Class, Palaces and Paintings... The Top 5 of March

Settle back with a cup of tea, wrap up warm and enjoy the most popular posts of March 2015!

A Gallery of Largillière
Experience the works of a remarkable French artist.

The Best of the Georgian Web
My most recent weekly digest caught the eye of readers... I am going to credit the mention of Mr Wickham!

A Gallery of Ozias Humphry
Delicate works from the man behind the Rice portrait.

The Middle Class in Regency England
Georgie Lee takes a trip into the Regency class structure.

The King’s Palaces
Laura Purcell is your guide to the palaces of George III!

Musical Monday: Ludwig van Beethoven

Last week, I marked the death of the iconic composer, Ludwig van Beethoven. Today he visits the salon yet again as I start the week with the 2012 Proms Beethoven cycle, conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

The Salon Digest

Once again it's time to take a look back at the week here in the salon, so settle back with a cup of tea and enjoy!

Musical Monday: Johannes Matthias Sperger 
Some gentle sounds to ease you into the week...

Tracy Edingfield on Inspiration 
A divorce attorney who believes in happy endings? Read on...

The Necessity of Atheism 
What caused Shelley to be thrown out of Oxford?

"Pity, Pity - Too Late!"
The death of Beethoven.

A Gallery of Vien 
Some wonderful works from a French master.

The Best of the Georgian Web

It's time to take a peek at the best of the Georgian web this week; settle back and have a browse!

Reflections on Jane Austen
My favourite Mr Wickham (aka Adrian Lukis) celebrates his birthday today; to mark the occasion, do enjoy this interview in which he shares his reflections on Pride and Prejudice.

Mapping Georgian Celebrity

A peek at the stars of James Gillray’s caricatures.

Free Art Books from The Metropolitan Museum of Art 

A wonderful, free and entirely legal resource!

Entertainment in London in the 18th Century

A video of Mike Rendell's fantastic lecture.

Joshua Reynolds: Experiments In Paint

A personal perspective on the new exhibition.

The Death of an Orphan Chimney Sweep

A Georgian tragedy...

William Smith: Seminal Geology Map Rediscovered 

News of a fantastic new discovery!

The Georgian Dining Academy - Simpson's Tavern

A chance to enjoy some fine Georgian dining in the heart of 21st century London. 

Dryden Goodwin: Behind the scenes with our curator

A glimpse behind the scenes  at Greenwich.

The Marine Police Establishment

The tale of London’s first police force. 

Cheating Valets and Tricks of the Trade

What went on below stairs?

A Gallery of Vien

Joseph-Marie Vien (Montpellier, France, 18th June 1716 – Paris, France, 27th March 1809)

Joseph-Marie Vien was a painter of some renown. The last person to be named Peintre du Roi, whilst the Revolution may have ended this particular office, it did little to blemish Vien's record even though it did much to damage his finances! 

After training in Italy and winning a stable of illustrious patrons, Vien returned to France and acclaim, welcomed to the Bourbon court where he enjoyed enormous favour. Indeed, though the Revolution cut something of a dash through his achievements, the patronage of a certain gentleman named Napoleon saw him restored to prominence and, at his death, he was laid to rest in the Panthéon, his place in history assured.

Sultane Reine, 1748

L'Amour fuyant l'esclavage, 1789

The Oath of Catiline

Sweet Melancholy, 1756

Study of the Head of an Old Bearded Man

La Sultan Noir, 1748

Saint Louis, roi de France, remettant la regence a sa mere Blanche de Castille

"Pity, Pity - Too Late!": The Death of Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven (Bonn, Electorate of Cologne, 17th December 1770 – Vienna, Austria, 26th March 1827)

Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler, 1820

On this day in 1827, Ludwig van Beethoven died. A musical legend, his name and compositions are feted throughout the world and used across a variety of media. Even if you don't think you know any of Beethoven's work, the chances are that you definitely do. By the time Beethoven died he had lived a life of great triumph and tragedy and even his death was not without some drama!

