Wedlock (55 page)

8
Details on the Strathmore family history are from Cokayne, vol. 12, pp. 395- 403; Surtees, Robert, vol. 4, p. 109; Slade,
passim
; Innes-Smith,
passim
.

9
Minutes of curators 1753-61: SPG, box 102.

10
Venn, vol. 1, p. 342; James was admitted in February 1756 and Thomas in 1758. Lord Strathmore’s bills for his time at Cambridge are in SPG, box 144, bundle 4.

11
William Mason to Thomas Gray, 1 March 1755 and Gray to Thomas Wharton, 9 March 1755, Toynbee and Whibley, vol. 1, pp. 419 and 421.

12
The official history of Pembroke College argues that Tuthill was sacked for absenteeism, when the record plainly shows that he was absent having been suspected or found guilty of ‘great enormities’. The latest biography of Gray takes the view that the poet was probably homosexual and that Tuthill was probably sacked for homosexual acts. Attwater, p. 97; Mack, pp. 33-5, 490-1. My thanks to Alexander Huber, editor of the Thomas Gray Archive
www.thomasgray.org
at the University of Oxford for advice.

13
Gray to Wharton, 17 February 1757, Toynbee and Whibley, vol. 2, p. 495.

14
Gray to Wharton, 23 January 1760, Toynbee and Whibley, vol. 2, p. 660.

15
Lord Strathmore to the Dowager Countess, 2 February 1760: SPG, box 144, bundle 4; Lord Strathmore to George Bowes, 27 January 1760: SPG, box 187, bundle 3. 16 Thomas Pitt and Lord Strathmore, ‘Observations in a Tour to Portugal & Spain 1760 by John Earl of Strathmore & Tho. Pitt Esqr.’: BL Add. MSS 5845. Although the two authors are named, it is clear from the journal that Pitt was the writer.

17
Lord Strathmore to Thomas Lyon, n.d. [March 1760]: SPG, box 254, bundle 4.

18
SPG, box 145, bundle 1. Lord Strathmore’s time in Italy is also detailed in Ingamells, p. 907. For general information on the grand tour to Italy see Black (1992).

19
Lord Strathmore to William Henry, Marquess of Titchfield, 10 February 1761, in Turberville, vol. 2, p. 37.

20
Mann to Walpole, 15 August 1761, in Lewis, vol. 21, p. 524. The later comments are HM to HW, 10 April 1762, vol. 22, pp. 22-3 and 28 May 1763, p. 145. Details of the Sanvitale family can be found in Litta.

21
Walpole to Mann, 30 June 1763, in Lewis, vol. 21, p. 152. By ‘Celadonian’ Walpole was referring to the character Celadon in the play ‘L’Astrée’ by the seventeenth-century French novelist Honoré D’Urfe, which was fashionable at the time.

22
Foot, p. 13.

23
Lord Strathmore to Thomas Lyon, 6 June 1766: SPG, box 199, bundle 2.

24
Foot, p. 27; Lord Chesterfield to his son, 13 February 1767, in Dobrée, vol. 6, pp. 2,795-6.

25
SPG, box 150, bundle 7.

26
Lord Chesterfield to his son, 13 February 1767, in Dobrée, vol. 6, pp. 2,795-6.

27
Draft marriage settlement MEB and Lord Strathmore, September 1766: SPG, box 102, bundle 2. 28 Blackstone, vol. 1, p. 430; vol. 2, p. 433. It would be 1870 before married women were allowed separate use of their earnings and 1882 before they were entitled to acquire, keep and sell property in their own right. The novelists’ quotes given below are from Wollstonecraft, p. 118 and Dickens (2004, first published 1838), p. 402.

29
Gray to Wharton, c. 30 September 1765, Toynbee and Whibley, vol. 2, pp. 887-95.

30
Thomas Lyttelton to Elizabeth Montagu, in Climenson, vol. 2, p. 168.

31
Bowes, p. 67. Thomas Lyon was MP for Aberdeen Burghs from 1766 to 1778. Details of his parliamentary career can be found in Namier and Brooke, vol. 3, pp. 73-4.

32
Accounts for masonry, carpentry and painting 1767-8: SPG, box 150, bundle 7; improvements by James Abercrombie 1767-8: SPG, box 148, bundle 4.

33
Lord Strathmore’s medical bill with Dr William Farqeson, 1772-4: SPG, box 145, bundle 4.

34
Gray to Mason, 9 August 1767, and 11 September 1767, in Toynbee and Whibley, vol. 3, p. 973 and pp. 976-7.

35
Mary Bowes to Thomas Colpitts, 21 April 1768: SPG vol. C; Parish register St George’s Church, Hanover Square, baptisms, CWAC, 19 May 1768, ‘Maria Jane, born 21 April’. Bells were rung at Gibside a week after the birth, suggesting the news had just arrived from London.

