- Charles John Gardiner, 1st Earl of Blessington
Charles John Gardiner, 1st Earl of Blessington (
1782 -25 May 1829 ) was an Irishearl best known for his marriage to Margaret Farmer, née Power, whom he married at St Mary's,Bryanston Square ,London , on16 February 1818 (only four months after her first husband's death). He was elected arepresentative peer in 1809, createdEarl of Blessington in 1816, and inherited the title of Viscount Mountjoy in 1829. He was present at the trial of Queen Caroline. [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp00449&desc=&grp=&lDate=&eDate=&occ=31%3BMiscellaneous&medium=painting&name=&search=as&rNo=1&role=sit]After she left her first unhappy marriage, Margaret Power had stayed for almost three years with her parents, then moved to
Cahir , in 1809 toDublin , and from 1809-1814 with a Dublin acquaintance, Captain Thomas Jenkins, of the 11th light dragoons, with whom she formed a close relationship. It was during her Hampshire stay that she met Gardiner, 7 years her senior. (Gardiner's first wife died sometime after 1812, having borne him Lady Harriet Gardiner in 1812 and a son. By 1814 he also had two illegitimate children.) Jenkins received £10,000 from Gardiner to cover the jewels and clothing that he had purchased for Margaret, buying his approval for Gardiner's and Power's marriage, after which she changed her name to Marguerite.Honeymooning in
Ireland , they returned to a newly leased town mansion at 10St. James's Square , London, in 1820. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=40553] This address (now the base ofChatham House ) soon became a social centre, but their heavy spending and extravagant tastes meant that, despite his annual income of £30,000 from his Irish estates, they were soon both heavily in debt. On25 August 1822 they set out for a continental tour with Marguerite's youngest sister, the twenty-one-year-old Mary Anne, and servants. They met Count D'Orsay (who had first become an intimate of Lady Blessington in London in 1821) inAvignon on20 November 1822 , before settling atGenoa for four months from31 March 1823 . There they met Byron on several occasions, giving Lady Blessington material for her "Conversations with Lord Byron".After that they settled for the most part in
Naples , also spending time inFlorence with their friendWalter Savage Landor , author of the "Imaginary Conversations " greatly admired by Lady Blessington. It was inItaly , on 1 December 1827, that Count D'Orsay married Harriet Gardiner to strengthen the tie between himself and her stepmother Lady Blessington, though Harriet and d'Orsay soon separated. The Blessingtons and the new couple moved toParis towards the end of 1828, taking up residence in theHôtel Maréchal Ney , where the Earl suddenly died at forty-six of an apopleptic stroke in 1829. D'Orsay then accompanied Lady Blessington to England and lived with her until her death, and she let out the Earl's St James's house.ources
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Dictionary of National Biography
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