In the final years of his life, Beethoven’s health had been somewhat precarious and for the three months preceding his death, he had been overcome with vomiting and diarrhoea that caused him to take to his bed. Although he had experienced such episodes before, it soon became apparent to the composer’s friends that this time he would not recover. The efforts of doctors including Andreas Wawruch to relieve his suffering proved fruitless and those who cared for the composer were instructed to visit and pay their last respects, as time was growing short. Still lucid, though weak, the last words spoken by Beethoven were "pity, pity - too late!", when the ailing composer was told that a gift of wine he had been expecting had finally arrived.

Beethoven received the last rites on 24th March, just two days before he lost consciousness. Throughout his final days he was attended by his friend, the composer Anselm Hüttenbrenner, and he recorded his memories of those fateful hours, when a violent thunderstorm raged overhead. In the moments before his death, a thunderclap sounded directly over his Vienna home and Beethoven, for a moment, regained his senses.  He lifted his head and stretched out his arm for a second before the breath deserted him and, sinking back onto the bed, the great composer died.

Beethoven's death mask by Josef Danhauser

Beethoven had been so distressed by his own illness that he requested that an autopsy be performed and this procedure took place on 27^th March. Under the direction of Doctor Johann Wagner, it was revealed that the composer’s liver had suffered severe damage and showed signs of advanced cirrhosis. High levels of metal and lead were found in his blood, presumably having been consumed whilst drinking contaminated alcohol and throughout his organs there were signs of advanced and serious illness. Whether the cirrhosis was a result of alcoholism or other illness has never been adequately proven and explanations including hepatitis and syphilis have been put forward over the years.

Beethoven was laid to rest in the Währing cemetery on 29^th March amid scenes of intense public mourning; though the composer was dead, however, his music lived on and continues to sound to this very day.

The Necessity of Atheism

I always like a little literary controversy to start the day and if it features one Percy Bysshe Shelley, then all the better! Shelley was not a man who shied away from causing shock and, as a nineteen year old student of University College, Oxford, he made something of publishing splash!

On this day in 1811, Shelley was expelled from Oxford. One might be forgiven for thinking that the cause might be something typically undergraduate, such as a prank gone awry or a little light misconduct but in fact, it was something far more scholarly than that.

In 1811, C and W Phillips printed Shelley’s work, The Necessity of Atheism. This treatise on atheism put forth a simple enough argument and that is, that one cannot believe in God without first-hand experience of that God or the irrefutable first hand statements of others. He argued that one should not believe in God simply because one is told that a creator must exist to have facilitated creation. At the time of the work’s publication, this was a hugely shocking statement for anyone to put forward in print. The work was published anonymously but Shelley and his co-author, Thomas Jefferson Hogg, were soon identified as the authors.

When copies of The Necessity of Atheism found their ways to the university authorities, it was greeted with shock. Soon rumour spread that the authors were Hogg and Shelley and when both refused to deny authorship, the outcry was enormous. Both Shelley and Hogg were expelled from Oxford as the book gained in notoriety and popularity, eventually being reprinted two years after its original publication; it remains in print to this day.

A Salon Guest: Tracy Edingfield on Inspiration

Today it's my pleasure to welcome Tracy Edingfield, author of His Sunshine Girl. As a divorce attorney, Tracy is uniquely placed to share her thoughts on happy ever after!

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Thank you for inviting me to the salon to discuss the inspiration behind His Sunshine Girl!

The main reason I chose to write this particular story is that I am drawn to the Regency period. I like the rules of etiquette, the whole idea of “if you kiss her, you have to marry her” that means the stakes are that much higher. Reading about the dresses, the horses, the carriages, the tenants are thrilling for me, although I certainly am glad to live in modern times. 

As a divorce attorney, I think I’m also drawn to the beginning of the romance after having seen so many endings. I like the idea of ‘Happily Ever After’ in stories and in life. Happiness in marriage owes a great deal to chance, but it also takes a concentrated, joint effort. I know I failed to appreciate this when I fell in love and married. 

