A Digest of Marie Antoinette

Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna (Vienna, Austria, 2nd November 1755 - Paris, France, 16th October 1793)

On this day in 1793, Marie Antoinette died on the guillotine. The late queen has visited the salon many times and is a key figure in my forthcoming book, Life in the Georgian Court. Given the date, I thought it would be a fine opportunity to look back on the posts in which she has featured.

I hope you will enjoy this gad into the archives in search of a most unfortunate queen.

My Blood Alone Remains
The final hours in the life of Marie Antoinette

The Queen's Last Journey
An iconic sketch by a master of Revolutionary propaganda.

Marie Antoinette's Prayer Book

A poignant memorial to the late queen's children, written in her final hours. 

The Queen's Possessions

Marie Antoinette's Fauteuil de Toilette

The queen's very own make up chair!

Marie Antoinette Playing the Harp

A painting depicts the young dauphine in her musical element. and read more about the magnificent harp that the queen adored.

A Fragment of Gown

All that remains of a magnificent dress...

The Slippers of a Queen

And the dainty shoes that might have accompanied it...

A Scandalous Portrait

A picture of the queen in her lingerie causes a sensation!

A Royal Marriage

Maximilien Robespierre Welcomes Louis XVI
What happened when a young Robespierre waited in the rain to greet the king and queen...

A Parisian Fireworks Disaster
When a crowd gathered to celebrate the marriage of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, terrible tragedy struck.

The Marriage of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI
A happy day for the Dauphin and Archduchess.

Life in the Georgian Court, true tales of 18th century royalty, is available at the links below.

Pen and Sword
Amazon UK
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Book Depository (free worldwide shipping)

Gallows Bait

The legend of Dick Turpin and the Gregory Gang has passed into English folklore, with highwaymen remembered as dandy fellows cutting a dash through the lush countryside of the 18th century. Now, a new film is going to redress the balance and show that Turpin and the Gregorys were not so dandy but, in the words of one of its creators, "the scum of the earth".

Gallows Bait will film across the UK next year and the creative team are looking for people who are passionate about the Georgian era to be a part of the project and even appear on camera. If you fancy attending the hanging of Dick Turpin and the notorious gang or recreating the sights and sounds of the long 18th century, Tony Rotherham would love to hear from you as he's helping to bring this exciting project to life. 

Casting for the central roles is currently underway but professional performers are invited to get in touch regarding the pivotal roles of Dick Turpin, Matthew King and Elizabeth Brazier. In addition, the production team invite anyone who thinks they can help to bring Gallows Bait to the screen to get in touch!

The team can be contacted via Tony at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stand-and-Deliver/172550692806858?ref=bookmarksStand%20and%20Deliver; don't miss out on the chance to bring Turpin's story into full-blooded life!

Victims of the National Razor

I have, it would appear, acquired something of a reputation for liking the more grisly aspects of history. Perhaps it is my prized miniature guillotine, perhaps the number of salon visitors who ended their days beneath the blade of that iconic instrument of death, I can hardly tell! Whatever the cause, these past months I have received a few queries from readers who would like an easy way to track down all the guillotine posts here at the Guide.

I always aim to help if I can and for this reason, I have introduced a new guillotine tag for just such an occasion. To make things even easier though, here are the links to all of those guillotine posts - I hope they prove ghoulishly diverting!

A model of the 1792 guillotine

To kick us off, who better than Joseph-Ignace Guillotin? This gentleman championed the guillotine, little imagining just how often it would come to be used!

The French Court During Revolution
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette: The iconic king and queen of France.
Princess Élisabeth of France: A loyal sister to the end.
Madame du Barry: Mistress to a king.
Anne d'Arpajon: The woman mocked as Madame Etiquette by Marie Antoinette.
Lamoignon de Malesherbes: The man who defended Louis XVI at his trial, forced to watch his family die before his own execution.