36
Mary Bowes to Thomas Colpitts, 13 May 1768: SPG, volume C; Parish register St George’s Church, Hanover Square, CWAC, baptisms, 11 May 1769, ‘John, born 13 April’; Mrs E. Rickaby to anon [William Leaton] 12, 13 April and 26 September 1769: DCRO SEA D/St/C2/3/59.

37
Gray to Brown, 22 May 1770, in Toynbee and Whibley, vol. 3, p. 1,135.

38
Bowes, p. 67. The children’s baptisms are recorded as follows: Parish register St George’s Church, Hanover Square, CWAC, baptisms, 2 July 1770, ‘Anna Maria, born 3 June’; 16 December 1771, ‘George, born 17 November’; 31 May 1773, ‘Thomas, born 3 May’.

39
Foreman, pp. 48 and 265; Lewis, Judith Schneid, p. 42.

40
Home, vol. 3, p. 30. The comment is recorded by Lady Mary Coke in her journal in 1769.

41
Lord Strathmore to MEB, n. d. [1776]: BM Archives.

42
Bowes, p. 5. Her alleged preference for cats and dogs is from Testimony Revd Henry Stephens: NA divorce appeal to Delegates, DEL 2/12/. The cartoon is Gillray, ‘The Injured COUNT..S’ [1786 or c. May 1788]. See George, vol. 6, no. 7013, pp. 335-6.

43
Foreman, p. 122;
the Rambler’s Magazine
, 1783, p. 318.

44
Bowes, p. 5.

45
Foreman, p. 122.

46
SPG, box 83, bundle 3; box 68, bundle 8.

47
Lord Strathmore to MEB, n. d. [1776]: BM Archives.

48
Bowes, pp. 53-4.

49
MEB,
The Siege of Jerusalem
(London, 1774). The play is stated in the published text to have been written in 1769 but a letter from Elizabeth Planta to MEB in May 1771 refers to her having just finished her ‘literary work’ and a subsequent letter in June offers criticisms on the play. Elizabeth Planta to MEB, 30 May and 15 June 1771: RA, Geo/Planta 6. The letter regarding the post of governess to the princesses is Elizabeth Planta to MEB, 14 July 1771: RA, Geo/Planta 6.

50
Bowes, p. 90. Background on James Lee is from Willson.

51
Bowes, p. 96. For information on John Hunter see Moore (2005). Solander is mentioned in Bowes, p. 36.

52
Lomas; Graeme, pp. 616-36; Ewing and MacCallum,
passim
; Mudie and Walker,
passim
; obituary of James Graham, aged 23,
Scots Magazine
1779, p. 110.

53
Bowes, pp. 8, 69-76, 9-11.

54
Bowes, pp. 68. Family accounts show that Mary stayed in Edinburgh for two weeks from 7 August 1774: Glamis accounts 1774-5, SPG, box 146, bundle 1.

55
Walpole to Conway, 27 November 1774, in Lewis, vol. 39, p. 220; Mary Bowes to anon [?Peter Proctor, Glamis Castle], 9 August 1775: SPG, box 142, bundle 4.

56
James Menzies to Lord Strathmore, 24 December 1775, cited in Slade, pp. 62- 3; Peter Nicol to Thomas Lyon, 14 November 1775: DCRO SEA D/St/C1/7/2.

57
Information on Gray is from Sherwen; Letter books of George Gray senior, 1760-1779: BL India Office, MSS EUR c 439 and D691. His baptism is recorded in Christenings in Calcutta 1737, George Gray baptised 1 September: BL India Office, microfilm N/1/1-3, f. 202. Background on Gray’s argument with Clive can be found in Bence-Jones, pp. 226-9 and 273; and Khan, pp. 69-98.

58
Gray to Brigadier-General John Carnac, 13 November 1761: BL India Office, Sutton Court Collection, papers of Brigadier-General John Carnac, MSS EUR/F128/35. Gray has been mistakenly credited as the author of an anonymous poem,
A Turkish Tale
, said to be dedicated to Mary and published in 1770. The poem was actually written by George Grey, the father-in-law of the first Earl Grey. A handwritten note inside the text credits the poem to ‘George Grey Esquire of Southwick’.

59
Bowes, pp. 15-22.

60
Apothecaries’ accounts 1774-8: SPG, box 202, bundle 6.

61
William Farqeson to James Menzies, 4 April 1776: SPG, box 83, bundle 6.

Most of the events in this chapter are drawn from Foot and Bowes, unless otherwise indicated. Background on women and property rights is from Habakkuk, p. 83. Details of the sale at Glamis in June 1776 are from SPG, box 188, bundle 3 and the ninth earl’s debts in SPG, box 83, bundle 6. Details of the sale at Gibside in November 1776 are from SPG, box 142, bundle 8. For information on the history of abortion see Bullough; Shorter; Riddle, all
passim
.

1
Lord Strathmore to MEB, n. d. [1776], BM Archives.

2
Elizabeth Planta [on behalf of MEB] to anon [James Menzies], 6 April 1776: SPG, box 83, bundle 6.

3
Unknown artist, ‘Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore’, c. 1776, Glamis Castle. Doubts exist as to whether this is really Mary since it was only attributed to her relatively recently. However, there is a marked similarity between this portrait and that by John Downman drawn in 1781.