When I read a love story, I scour the pages for clues from the author regarding  the secrets of how this particular couple will stay married. I’m interested in how they communicate with one another and whether they sufficiently appreciate their partner’s unique qualities. If these components are met, then by the time I’ve finished the novel, I can believe that the characters’ love story is an enduring success and what’s not to like about that?

About the Author
Raised in Wichita, Kansas, Tracy graduated with honors from the University of Kansas and the School of Law from K.U. She practiced criminal defense, probate and family law and currently resides with her husband and two children in Valley Center, Kansas.

About the Book
His Sunshine Girl is the story of Anthony Courtenay, Lord Devon, returning to England after a five-year banishment. During the voyage home, he encounters Reverend Spencer, his delectable daughter, Chastity, and his shrewish niece, Mary Fellingham. Chastity is too innocent for a shipboard romance and too low-born for the earl to consider marrying, but neither of those facts deter Anthony from desiring her.


His Sunshine Girl, is available for $1.99 at www.smashwords.com or iTunes.com.

Written content of this post copyright © Tracy Edingfield, 2015.

Musical Monday: Johannes Matthias Sperger

Johannes Matthias Sperger (Feldsberg, Lower Austria, 23rd March 1750 – Schwerin, Germany, 13th May 1812)

Today is our semi-regular Monday appointment with a composer of the long eighteenth century and Johannes Matthias Sperger is a gentleman I have only encountered in the last six months.

In his long career, Sperger proved himself to be a highly prolific composer who wrote concertos, choral pieces, symphonies and more. He enjoyed a highly successful career in Europe and it is my pleasure to share his work with you today.

The Salon Digest

Once again it's time to take a look back at the week here in the salon, so settle back with a cup of tea and enjoy!

The Amazing Kembles
Salon guest, William Savage, looks at a theatrical dynasty!

Richard Bridgens, the Grand Tour, and Expanding Understanding
Caroline Warfield lifts the lid on the wonders of the grand tour!

A Musical Interlude: Francesco Gasparini
A chance to hear some fabulous Georgian music.


A Gallery of Largillière
In honour of a great artist.

The Best of the Georgian Web

It's time to take a peek at the best of the Georgian web this week; settle back and have a browse!

Prinny’s Taylor

The story of Louis Bazalgette, tailor to George, Prince of Bling.

1741: Jenny Diver, a Bobby Darin lyric?

What became of MacHeath's Jenny?

Why you shouldn’t marry a lady of learning

A cautionary tale...

Napoleon’s Children

Tales of the Bonaparte family.

Crooked or Straight?

Creating the ideal posture in 18th-century Britain.

A shocking elopement in Regency England

The tale of Mary Ann Stanley and Edward Trant Bontein.

The Story of HMS Victory

The historic dockyard at Chatham reveals all...

A Gallery of Largillière

Nicolas de Largillière (Paris, France, 10th October 1656 - Paris, France, 20th March 1746)

As regular visitors to the salon will know, I am very fond of art and spend many happy hours perusing canvases from the long 18th century. Once in a while I like to share a gallery of work with you and today, to mark the anniversary of the death of Nicolas de Largillière, it's my pleasure to share his work with you.

Largillière was born in France but, when he travelled to London, he became a great favourite of Charles II and, later, James II. Both were keen to keep the artist in England but he disliked the politics of the English court and instead divided his time between his homeland and London, with a strong bias towards France!

Largillière enjoyed enormous success in France, producing works for Louis XIV and his family and his popularity continued throughout his life, as he rose to the highest ranks of the illustrious French Academy.

Portrait of a Woman 

Louise-Madeleine Bertin, Countess of Montchal

Voltaire

Elizabeth Throckmorton, 1729

Study of Hands

Portrait of a Gentleman

A Musical Interlude: Francesco Gasparini

Francesco Gasparini (Camaiore, Italy, 19th March 1661 – Rome, Italy, 22 March 1727)

Italian Baroque composer, Francesco Gasparini, was born on this day. An inspiration to Bach, Gasparini was famed in his native land and enjoyed huge success as both a composer and tutor too.

I hope you enjoy this beautiful example of his work; just right to start the steady road to the weekend!