The French Revolution
Maximilien Robespierre: The Revolutionary politician who presided over the Terror.
Charlotte Corday: Assassin.
Jean-Sylvain Bailly: Architect of the Revolution.
Louis-Antoine de Saint-Just: This confidante of Robespierre died alongside him.
Georges Danton and Camille Desmoulins: Powerhouses of the Revolution who fell foul of the Jacobins.
Olympe de Gouges: An ardent revolutionary and thinker who rethought her politics as the Reign of Terror took hold.
Friedrich von der Trenck: Spy, adventurer and man of action.
Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine: The military man better known as Général Moustache.

Life in the Georgian Court, true tales of 18th century royalty, is available at the links below.

Pen and Sword
Amazon UK
Amazon US

Book Depository (free worldwide shipping)

The Execution of "La Pola"

Policarpa Salavarrieta (Assumed name, given name unknown, aka La Pola; Guaduas, Viceroyalty of New Granada, c. 1795 – Bogotá, United Provinces of New Granada, 14th November 1817) 

By José María Espinosa Prieto, 1855

Today we travel to New Granada to hear the tale of a Colombian seamstress turned spy. Known as La Pola, the life of Policarpa Salavarrieta was short and her death was brutal, but her memory lives on today, lauded as a heroine of independence. On the anniversary of her execution, I tell the story of those final moments and who she came to stand before the firing squad.

Salavarrieta was already involved in revolutionary politics when she came to live in Bogotá, the stronghold of the Spanish Royalists. Here she took up residence in the home of resistance leader, Andrea Ricaurte y Lozano, supposedly in the role of a housemaid. She worked as a seamstress within the households of the royalist ruling families, gathering intelligence from under their very noses.

It seems crushingly inevitable that Salavarrieta's ongoing revolutionary operations in Bogotá could not continue undisturbed and so it would prove to be the case. When the authorities captured some of her contacts, they soon unravelled the complex web of information that their prisoners shared and the information led them right to Salavarrieta's door. 

La Pola was arrested in November 1817 and, after a cursory trial on 10th November, she and her associates were found guilty of treason. The date of their execution by firing squad was set for just four days later, at nine o'clock in the morning.

If Salavarrieta felt any fear she showed none and on the morning of her death, left her cell bound for what became the Bolívar Square, where she would face the firing squad. She refused to pray with the priests who were charged with accompanying her and instead cursed and shouted at her Spanish guards as they went along, telling them that the days of their rule over her nation were numbered.

Upon reaching the square, Salavarrieta was led up onto the scaffold and told to turn her back to the firing squad, in the accepted manner for the execution of traitors. Keeping up her furious rhetoric she did so and when told to kneel, she refused. Instead La Pola stood before the squad and when the order came to fire she turned, facing her executors head on with a cry of, "I have courage to suffer this death and a thousand more. Do not forget my example!".

La Pola's remains were handed over to her brothers, who were Augustinian friars, and they buried her in the church of San Agustín, her short, Revolutionary life finally at an end.

A Revolutionary on the Guillotine: Olympe de Gouges

Olympe de Gouges (née Marie Gouze; Montauban, Guyenne-and-Gascony, Kingdom of France, 7th May 1748 – Paris, France, 3rd November 1793)

Olympe de Gouges by Alexander Kucharsky 

Today we mount the steps to the iconic guillotine again and witness the execution of a French woman who strove for equal rights for women in her native land. Playwright, orator and passionate abolitionist, the hope with which Olympe de Gouges greeted the Revolution eventually ended in bloody disappointment.

Throughout her life, de Gouges dreamt of one day achieving equal rights for the women of France and the abolition of slavery. She wrote and spoke tirelessly on the subject and achieved recognition for her work,  Déclaration des droits de la Femme et de la Citoyenne (Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen). Although she greeted revolution with a sense of hope for the future of France, her opposition to execution left her without doubts about the direction the movement eventually took.

An avowed Girondist, de Gouges was vocal in expressing her feelings about the way in which the leaders of the Revolution were behaving and she wrote and published pamphlets and posters and even began work on a pro-Revolutionary play featuring Marie Antoinette and de Gouges herself!

