Scandal in Georgian England
William Cavendish (1746-1811) was the 5th Duke of Devonshire. He was Lord High Treasurer of Ireland, Governor of Cork and Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire. He best known for his the scandals which surrounded his marriage to, Lady Georgiana Spencer. 
Georgiana Spencer was born in Althorp, Northamptonshire, on 7 June 1757. She was the eldest daughter of John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer, one of the richest men in England, and Margaret Georgiana Poyntz. She had two siblings, George and Henrietta, known as Harriet, later Lady Bessborough.
By the time Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, was twenty-two, she was the most talked about woman in England. Her novel 'The Sylph' had gone through four printings, and she had served as the model for Lady Teazle in Richard Sheridan's 'The School for Scandal'. Wax casts of her were on sale alongside likenesses of the Prince of Wales, milliners made fans decorated with her portrait and she was nearly crushed by crowds when she appeared in public places such as the pleasure gardens at Ranelagh. Her extravagant costumes, outlandish hats and hairstyles - which rose as much as three feet above her head (and might feature a ship in full sail or a pastoral scene with sheep and trees) - were more assiduously chronicled than those of any other aristocrat in England. She was the confidante, and, it was rumoured, the lover, of the country's most charismatic politician, Charles James Fox. She was also the closest friend of the debauched, attention-seeking Prince of Wales ('Prinny' to his friends). 
The vivacious Duchess of Devonshire, was 'the glass and model of fashion' and the uncontested leader of the 'ton' an amalgam of writers, actors, politicians, racy aristocrats, and libertines which, although it included less than a thousand people, set standards of taste in England during the last decades of the eighteenth century.
This willowy, russet haired beauty was, in every sense superb, except for her somewhat bulging eyes. She was also considered the most warmhearted woman in the realm. She was noted for her generosity to charities and friends alike, and famous for her capacity to make those she addressed feel as if they were the centre of the world. So it seems all the more odd that the only man who was not smitten by the Duchess was her husband, William Cavendish, fifth Duke of Devonshire. He was one of the wealthiest nobles in the nation and the owner of a magnificent art collection and many mansions (including Devonshire House and  Chatsworth). His idea of a good time was to drink and play cards with his cronies at Brooks', the exclusive club where he dined nightly, year in, year out, on broiled mutton. At the same time he was betrothed to Georgiana, the duke was conducting an affair with a former milliner, Charlotte Spencer, who bore him a daughter.
In 1782, the Duke and Duchess journeyed to Bath, where they met the fascinating Lady Elizabeth Foster. She was separated from her husband and living in straightened circumstances. She eagerly seized the opportunity to improve her situation. Lady Elizabeth, known as Bess, attached herself to Georgiana and was invited to return home with the Devonshires. Bess succeeded in making herself indispensable to both Duchess and Duke, as friend to one and mistress to the other and a strange “ménage à trois” resulted. Bess bore the Duke two illegitimate children, Caroline St Jules and Augustus Clifford, and married the Duke after Georgiana’s death.
In 1783, Georgiana, known as Little G, was born. Her sister, Harriet, known as Harryo, followed two years later, but it was not until 1790, when the hope of her ever producing an heir had almost disappeared, that William, Marquess of Hartington, known as Hart, was born.
The love of Georgiana’s life was the handsome young Whig politician, Charles Grey. She embarked upon an affair with him, but in 1791 she discovered that she was carrying his child. The Duke gave her an ultimatum - give up Grey and the child or she would never see her three children again. Grey was heartbroken when she chose her children over him.
Georgiana fled abroad giving birth to Eliza Courtney in January 1792 and then handing her over to Grey’s parents to be brought up. She was never able to openly acknowledge her, although she did visit her daughter.
Eventually, the Duke sent word that she could return and in the autumn of 1793, she arrived in England after a two year absence. For several years following her exile, Georgiana lived a quiet life. She suffered a severe eye complaint, which left her blind in one eye and her face was scarred as a result of the treatment she received.
It was not until Little G was to be launched into society that Georgiana overcame her disability and once more entertained at Devonshire House. She rekindled her friendship with the Prince of Wales and became one of his main advisors.
Georgiana died on 30 March 1806 from a liver complaint. She was buried in the family vault at St Stephen’s Church, Derby, on 8 April, and society deeply mourned her passing.

