Of all of Derbyshire’s duchesses, it is probably the 5th Duchess, Georgina, that has received the greatest amount of attention in academia and pop culture. The most well-known biography of her is ‘The Duchess’ by Amanda Foreman, adapted in 2008 to a film of the same name starring Keira Knightley. Parallels are often made between Georgiana and her descendant Diana, Princess of Wales as they were both married young into unhappy marriages, were hounded by the press due to their popularity, and suffered with eating disorders. This is the Georgiana that ‘The Duchess’ film depicts, so this blog shall instead focus on the lesser known side of Georgiana; politician, author and scientist.
Born on 7 June 1757, the eldest daughter of John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer and Margaret Georgiana Poyntz, she was always considered a great beauty with a lovely disposition that made her impossible to dislike, though this pressure gave Georgiana people-pleasing tendencies from an early age that allowed her to be easily swayed as an adult. As a young woman growing up at Althorp in Northamptonshire, Georgiana was an uncommonly studious child, eventually acquiring an education more superior and intellectual than most women of her class. She would become Lady Georgiana Spencer in 1765 when her father became an Earl. On her 17th birthday, in 1774, Georgiana was married to William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, who was 24.
The Duke was the second richest man in Britain at the time, as the copper from his mines was used to line ships at a time when the British Empire was expanding and ships were needed more than ever for war and trade. The 5th Duke is particularly important to the history of Buxton as he financed the building of the Crescent and the accompanying stables (now the Devonshire Dome) in 1789 using some of his copper mine profits; this established the core of Buxton as the spa town we know today. The Duke’s wealth and position made him an influential member of the Whig party in his lifetime and, as his wife, Georgiana would be expected to play a minor political role. Both at Devonshire House in London and at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, Georgiana played the political hostess at Whig party meetings and functions, as many of her peers did. At these gatherings, she would befriend important and influential figures such as the Prince of Wales (later George IV), his mistress Lady Melbourne, and Charles Grey, who would later become Prime Minister. She also had links with the French Court, befriending Marie Antoinette over a shared love of fashion; Georgiana would visit the French Court before the outbreak of Revolution and the overthrow of the French monarchy in 1792.
Whilst Georgiana’s role of hostess was typical of women in a period over a century before Women’s Suffrage and political agency for women, Georgiana saw an opportunity for her to directly influence politics. She was the first woman to make influential appearances, playing upon her beauty, popularity both with the masses and high society, as well as near-constant mentions of her in the press to increase the popularity of the Whig party and advertise their beliefs. This involved various outings with prominent Whigs and using fashion, an area where Georgiana (and her friend Marie Antoinette) led popular trends, to advertise the Whigs; she wore fox fur to advertise their candidate Charles James Fox. Georgiana began being political in 1778 and soon other women started doing likewise to campaign their husband or families’ political inclination, especially around election time; Georgiana’s two younger sisters campaigned with Georgiana for the Whigs. This inspired a political role for women that had never existed previously and would not exist again en-masse for another century as her actions made women a political entity even though they could not vote.
However, this new role, and Georgiana as its pioneer, were continuously ridiculed in the press with various newspaper caricatures depicting Georgiana kissing men in exchange for votes, implying affairs between Georgina and Charles James Fox (her distant cousin), and depicting her as a ‘hobby horse’ carrying the Whig party to victory as the party was ridiculed for surviving solely on Georgian’s popularity. Georgiana was not deterred by this, continuing to campaign for the Whig beliefs such as the abolition of slavery and the absolution of the monarchy following the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). She even persevered despite numerous letters from her mother, Lady Spencer, begging her to stop due to the ridicule, slander, and the dangers to Georgiana’s reputation. On election day in 1778, Georgiana walked the streets of London in order to secure Charles James Fox a final few votes, giving herself blisters as she spoke to the commons as an equal. After Fox’s success in the election, she was eventually persuaded to step back from public politics, although she would return in 1788 in a back-stage role. In the final few years of her life, Georgiana re-engaged in politics as fully as her health would allow to help rebuild the failing Whig party to the popularity and influence it had enjoyed in the 1770’s although it would dissolve within a few decades of her death.