4
Gay, p. 64; Home, vol. 1, preface, p. lxxii.

5
Anon, Allegations against the Countess of Strathmore, p. 5 in Anon,
The Trial of Andrew Robinson Bowes, Esq; first heard in the Arches
. According to figures from Joseph Massie, estimating annual incomes in 1759, the top twenty families enjoyed £13,470 pa. Cited in Hay and Rogers, p. 20.

6
Thomas Lyon to anon [James Menzies], 29 April 1776: SPG, box 83, bundle 6.

7
Testimony of Ann Eliza Stephens [née Planta], 23 February 1788: NA DEL 2/12.

8
The letters from Thomas Lyon to anon [James Menzies], are 29 April, 21 April and 19 April 1776: SPG, box 83, bundle 6. The letter from Elizabeth Planta [on behalf of MEB] to James Menzies, is 19 May 1776: SPG, box 83, bundle 6.

9
Legal bill, Joshua Peele, 1776: SPG, box 142, bundle 9; Letters of administration appointing Thomas Lyon administrator for Lord Strathmore’s estate, 23 July 1776: SPG, box 101, bundle 5.

10
Stone (1993), pp. 139-61; the story of Elizabeth Foster is described in Foreman, p. 100 and Chapman, p. 28. The case of Elizabeth Vassall, who married Sir Godfrey Webster but in 1796 eloped with and later married Lord Holland, is cited in Lewis, Judith Schneid, pp. 43-5.

11
Earl of Strathmore v Bowes, 1777, Chancery case: NA C12/1057/31. This case, pursued by Thomas Lyon on behalf of the tenth earl and his siblings, referred to the guardianship document dated 14 October 1774.

12
Lady Maria Bowes to Mary Lyon, 25 May 1776: SPG, box 202, bundle 10.

13
Bowes, p. 22. Details of her affair with Gray and abortions are all from the
Confessions
.

14
Pottle, p. 227. The advertisement is cited in Stone (1977), p. 266.

15
Anon,
Trials for Adultery
, vol. 3, pp. 3-6.

16
Hicks, p. 176. Mary’s description of her abortions is from her
Confessions
, Bowes, p. 89.

17
Bowes, pp. 88-9.

18
Foote, pp. 17-18 and 37.

19
Bowes, pp. 79-80 and 36; bond between MEB and Joshua Peele, 22 April 1776: DCRO SEA D/St/D1/14/31.

20
Bowes, p. 27.

21
The hon. Mrs Boscawen to Mrs Delany 1776 [c. June/July], cited in Llanover, vol. 2, p. 237; Foot, p. 16.

22
Bowes, pp. 92-3.

23
Bowes, pp. 11-12. Graham’s death is recorded in
Scots Magazine
1779, obituary of James Graham, 31 January 1779, p. 110.

24
Journal Book Copy, RS, vol. 28, 1774-77, pp. 368-72; 388-91; 393-6. Masson’s account was read at three meetings of the RS, in February 1776, in the form of a letter to the president, Dr John Pringle.

25
Journal Book Copy, RS, vol. 28, 1774-77, p. 444. Background on Penneck (1728-1803) and Planta (1744-1827) can be found in ODNB, vol. 43, pp. 573-4 and vol. 44, pp. 519-21. 26 O’Brian, pp. 100 and 130; Beaglehole, pp. 140, 232-3. Information on his brother, Captain Magra, is from Millan, p. 70.

27
There were at least five Planta daughters: Frederica (c. 1751-1778) and Margaret, who were both governesses to the royal family; Elizabeth Planta (later Mrs Parish), the second eldest daughter, who worked for MEB and must have married John Parish between 1776 and 1778; Ann Eliza Planta (c. 1757, still alive 1807, later Eliza Stephens), who replaced her sister as governess to MEB in July 1776; Ursula Barbara Planta, who was left money in Mrs Bowes’s will; the latter may have become Mrs Minnicks, who emigrated to America, or this could have been a sixth sister.

28
Foot, pp. 11-12.

29
Bowes, p. 6.

30
Details of Stoney’s life at this point are from Foot, p. 9.

31
Massingberd, pp. 178-81.

32
Anon [Anne Massingberd] to ARS, 1 November 1776: SPG, volume C.

33
Documents relating to an appeal by ARS to the House of Lords against a Chancery decision: SPG, volume C. Anon,
A full and accurate report of the trial
, p. 2. Individuals could not be declared bankrupt unless they traded in some manner.

34
Anon,
A full and accurate report of the trial
, p. 10.

35
David Walson [tailor] to ARS, 20 July 1775: DCRO SEA D/St/C1/13/1.

36
Bowes, p. 29.

37
ARB to MEB, 24 July [1776]: SPG, volume C.

38
Anon [Anne Massingberd] to ARS, 1 November 1776: SPG, volume C.