Richard Bridgens, the Grand Tour, and Expanding Understanding

It is my pleasure to welcome Caroline Warfield, author of Dangerous Secrets, today with a tale of Richard Bridgens, the Grand Tour, and expanding understanding. It is illustrated throughout with images by Bridgens.

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Romantic fiction occasionally alludes to “The Grand Tour,” and somehow manages to imply an image of young men drinking and partying their way across Europe.   The Tour was actually intended to complete a classical education. Having received a solid grounding in Latin, Greek, and classical literature, young men with sufficient money (and therefore leisure) set out with their tutors on a predefined itinerary to absorb the art, architecture, language, and culture of Europe.  Not only English gentlemen, but also German, Dutch and even American elites attempted the Tour.

The practice began as early as the sixteenth century and flowered in the Georgian era.  Novels set in the late Georgian/Regency era, however, do not often mention the Tour. That is because young men were absorbed in defeating Napoleon and the continent was mostly closed to casual travelers between 1803 and 1815.  After Waterloo, however, the Tour began again with a vengeance.  It had a relatively set itinerary. English travelers flooded into Paris, a mandatory stop.  The Tour often included the Netherlands and Germany and occasionally Spain and even Turkey.  It always culminated in Italy: Venice, Florence and Rome.

Where the travelers went, creativity flourished. They didn’t just view art; some created it.  What they couldn’t create, they bought. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Getty Museum have had exhibitions of Tour art.  Tour art includes masterpieces from Canaletto to Corot and Turner. It also includes dozens of print makers and etchings. 

One work, in particular deserves attention, Bridgens' Sketches Illustrative of the Manners and Costumes of France, Switzerland, and Italy.  The work is a sort of travelogue of hand-colored etchings. It would have served as both a souvenir for those who had been there, and an informative work for those who couldn’t make the Tour itself. Published in London (Baldwin, Cradock and Joy; Hatchard and sons) in 1821, it included text by John Polidori who is usually listed as the author. Amazon recently listed a copy for $1600.00.

Polidori

Polidori is a notorious figure of the period, associate of Byron and Shelley, author of The Vampyre, the first of that genre. He killed himself in 1821, just before or after the production of the Sketches.  

If the text belonged to Polidori, the etchings belong to Richard Bridgens. They focus more on ordinary people than on great monuments.  They document clothing and manners of folk going about their business.  A few are more startling.  The Funeral Procession in Rome is probably the most famous of them.  The clothing, however, has proven to be of most interest to modern researchers. Individual pages from the book come up for sale frequently.

Richard Bridgens origins proved difficult to research. One reviewer noted, “. . . he lacked any talent for self promotion.”  Perhaps his work is his best biography.  He began his work in Liverpool and the Site “Mapping Birmingham” lists him as an architect and designer.  Early in his career he published Furniture with Candelabra and Interior Decoration, at treasure trove of Georgian interior furnishings. How he progressed from that, to Sketches, to his final work in Trinidad is unclear.

In so far as Bridgens is famous at all, it is his final work that shines. He is sometimes known as the Artist of Slavery. The same meticulous care he took with his interiors and later with the clothing and manners of Europe, he applied to the lives of slaves in Trinidad. He was a man of his time and his beliefs about abolition are unclear. In the end, however, he documented the lives of people and the cruelty of their lives, leaving us a stark record. At the time he published West India Scenery in 1836, the movement to outlaw slavery was in full flower in Europe. Some of his images must have helped the cause. The World Antislavery Convention took place in London in 1840 and the practice wasn’t outlawed in every part of the empire until 1843.

Richard Bridgens career taken as a whole is a treasure to those of us who seek to understand the vast complexity of the Georgian era.

For more information see

The University of Oregon, Imago Urbis

The New York Times Frugal Traveler

Wikipedia notes and references

The Talented Mr. Bridgens

The Sketches

Mapping Birmingham

About the Author

Caroline Warfield has at various times been an army brat, a librarian, a poet, a raiser of children, a nun, a bird watcher, a network services manager, a conference speaker, a tech writer, a genealogist, and, of course, a romantic. She is ever a traveler, adventurer, and writer of historical romance, enamored of owls, books, history, and beautiful gardens (but not the act of gardening). She is married to a prince among men.