My Heart's in the Highlands
My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart’s in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart’s in the Highlands, wherever I go.

Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,
The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth ;
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.

Farewell to the mountains, high-cover’d with snow,
Farewell to the straths and green vallies below;
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods,
Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.

My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart’s in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart’s in the Highlands, wherever I go.
Robert Burns, 1789

January 25th marks Burns Night, the annual celebration of Scotland's national poet Robert Burns. Celebrated on, or about, the Bard's birthday, celebrations include the famous Burns Suppers, which range from formal gatherings of aesthetes and scholars to uproariously informal rave-ups of drunkards and louts. Most Burns Suppers fall in the middle of this range, and adhere, more or less, to some sort of time honoured forms which include the eating of a traditional Scottish meal, the drinking of Scotch whisky, and the recitation of works by, about, and in the spirit of the Bard. It would be a strange Burns Supper indeed that did not include at least some lines from Auld Lang Syne. 

And there's a hand, my trusty fiere!
And gie's a hand o' thine!
And we'll tak' a right guid-willie waught,
For auld lang syne.

Robert Burns was born on 25 January 1759 in the village of Alloway, two miles south of Ayr. His parents, Willian Burnes and Agnes Broun, were tenant farmers but they ensured their son received a good education and he was an avid reader. 
Hard physical labour on the family farm took its toll on the young Burns, who increasingly indulged in his passions of poetry, nature, drink and women.
Burns fathered twins with the woman who was to become his wife, Jean Armour, but a rift in their relationship almost led to him emigrating to the West Indies with lover Mary Campbell (his Highland Mary). Mary's sudden death and the sensational success of his first published collection of verse kept him in Scotland. At just 27, Burns had already become famous across the country with poems such as To a Louse, To a Mouse and The Cotter's Saturday Night.
Newly hailed as the Ploughman Poet because his poems complemented the growing literary taste for romanticism and pastoral pleasures, Burns arrived in Edinburgh, where he was welcomed by a circle of wealthy and important friends.
Illicit relationships and the fathering of illegitimate children ran parallel to a productive period in his working life. His correspondence with Agnes 'Nancy' McLehose resulted in the classic Ae Fond Kiss. A collaboration with James Johnson led to a long-term involvement in The Scots Musical Museum, which included the poems including Auld Lang Syne.
In just 18 short months, Burns had spent most of the wealth from his published poetry, and in 1789 he began work as an Excise Officer in Dumfries and resumed his relationship with his wife Jean. His increasingly radical political views influenced many of the phenomenal number of poems, songs and letters he continued to pen.
The hard work this new job entailed, combined with the toil of his earlier life and dissolute lifestyle began to take their toll on Burns's health. He died on 21 July 1796 aged just 37 and was buried with full civil and military honours on the very day his son Maxwell was born. A memorial edition of his poems was published to raise money for his wife and children.