Georgiana had intellectual pursuits as well as political as she not only studied music but read widely in History, Science and other areas throughout her life. In her lifetime, she was associated with the Blue Stockings Society, an informal women’s social and educational movement. The Blue Stockings emphasised female education beyond the traditional (and usually non-intellectual) pursuits women were encouraged to do. Georgiana was linked to the movement through her close friendship and patronage of various female novelists and intellectuals such as Charlotte Smith and Joanne Baille. Her personality and patronage inspired Susan Rowson to dedicate her 1786 work ‘Victoria’ to Georgiana.
Georgiana herself was an author, writing several works throughout her lifetime, although only a few were published. Many of her earlier works were poems written for her father. Aged 19, Georgiana wrote ‘To Myself’, exploring public perceptions of her and her life 2 years into her marriage with the Duke as she navigated high society and was just beginning her journey into politics. In 1773, Georgiana’s first novel was published. Entitled ‘Emma; Or An Unfortunate Attachment: A Sentimental Novel”, the novel follows Emma Eggerton and her arranged marriage to William Walpole after being forbidden to marry the man she loves. It explored the problems with first impressions and arranged marriages from the perspective a woman suffering with the consequences of both. Half a decade later ‘The Sylph’ was released anonymously. The novel is constructed of a series of letters telling the story of a young, naive debutante who is corrupted by high society and an unhappy marriage with an older, unfeeling man. Despite the name of its author being hidden, it was soon guessed to be Georgiana due to the similarities between Georgiana’s life and the protagonist’s; many of the characters were also caricatures of Georgiana’s friends in high society. Both ‘The Sylph’ and ‘Emma’ share common themes of unhappy, arranged marriages and the loss of innocence through marriage. ‘The Sylph’ underwent 4 reprints.
As with her political career, Georgiana stepped away from publishing her written works due to ill-health, personal issues, and to focus on her children. However, in the last years of her life, Georgiana’s poem ‘The Passage of the Mountain of Saint Gothard’ was printed without her permission. The poem appeared in ‘The Morning Post’ and ‘The Morning Chronicle’ in late December 1799; it was later released properly in 1800. The poem was a lengthy 30 stanzas long with 28 extended notes, originally written by Georgiana for her children, rather than open publication. The poem was well received and translated into Italian, French and German for publication. It was re-released following Georgiana’s death in 1806.
In later life, Georgiana’s interest turned to science, going as far as to set up her own laboratory in which she studied geology, natural history and minerology. As she had with political figures and Blue Stockings, Georgiana frequently engaged with prominent scientists of the era who regarded her knowledge of chemistry and minerology as genius. Thomas Beddoes, a scientific writer, wrote to Erasmus Darwin describing how Georgiana “manifested a knowledge of modern chemistry superior to that he should have supposed any duchess or lady in England was possessed of”. The Duke disapproved of Georgiana’s scientific interest more than he had her political or literary pursuits as science was more unladylike than supporting his political pursuits or writing, even when he was the inspiration for her novel’s antagonists. As a result of her interest in minerology, Georgiana hiked to Mount Vesuvius in Italy in order to observe the active crater. She also established the Devonshire Mineral Collection, which was later added to by her son, and is still housed at Georgiana’s home of Chatsworth House.
Georgiana was an incredibly interesting and complex character. As much as this blog covers the less-discussed elements of her life, it would have to be at least 1000 words longer to be able to begin to do her justice. If this blog has wetted your appetite to learn more about Georgiana, I strongly recommend Amanda Forman’s ‘The Duchess’, as it is not only is an easily-accessible, interesting read but it also based off primary documents such as the lengthy correspondences between Georgiana, her mother, her sisters and her friend Bess. Whilst Buxton Museum and Art Gallery is undergoing maintenance, you can more about Georgian Buxton and the Crescent Georgiana’s husband built using the links below!
- ‘Why the Devonshire Dome was originally Dome-less’ by Fay Fallows. https://wordpress.com/post/buxtonmuseumandartgallery.wordpress.com/4286#
- ‘Discovered in the museum stores just in time for the opening of the Crescent’ by Ros Westwood. https://wordpress.com/post/buxtonmuseumandartgallery.wordpress.com/5426
- ‘The Crescent – A Stitch in Time’ by Nikki Anderson. https://wordpress.com/post/buxtonmuseumandartgallery.wordpress.com/3720
Featured Image: TN 2006:A111 Black and White print of Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire from the European Magazine dated 1787
Buxton Museum and Art Gallery 