Viscount Goderich (Prime Minister 1827-1828).

The two letters from Lady Marchmont concern the illness of her son, Lord Polwarth. The few items relating to Catherine Talbot include a couple of poems (one a translation from the Italian) (L30/9/87/1-4). The rest are believed to have been accidentally destroyed.

Mary Yorke’s letters (L30/9/111/1-273) are much more substantial. The descriptions of the places she lived in with her pluralist husband such as Lincoln and St Davids are particularly vivid. Using her experience of bringing up seven children she gave her advice as to how a nursery should be run and what wages should be paid.

Reels 5-7

Letters to Amabel Countess de Grey

These letters were written by Amabel’s mother, sister and cousin. The themes mentioned in the introduction to the letters to Jemima recur. Literature, Wrest and Mary Baroness Grantham’s children all figure prominently.

Jemima Gregory had been brought up with Amabel and seems to have been like a second sister. Her letters centre on their mutual interests, life at Court and her retreats at Esher and Petersham and her reaction to the death of her brother David are the highlights of this part of the correspondence (L30/11/122/1-41).

Jemima’s letters to her daughter (L30/11/122/1-395) show the developing relationship of mother and daughter from Amabel’s childhood through her widowhood to the trusted heiress of the Wrest Park estate. She was instructed by Jemima as to how the Pavilion at Wrest was to be repapered in 1773 and how Capability Brown should be handled. In the correspondence are details of a Royal Wedding and a Royal Christening, an elopement, and the American War of Independence. Jemima’s letters of sympathy to Amabel during Polwarth’s illness are especially noteworthy. The letters of her sister Mary have only been filmed prior to her marriage in 1780. The later letters have the reference (L30/11/240/1-294*). The two sisters were obviously warm friends. Mary’s love as a child of pets and her adult enthusiasm for musical evenings both feature.

Reels 8-9

Letters to Mary Jemima Baroness Grantham

The letters to Baroness Grantham filmed here, mainly from her mother and sister Jemima, start when Mary was a small child and end in 1790 (L30/3/9/1-133). The 1780 letters, for example, include an account of a visit to Luton Hoo and elections in both Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. Jemima commented on the death of Lord Polwarth and its effect on Amabel. After Mary had three children, the letters are full of reference to child care.

Amabel’s letters to her sister (L39/13/12/1-117) after her marriage. The earlier ones have a reference (L30/13/12/1-114)*. Highlights include the 1772 bridal tour, a visit to Wrest Park by Capability Brown and the illnesses of her husband and their father.

Two charming letters from Catherine Talbot to Mary as a small child round off this group. They are full of reference to cats and goldfish and written in a way to appeal to a child (L30/13/25/1-2).

Reels 9-10

Letters to Catherine Talbot

The bulk of Jemima’s letters to Catherine are found on Reel 10 (L30/9a/3-9). Most of the letters of Reel 9 (L30/21/3/1-14) are of ephemeral nature but do include two travel diaries, copied into (L30/9a/6).

Amabel’s letters show her interest in drawing and in literature, both of which enthusiasms she shared with Catherine.

Jemima’s in-laws, the Yorkes, were also firm friends of Catherine. Elizabeth Anson shared Catherine’s love of books. References to patronage at her husband’s disposal reveals the important part she played in this role (L30/21/1/1-10). Margaret Heathcote’s letters (L30/21/4) refer to her lonely life at Stocken. She sent some verses to Catherine for criticism.

On Catherine’s death both Jemima, Marchioness Grey and Mary Yorke continued to correspond with her other (L30/21/5 & 6).

Reel 9

Letters to Jemima Gregory

Amabel’s letters in reply to those found on Reel 5 (L30/11/121/1-41) shed light on her attempt to get literary work published secretly for fear of being called “an authoress”. References are made in the letters to George III’s madness, the Gordon Riots and the American and French Revolutions.

Reel 10

Transcripts of letters by Jemima, Marchioness Grey

After her mother’s death in 1797, Amabel gathered together letters from the chief recipients of Jemima’s letters: Mary Gregory, Catherine Talbot and Mary Yorke. The letters to Mary Gregory (L30/9a/1-3) and Catherine Talbot (L30/9a/3-9) cover the first twenty years of Jemima’s marriage; Catherine’s cover another ten and Mary Yorke’s bring it up to 1775 (L30/9a/9). Through these letters an intimate portrait of an intelligent woman’s daily pursuits and thoughts can be ascertained over a long period. The first two writers shared her love of books and her affection for Wrest Park. The travelling that Jemima did is particularly interesting when her comments are compared with those of her husband (see BHRS XLVII). Her growing children are often mentioned. Quite frequently she writes about her philosophy of life. The letters to Mary Yorke include one of 16 November 1772 describing the household intended to be set up by Amabel and the duties her housekeeper was to perform.

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