About the Book

When a little brown wren of an Englishwoman bursts into Jamie Heyworth’s private hell and asks for help he mistakes her for the black crow of death.  Why not? He fled to Rome and sits in despair with nothing left to sell and no reason to get up in the morning. Behind him lie disgrace, shame, and secrets he is desperate to keep.

Nora Haley comes to Rome at the bidding of her dying brother who has an unexpected legacy. Never in her sunniest dreams did Nora expect Robert to leave her a treasure, a tiny blue-eyed niece with curly hair and warm hugs. Nora will do anything to keep her, even hire a shabby, drunken major as an interpreter. 

Jamie can’t let Nora know the secrets he has hidden from everyone, even his closest friends. Nora can’t trust any man who drinks. She had enough of that in her marriage. Either one, however, will dare anything for the little imp that keeps them together, even enter a sham marriage to protect her. Will love—and the truth—bind them both together?

Buy the book here!

Written content of this post copyright © Caroline Warfield, 2015.

A Salon Guest: The Amazing Kembles

It's my pleasure to welcome William Savage to the salon, with a tale of the Kembles, particular favourites of mine!

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The Amazing Kembles
The Leading Theatrical Dynasty of the Eighteenth Century

Nowadays, we are well used to family dynasties of actors and screen stars, whether in Hollywood or on the British stage. Yet few today could match the amazing Kemble dynasty, which dominated the theatrical world between the mid-eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries.

Sarah Siddons and John Phillip Kemble in Macbeth, 1786

I cannot recall a time when I was not familiar the name of the Kemble family. This is not because I was precociously interested in the theatre. I knew of them in the same way that everyone who was born and brought up where I was knew of them, for my home town is Hereford, on the borders of Wales, and that is where the Kembles originated.

As an aside, Hereford also claims to be the birthplace of Nell Gwynn. There was definitely a family of that name in Hereford at the right time and a plaque may be found on a wall near the cathedral marking the place where the supposed house of her birth once stood. Whether you accept that ‘pretty, witty Nell’ was also a local girl depends, I suspect, on whether or not you were born in Hereford.

The Theatrical Kembles

Sarah Kemble, later Siddons, was born in Brecon, across the Welsh border, but that was mere chance, in the same way that David Garrick (who will figure a good deal in this story) was born in Hereford as well: at The Angel public house in the same street as my own place of birth, less than a hundred yards from the house where I lived until the age of 10. In both cases, their theatrical families were on tour and they were born where their mothers happened to be staying when labour began. Garrick always claimed Litchfield as his home, since that was where he grew up. Sarah Kemble, as she was then, was a true Hereford girl, regardless of her birthplace.

Forebears

Sarah Siddons’ great-great-uncle, Fr. John Kemble, was a Catholic priest, executed in 1679 in Hereford, aged 80, at the time of the Popish Plot, then canonised in 1970. His mummified hand is still displayed in the main Catholic Church in Hereford and is claimed to have performed a miracle as recently as 1995. The family remained Catholic, though not aggressively so. When Roger Kemble married a Protestant member of the Church of England, they reached an odd but amicable agreement. All the sons were raised as Catholics, while the daughters were brought up as Anglicans.

Roger Kemble and Sarah Ward

It was Roger Kemble who began the family’s links to the theatre. His father was a fairly prosperous barber and wig-maker in Hereford and Roger began adult life as his apprentice. Then he became stage-struck and started acting at the age of 30, first joining a group of travelling players then forming and managing one.

Roger Kemble became one of the most famous theatre managers of his day. His wife, Sarah Ward, was an actress and the daughter of the manager of the Warwickshire acting troop Roger joined.

Mrs. Sarah Siddons

Sarah was the eldest of the children of Roger Kemble and Sarah Ward. Almost all their siblings made their living from the theatre to varying degrees, but she was without doubt the greatest and best of them as an actress. I wrote an extensive post recently about Mrs. Siddons, so this section will be more of a summary of key aspects of her life and career. Please refer to the other post for more detail.