Who was the man who has been called 'Liverpool's greatest son'?
William Roscoe was born in Liverpool on 8th March 1753. His father, formerly a servant at Allerton Hall, was a market gardener who kept a public house called the Bowling Green in Mount Pleasant. Roscoe was largely self-educated having left school at the age of twelve. He assisted his father in the work of the garden, but spent his leisure time on reading and study. In truth, he devoted his whole life to the pursuit of learning. At fifteen he began to look for a suitable career. A month's trial of bookselling was unsuccessful, and in 1769 he was articled to a solicitor. Although a diligent student of law, he continued to read the classics, and enjoyed the language and literature of Italy which was to dominate his life.
In 1774 he went into business as a lawyer, and in 1781 married Jane, second daughter of William Griffies, a Liverpool tradesman; they had seven sons and three daughters. Roscoe had the courage to publicly denounce the African slave trade in his native town, where, at that time, a significant amount of the wealth came from slavery. 
In 1796 Roscoe gave up legal practice, and toyed with the idea of going to the bar. Between 1793 and 1800 he paid much attention to agriculture. He also succeeded in restoring to good order the affairs of a banking house in which his friend William Clark, then resident in Italy, was a partner. This led to his introduction to the business, which eventually proved disastrous.
Roscoe was elected member of parliament for Liverpool in 1806, but the House of Commons was not for him, and at the dissolution in the following year he stood down. During his brief stay however, he was able to cast his vote in favour of the successful abolition of the slave trade.
In the early 1800s, he led a group of Liverpool botanists who created the Liverpool Botanic Garden as a private garden, initially located near Mount Pleasant, which was then on the outskirts of the City. In the 1830s the garden was relocated to Wavertree Botanic Gardens.
The commercial troubles of 1816 brought into difficulties the banking house with which he was connected, and forced the sale of his collection of books and pictures. Dr SH Spiker, the king of Prussia's librarian, visited Roscoe at this difficult time. Roscoe said he still desired to write a biography of Erasmus but lacked both leisure and youth. The project was never carried out. After five years struggling to discharge the liabilities of the bank, the action of a small number of creditors forced the partners into bankruptcy in 1820. For a time Roscoe was in danger of arrest, but ultimately he received an honourable discharge. On the dispersal of his library, the volumes most useful to him were secured by friends and placed in the Liverpool Athenaeum. The sum of £2500 was also invested for his benefit.
Having now resigned commercial pursuits entirely, he took great pleasure in the arrangement of the great library at Holkham, the property of his friend Thomas Coke.
He was a prolific writer, historian and pamphleteer. Horace Walpole thought Roscoe the best of our historians, and his books on Lorenzo de'Medici and Pope Leo X remain important contributions to historical literature. His poem, Mount Pleasant, was written when he was sixteen, and together with other verses won the esteem of good critics.
The Butterfly's Ball is a fantasy poem, which has charmed thousands of children since it appeared in 1807. 
Roscoe and his wife had seven sons and three daughters, including William Stanley Roscoe,  a poet, Thomas, translator from Italian, and Henry, a legal writer who wrote his father's biography. Henry's son Henry Enfield Roscoe was a chemist and vice-chancellor of the University of London. His daughter was a poet known by her married name Mary Anne Jevons, and was the mother of William Stanley Jevons.
Throughout his life, Roscoe showed considerable moral courage as well as devotion to study.

Charles Geneviève Louis Auguste André Timothée d'Éon de Beaumont (later known as Charlotte Genevieve Louise Auguste Andree Timothee d'Eon de Beaumont) was born on 5th October 1728 in Tonnerre, Burgundy son of Louis d'Éon de Beaumont, attorney and director of the king's dominions, and Françoise de Charanton. As he grew up, d'Éon excelled at his studies. His slight, adrogynous physique led to him being known as 'petit d'Éon'. 
In 1756 d'Éon joined a network of spies called Le Secret du Roi who worked directly for King Louis XV, without the knowledge of the government, and sometimes against official policies and treaties. D'Éon was sent on a secret mission to Russia to meet with the Empress Elizabeth and liaise with the pro-French faction against the Habsburg monarchs. D'Éon disguised himself as a woman (Lea de Beaumont) to do so, and even became a maid of honour to the Empress in this guise. At the time the English would only allow women and children across the border into Russia. Given the delicate nature of the work, d'Éon had to convince everyone that he was a woman or face execution. In 1761, d'Éon returned to France and became a captain of dragoons. In 1762 he was sent to London to draft the peace treaty which was signed in Paris 10 February 1763. D'Éon later became an ambassador to London and was involved in a scandal during which he accused his successor, the Count of Guerchy of attempting to murder him. In 1766, Louis XV granted D'Éon a pension of 12,000 livres a year for his services. D'Éon continued to work as a spy, but lived in political exile in London. He possessed secret letters which protected him against action by the king but he could not return to France.
There were constant rumors that D'Éon was actually a woman, and a betting pool was started on the London Stock Exchange about his true sex. D'Éon was invited to join, but declined, saying that an examination would dishonour him. After a year without progress, the wager was abandoned. In 1774, after the death of Louis XV, d'Éon tried to negotiate a return from exile. The resulting agreement permitted D'Éon to return to France and keep his ministerial pension, but required that he turn over the secret correspondence he held.
On his return to Frnace, d'Éon declared he really was a woman, and demanded recognition by the government as such. He claimed to have been born anatomically female, but said he had been raised as a boy because Louis d'Éon de Beaumont could only inherit from his in-laws if he had a son. King Louise XVI complied, but demanded that d'Éon dress appropriately and wear women's clothing. He agreed, especially when the king granted him funds for a new wardrobe. In 1777 after fourteen months of negotiation, d'Éon returned to France, and was banished to Tonnerre for six years. In 1779, d'Éon published his memoirs 'La Vie Militaire, politique, et privée de Mademoiselle d'Éon'.
He returned to England in 1785. The pension which had been granted by Louis XV was lost during the French Revolution. In 1792, he sent a letter to the National Assembly, offering to lead a division of women soldiers against the Habsburgs but his offer was refused. D'Éon participated in fencing tournaments until being seriously wounded in 1796. In 1804 d'Éon was imprisoned for debt but released in 1805, upon which a contract was signed for his autobiography. The book was never published, because d'Éon became paralysed following a fall. His final years were spent bedridden, and on 21 May 1810 he died in poverty in London at the age of 82. Doctors who examined his body after death confirmed that the Chevalier was anatomically male.

