Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire

Infobox Person
name = Georgiana Spencer


caption = Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Thomas Gainsborough, 1787 The Devonshire Collection
birth_date = birth date|1757|6|7
death_date = death date and age|df=yes|1806|3|30|1757|6|7
spouse = William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire
children = 6th Duke of Devonshire,
Lady Georgiana Cavendish,
Lady Harriet Cavendish,
Eliza Courtney
parents = 1st Earl Spencer
Margaret Georgiana Poyntz

Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (June 7, 1757–March 30, 1806), born Georgiana Spencer, was the first wife of William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire and mother of William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire. Her father, John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer, was a great-grandson of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. Her niece was Lady Caroline Lamb. Among the descendants of her family are the present Duke of Devonshire (via her granddaughter), Diana, Princess of Wales (born Lady Diana Spencer), and Sarah, Duchess of York (via her illegitimate child Eliza Courtney).

Biography

Georgiana was a celebrated beauty and a socialite who gathered around her a large circle of literary and political figures—a "salon". She was also an active political campaigner in an age when women's suffrage was still over a century away. Both the Spencers and the Cavendishes were Whigs. Georgiana campaigned for the Whigs—particularly for a distant cousin, Charles James Fox—at a time when the King (George III) and his Ministers had more direct influence over the House of Commons, principally through their power of patronage. During the 1784 general election, the Duchess was rumored to have traded kisses for votes in favor of Fox and was satirised by Thomas Rowlandson in his print "THE DEVONSHIRE, or Most Approved Method of Securing Votes".

Famously, when she was stepping out of her carriage one day, an Irish dustman exclaimed: "Love and bless you, my lady, let me light my pipe in your eyes!", a compliment which she often recalled whenever others complimented her by retorting, "After the dustman's compliment, all others are insipid." [ [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6-E8AAAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA341&lpg=RA2-PA341&dq=%22duchess+of+devonshire%22+%22light+my+pipe%22&source=web&ots=ktt2g8wNYF&sig=q0bc1y0W7UusxPZg7PV6yXz1ZYo&hl=en "Beauty — A natural compliment"] , "The Every-day Book and Table Book; or, Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements, Sports, Pastimes, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs, and Events, Each of the Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Days, in Past and Present Times; Forming a Complete History of the Year, Months, and Seasons, and a Perpetual Key to the Almanac, Including Accounts of the Weather, Rules for Health and Conduct, Remarkable and Important Anecdotes, Facts, and Notices, in Chronology, Antiquities, Topography, Biography, Natural History, Art, Science, and General Literature; Derived from the Most Authentic Sources, and Valuable Original Communication, with Poetical Elucidations, for Daily Use and Diversion. Vol III.", ed. William Hone, (London: 1838) p 344. Retrieved on 2008-06-11] [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A06E7DF1439F932A05754C0A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all "The Disappearing Duchess"] , "The New York Times", 31 July 1994. Retrieved on 2008-06-11]

Husband and children

Georgiana married the incumbent Duke of Devonshire on June 6, 1774. The marriage was a brilliant but unhappy one, with the couple mismatched by temperament. (The Cavendishes' marriage was satirised in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play, "School for Scandal", where a young wife from the country, Lady Teazle, is beguiled by fashionable people.) The young Duchess's early childlessness was also a matter of concern when aristocratic wives were valued as much for their fertility as for their dowries and connections. She had numerous miscarriages before finally giving birth to two daughters, before the much-awaited heir (and only son) was born. This son William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire (1790–1858) died unmarried. Her daughters were Georgiana Cavendish (1783–1858), who married George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle (1773–1844), and Harriet Cavendish (1785–1862), who married Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Granville.

It was Georgiana who introduced the Duke to his mistress and second wife-to-be, Lady Elizabeth Foster. "Bess" was Georgiana's best friend, and she tolerated the "ménage à trois" for many years. Georgiana herself formed a relationship with Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, by whom she had a daughter in 1792, Eliza Courtney. "(See the entry on Eliza Courtney for two poems attributed to Georgiana.)"