Sarah Siddons had started her career in the provinces, specifically in the theatres of various small cities and towns along the Welsh border. From this, along with the rest of her family, she had progressed to more fashionable venues like Cheltenham Spa. Then, David Garrick ‘discovered’ her in 1775 and brought her to London’s Drury Lane Theatre of which he was the manager. It was a disastrous debut. She arrived mid-season, aged just 21, and delayed by being heavily pregnant with her second child. She had no experience of such demanding and sophisticated audiences, and she was put forward in parts that did not suit her acting style. Indeed, she began to suspect that the main reason for Garrick’s flattering attentions and ostentatious support was to upset his other three leading ladies, who were causing him a good deal of grief at the time. This may well have been true enough, since Garrick wrote thus to the critic and dramatist Henry Bate at the time:

‘If any lady begins to play at tricks, I will immediately play off my masked battery of Siddons against her.

Sarah made a terrible début as Portia. One critic wrote:

‘On before us tottered, rather than walked, a very pretty, delicate, fragile-looking young creature, dressed in a most unbecoming manner, in a faded salmon-coloured sack and coat and uncertain whereabout to fix either her eyes or her feet. She spoke in a broken tremulous tone; and at the close of a sentence her words generally lapsed into a horrid whisper, that was absolutely inaudible.’

In another production, the three slighted prima donnas upstaged her en masse, so that Garrick himself had to come on stage and lead her to the front of the stage. At the end of that season, Garrick retired from the stage, as he seems to have intended all along, and left her high and dry. She returned to the provinces and that seemed to be that.

It was another 6 years before she returned to Drury Lane, now under the management of Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Good reports of her performances had been coming in to London for some time and he seems to have hoped that bringing her back might revive the flagging state of his business.

The theatre was packed for her first night. Reports of her talents had preceded her from Bath, where she had been receiving great acclaim, and Sheridan had been doing a great deal of his own ‘puffing’ of her ability as well. Despite horrendous stage-fright, this time she was a triumph. She was instantly idolised. The cream of London society flocked to see her. The rush to get seats for her performances began at breakfast and late-comers joined in fist-fights trying to get in. She was that cliché of clichés, an overnight sensation.

Thus it continued for the rest of her time on the stage. Lord Byron believed she outshone not only all other women but also men in the theater. He saw Siddons at the end of her career and described her performance as:

‘The “beau ideal of acting”: [N]othing ever was, or can be, like her.’

When she retired from the stage in her late 50s, William Hazlitt wrote:

‘Who shall give us Mrs. Siddons again? Or who shall sit majestic in the throne of Tragedy – a Goddess, a prophetess and a Muse? Who shall stalk over the stage of horrors, its presiding genius, or play the hostess at the banqueting scene of murder? … Who shall make tragedy once more stand with its feet upon the earth, and with its head raised above the skies weeping tears and blood? That loss is not to be repaired. While the stage lasts, there will never be another Mrs. Siddons!’

John Philip Kemble

John Philip Kemble, eldest son of the Kemble family, first trained as a priest at Douai, then quickly left the church for acting and became the leading male actor of his day. He was famous as actor and manager and many times shared the stage with his sister, Sarah Siddons. However, even he admitted she left him in the shade. Nonetheless, she helped him a great deal, as she did all her siblings. So much so that, by 1783, no less than five members of the Kemble family were playing on the London stage, prompting one newspaper to publish this piece of doggerel:

‘With Kembles on Kembles they’ve choked Drury Lane
The family rubbish have seized public bounty
And Kings, Queens and Heroes pour forth from each county.
The barns are unpeopled – their half-famished sons
Waste the regions of taste like th’irruption of Huns.’

Aside from the obvious, this verse contains a typically London-oriented jibe at the ‘rustic’ origins of the family. Barns were where poor companies of strolling players usually set up in villages and country towns. The writer is implying that’s where the Kembles belong: out in the sticks with the peasants!