For me this post is about a 'local' celebrity as Emma was born on The Wirral.
She was born Amy Lyon on 26th April 1765 in Ness, Cheshire, the daughter of a blacksmith. Her father died very soon after her birth and she was raised by her mother in Hawarden, North Wales. She later changed her name to Emma Hart. 
Emma had no formal education and, at the age of 12, she was working as a maid at the Hawarden home of Doctor Honoratus Leigh Thomas. Then she worked for the Budd family in Chatham Place, Blackfriars. It was there that she met a maid called Jane Powell, who wanted to be an actress and Emma joined her in rehearsing for various tragic roles. Emma started work at the Drury Lane Theatre in Covent Garden, as maid to various actresses, amongst them Mary Robinson (mistress to the Prince Regent). 
At the age of fifteen, Emma met Sir Harry Featherstonhaugh, who hired her for several months as hostess and entertainer at a lengthy stag party at his country estate. She is said to have entertained Harry and his friends by dancing naked on the dining room table. Emma formed a friendship with one of the guests, the Honourable Charles Francis Greville, second son of the Earl of Warwick and a Member of Parliament. It was about this time (late June-early July 1781) that she conceived a child by Sir Harry.
Sir Harry was furious at the unwanted pregnancy but is thought to have accommodated Emma in one of his many houses in London. Emma gave up on Sir Harry and became Greville's mistress. When the child, Emma Carew, was born, she was taken to be raised by a Mr and Mrs Blackburn. 
Greville sent Emma to sit for his friend, the painter George Romney. Romney painted many portraits of Emma at this time and maintained a lifelong obsession with her, sketching her nude and clothed in many poses. Through the popularity of Romney's work and her own striking beauty, Emma became well known in society circles. She learned quickly and was elegant, witty and intelligent. 
In 1783, Greville needed to find a rich wife to replenish his finances and he settled on an eighteen-year-old heiress, Henrietta Middleton. But his chosen bride would not accept him as a suitor if he lived openly with the now famous Emma Hart.
To be rid of Emma, Greville persuaded his uncle, Sir William Hamilton, British Envoy to Naples, to take her off his hands. Greville suggested to Sir William that Emma would make a very pleasing mistress, assuring him that, once married to Henrietta Middleton, he would come and fetch Emma back. In his mid fifties and a great collector of antiquities and beautiful objects, Sir William enjoyed female companionship very much. Emma's famous beauty was by then well-known to Sir William, so much so that he even agreed to pay the expenses for her journey to ensure her speedy arrival. His home in Naples was well known all over the world for hospitality and refinement. He decided Emma would be the perfect hostess for his salon.
Greville did not inform Emma of his plan, instead suggesting the trip would be a prolonged holiday in Naples while he was away on business. Emma was sent to Naples, supposedly for six to eight months, little realising that she was actually going as a gift to her host. She was reported to be furious when she realised what Greville had done.
Sir William was smitten with Emma and, to Greville's shock, married her on 6 September 1791. She was twenty-six and he was sixty. Her marriage brought Emma the title Lady Hamilton. It is interesting to note that, when she married, she used her birth name of Amy Lyons.
Lady Hamilton became a close friend of Queen maria Carolina, wife of King Ferdinand I of Naples. As the wife of the British Envoy, Emma welcomed Nelson to Naples in 1793. Nelson returned to Naples five years later, a living legend, after his victory at the battle of the Nile. However, Nelson's adventures had prematurely aged him: he had lost an arm and most of his teeth, and was afflicted by coughing spells. Emma and Sir William escorted Nelson to their home, the Palazzo Sessa.
Emma nursed Nelson under her husband's roof, and arranged a party with 1,800 guests to celebrate his 40th birthday. They soon fell in love and their affair seems to have been tolerated, and perhaps even encouraged, by the elderly Sir William. Horatio Nelson and Lady Hamilton were, at that time, the two most famous Britons in the world. Emma became an important political influence, advising Queen Maria Carolina on how to react to the threats from the French Revolution. Maria Carolina's sister was Queen Marie Antoinette of France. In 1799 Naples French troops arrived in Naples and the royal family fled to Sicily. Nelson tried to help the royal family put down the revolutionaries. 
On Nelson's recall to Britain shortly afterwards, Emma and Sir William followed him to England in 1800. The three of them lived together openly, and the affair became public knowledge. This induced the Admiralty to send Nelson back to sea, in an attempt to get him away from Emma.
Emma gave birth to Nelson's daughter, Horatia, on 31 January 1801 at Sir William's rented home in London. By the autumn of the same year, Nelson bought Merton Place, a ramshackle house on the outskirts of modern day Wimbledon. There he lived with Emma, Sir William, and Emma's mother, a fact which fascinated the public. The newspapers reported on their every move, looking to Emma to set fashions in dress, home decoration and even dinner party menus. 
Sir William died in 1803 and Nelson returned to sea to fight in the Napoleonic Wars, leaving Emma pregnant with their second child. The child, a girl, died a few weeks after her birth in early 1804. 
On 21 October 1805, Nelson's fleet defeated a joint Franco-Spanish naval force at the battle of Trafalgar. Nelson was fatally wounded during the battle, and died shortly after. When the news of his death arrived in London, a messenger was sent to Merton Place to tell Lady Hamilton. Later, on describing the moment she was given the news, she said, " I believe I gave a scream and fell back, and for ten hours I could neither speak nor shed a tear."
After Nelson's death Emma quickly exhausted the small pension Sir William had left her and fell deeply into debt. Nelson left Merton Place to Emma, but she depleted her finances further by trying to keep it up as a monument to him. In spite of Nelson's status as a national hero, the instructions he left to the government to provide for Emma and Horatia were ignored. 
Emma spent a year in a debtor's prison, in the company of Horatia, before moving to France to try to escape her creditors. Turning to drink and living in poverty in Calais, she died in January 1815 of amoebic dysentery, an illness she probably contracted during her years in Naples.