Lady Elizabeth Foster had two children by the Duke—a son and daughter. When the Duchess died, her husband married Bess Foster — and promptly set up a new mistress. At his death, his son by his first wife Georgiana became 6th Duke but died unmarried. He was succeeded by a first cousin once removed William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire (1808–1891), who was widower of the 6th Duke's niece and Georgiana's granddaughter Lady Blanche Howard.

Fashion and debt

Georgiana is famous not only for her marital arrangements, her beauty and sense of style, and her political campaigning, but also for her love of gambling. She was reported to have died deeply in debt, even though her own family the Spencers and her husband's family the Cavendishes were immensely wealthy. She died on 30 March 1806 aged 48, from what was thought to be an abscess of the liver. She was buried at All Saints Church, Derby, England.

During her years in the public eye, Georgiana was painted by Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds. Gainsborough's famous painting of her in a large French hat was lost for many years. It had been stolen from a London art gallery by Adam Worth then somehow restored to Agnew's Art Gallery by Allan Pinkerton of the American detective agency Pinkerton's. It turned up again at Sotheby's a decade ago and was purchased by Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire for the Chatsworth collection. Georgiana managed to keep a “natural relationship” [Antonia Fraser] with the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, in which people in the past have noted how similar the lives they led were.

Another well-known woman from the same family as Georgiana was Diana, Princess of Wales (born Lady Diana Spencer), who was descended from Georgiana's brother, the 2nd Earl Spencer.

Georgiana Cavendish in popular culture

"School for Scandal" by Richard Brinsley Sheridan was based, in part, on Georgiana's marriage.

Film portrayals

*"The Duchess" (2008), played by Keira Knightley. The film, directed by Saul Dibb, is based on the biography "Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire" by Amanda Foreman.

*"The Divine Lady" (1929), played by Evelyn Hall.

* "Mrs Fitzherbert" (1947), played by Mary Clare.

Ancestry

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1= 1. Georgiana Cavendish,
Duchess of Devonshire
2= 2. John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer
3= 3. Margaret Georgina Poyntz
4= 4. John Spencer
5= 5. Georgina Carolina Carteret
6= 6. Stephen Poyntz
7= 7. Anna Maria Mordaunt
8= 8. Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland
9= 9. Anne Churchill
10= 10. John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville
11= 11. Frances Worsley
12= 12. William Poyntz
13= 13. Jane Monteage
14= 14. Lewis Mordaunt
15= 15. Mary Collyer
16= 16. Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland
17= 17. Anne Digby
18= 18. John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
19= 19. Sarah Jennings
20= 20. George Carteret, 1st Baron Carteret
21= 21. Grace Granville, 1st Countess Granville
22= 22. Robert Worsley, 4th Baronet
23= 23. Frances Thynne
24= 24. Newdigate Poyntz
25= 25. Mary Parkyns
26= 26. Stephen Monteage
27= 27. Jane Deane
28= 28. John Mordaunt, 1st Viscount Mordaunt
29= 29. Elizabeth Carey

Titles

* Miss Georgiana Spencer (1757–1761)
* The Hon. Georgiana Spencer (1761–1765)
* Lady Georgiana Spencer (1765–1774)
* Her Grace The Duchess of Devonshire (1774–1806)

Further reading

*"Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire" Amanda Foreman (1998) ISBN 0-00-655016-9
*"Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire"Brian Masters, Hamish Hamilton, 1981.
*"Georgiana", The Earl of Bessborough (editor), John Murray, London, 1955.
*"The Two Duchesses.., Family Correspondence relating to..", Vere Foster (editor), Blackie & Son, London, Glasgow & Dublin, 1898.
*"An Aristocratic Affair - The life of Georgiana's sister Harriet, Countess Bessborough" by Janet Gleeson (2006) ISBN 0593054873
* [http://www.myspace.com/duchessofdevonshire Portraits of Georgiana] by Gainsborough, Reynolds, Romney, Cosway and others.
* [http://www.amanda-foreman.com Extra material not included in Amanda Foreman's book]

References