Between 1788 and 1800, Kemble was manager of the Drury Lane Theatre, as well as acting. However, he and Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the proprietor of the theatre, did not form a harmonious team. In late 1801, there was a major falling-out between the two of them, leading to Kemble’s complete withdrawal.

Maybe Kemble should have stuck to acting, because his next foray into management also ended badly. In 1803, he took a one-sixth share in ownership of the Covent Garden Theatre and became its manager. When the theatre burned down in 1808, he lost a good deal of his money. He re-opened in a rebuilt theatre in 1809, but ran at once into a major row with the public when he tried to raise ticket prices, presumably to offset his losses. Following noisy demonstrations and riots, he was forced to back down. However, the theatre had been closed for more than three months by the rioting and Kemble was virtually ruined. He was only saved from bankruptcy by selling his excellent library and obtaining a large loan – later made a gift – from the Duke of Northumberland.

Kemble’s career on the stage was cut short in 1817 in part by illness (he suffered from severe gout) and in part by the arrival of Edmund Kean. As Kean’s star rose, Kemble’s waned. His style of acting – precise, studied and grandiose – was eclipsed by Kean’s tempestuous energy, which was far better suited to the growing Romanticism of the age. Nonetheless, Kemble had been a decided star in his time, an idol like his sister. If her posthumous fame has far eclipsed his, it is in part a genuine reflection of their respective talents. Byron, for one, thought Mrs. Siddons worth more than Kemble and Kean put together.

The Other Sons

Stephen George Kemble, also became an actor and theatre manager. Yet another, Charles Kemble, was an actor, theatre manager and playwright. He married the actress Maria Theresa De Camp and the eldest of their two daughters was the actress and author Frances Anne (Fanny) Kemble.

None of these ‘lesser’ Kembles achieved anything like the prominence of the two eldest siblings. Indeed, I suspect they would be even less remembered were it not for their association with them. Both turned fairly quickly to management, but neither were especially successful in that field either. Charles was the better actor, with a more gentle and romantic style than his elder brother. However, he lost a great deal of money as manager of The Covent Garden Theatre and was rescued largely by the success of his daughter, Fanny Kemble, in the USA.

Ann Julia Kemble

The youngest Kemble sister, Ann, is worth a post in her own right. It is impossible to do justice to her tempestuous life in the space available here. For the moment, I will summarise by saying she was a poet, author and (not very good) actress. Meeting with poverty as the result of a bigamous marriage, she advertised for donations and tried to kill herself in Westminster Abbey as a means of drumming up support. When this failed, she turned to more traditional sources of money for hard-up young women and became a ‘model’ in a London bagnio or brothel. During her time there, she was was accidentally shot in the eye, but happily survived. Her next scheme was to give lectures for a quack sex doctor who sold nights in an “electrical bed” to promote sexual pleasure and fertility.

In 1792, she married again, went to America, then Canada, then back to Britain, finally settling in Swansea, where she ran a dancing school and wrote reams of verse and no less than 14 gothic romance novels under the pseudonym ‘Ann of Swansea’. Her last book was published in 1831 and she died in 1838. She was in many ways typical of the Kembles: larger than life.

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About the Author

William Savage lives near the beautiful North Norfolk coast in Eastern England and writes historical mystery novels, set in Norfolk between 1760 and 1800. His first in the series, “An Unlamented Death”, appeared in January 2015. A second book is now in its final stages and will be published in Spring 2015.

Will is also a local historian. In that guise, he researches topics relevant to the general period of his historical writing, publishing them via his blog “Pen and Pension”. He is also on Twitter as @penandpension.


Written content of this post copyright © William Savage, 2015.

The Salon Digest

Once again it's time to take a look back at the week here in the salon, so settle back with a cup of tea and enjoy!

A Gallery of Ozias Humphry
In honour of a remarkable artist!

Accomplishments, Not Expertise!
Jane Ashford considers the regency lady...

A Gallery of Benjamin West
Another wonderful painter graces the salon. 

The English Country House
Heather King takes us on a tour...

The Illness of George III
Laura Purcell considers the health of a king.

Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland
A remarkable political life from Jacqui Reiter.