My historical romance series about the Georgian era takes us from the wild passion of the Jacobite rebellion through to the charm and formality of the Regency. This was a period in history that gave us heroes and heroines we fall instantly in love with, fascinating and amusing supporting characters and luscious historical settings. But who came after the Georgians, how do we 'bookmark' their place in history?

Queen Victoria 
Alexandrina Victoria was the only child of Edward, Duke of Kent, fourth son of George III,  and Victoria of Saxe-Coburg. She was born in 1819 and was named after her godfather, Tsar Alexander II of Russia. 
Victoria's father died when she was eight months old and her mother developed a close relationship with Sir John Conroy who was an important figure in their lives. 
When William IV died, Victoria aged 18. became queen. Victoria became very dependent on her Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne. Such was their closeness that Victoria was nicknamed 'Mrs Melbourne' by her subjects. In 1839, Melbourne was forced to resign and Sir Robert Peel became Prime Minister. Victoria refused to accept Peel's request to replace the Whig ladies who served her with Tories and Peel resigned. Melbourne returned to office but Victoria's popularity was dented. It was damaged further by her unsympathetic behaviour towards Lady Flora Hastings, one of her ladies in waiting, who died of cancer of the liver. There were seven assassination attempts on Victoria during her reign.
Victoria married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and they had nine children. Prince Albert was a reformer who was interested in the plight of the poor and he had a great influence over his wife's political views. He died of typhoid in 1861 and, although Victoria continued to carry out her duties, she withdrew from public life and spent as much time as possible at her Scottish home, Balmoral. Here she became very close to one of her servants, John Brown.
During Victoria's reign, Britain's imperialism was at its height. Queen Victoria died in 1901.

My Pinterest Board about Queen Victoria is here:
http://www.pinterest.com/JaneGodman/queen-victoria/