It was these Girondist leanings that eventually proved the undoing of Olympe de Gouges. Placed under arrest, her papers were used as evidence for the prosecution at a trial that dragged on for three months. De Gouges was denied a lawyer and struggled with her own defence yet she continued to write and, via supporters, even managed to publish an account of her own arrest and interrogations. If De Gouges wasn't already marked for death then these writings sealed her fate and she was found guilty of seditious behaviour and sentenced to the guillotine on 2nd November 1793. Just one day later she went to her death, a revolutionary who fell victim to her own cause. 

"I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country": The Execution of Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale (Coventry, Connecticut, America, 6th June 1755 – New York, America, 22nd September 1776)

Once again today we find ourselves in the land of my colonial gentleman's birth and, in fact in the very state from which he hails. This is not a happy occasion though, as we are here to mark the execution of Nathan Hale, a Yale graduate executed by the British for espionage after being apprehended during an intelligence-gathering mission that ended in failure.

Apprehended by the British whilst seeking information, Hale was brought before General William Howe. A cursory search of the Captain revealed sketches of fortifications, notes and other intelligence information and Hale admitted to his mission, knowing the game was up. Immediately upon learning of his purpose, General Howe sentenced Hale to execution by hanging the following morning and the young man was taken to his temporary prison.

In fact, he spent the night before his execution held in a greenhouse at Beekman House, Howe's Manhattan home. With no hope of clemency, he awaited the coming dawn with stoicism, preparing himself for that final day. The prisoner's requests first for a clergyman and then for a copy of the Bible were refused and instead Hale resigned himself to a long, no doubt unhappy night.

Early in the morning of 22nd September, 1776, Hale composed two final letters, writing one to his mother and one to a fellow officer. As eleven o'clock on that Autumn morning he walked along Post Road to the Park of Artillery with dignity and composure. Here he made a short speech, the content of which has been discussed ever since, went calmly to the noose and passed into American history.

Jacques de Liniers: The Execution of a Viceroy

Jacques de Liniers (aka Jacques de Liniers; Niort, France, 25th July 1753 – Cabeza de Tigre, Córdoba, Argentina, 26th August 1810)

Today we journey far afield to South America and the last day in the life of Jacques de Liniers, a French military officer who served as Viceroy of the Río de la Plata. Liniers enjoyed a turbulent military and political career and though he did eventually retire, he could not stay away from public life and was destined to meet a violent end.

After being appointed viceroy in 1807, Liniers found that his time in office was not destined to be easy. He was soon challenged and ultimately deposed, handing over control of the government to Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros in 1809 and entering retirement. As Liniers went into retirement, the country entered a time of unrest that led to the May Revolution of 1810.

Execution of Santiago de Liniers by Franz van Riel, 1921

Following the Revolution, Liniers emerged from retirement and became involved in the counterrevolutionary movement, joining efforts to effect a monarchist uprising against the newly-installed government. His efforts to raise a force were to prove disastrous and he was arrested by Ortiz de Ocampo; although Ocampo brought an armed force to make the arrest this move was completely unnecessary. The counterrevolutionaries were badly organised and damaged by infighting, so when the government force arrived to make the arrest, they met with no resistance. 

Without the benefit of a trial, Liniers was sentenced to death alongside a number of his fellow counterrevolutionaries. However, Ocampo recognised their popularity in Buenos Aires and refused to carry out the executions, taking them prisoner instead. The reprieve was temporary at best and Juan José Castelli took charge of the prisoners and executed them at Cabeza de Tigre in 26th August 1810.

Liniers lives on in the very fabric of Buenos Aires in street names and even the name of a province in the city. Liniers was buried without ceremony in Argentina and here he remained until 1861 when, at the request of Queen Isabella II of Spain, his remains were returned to Spain and laid to rest in the Pantheon of Cádiz. 

The Witch of Palermo: Giovanna Bonanno and her Mysterious Vinegar

Giovanna Bonanno (Palermo, Italy, 1713 - Palermo, Italy, 30th July 1789)

Giovanna Bonanno

Today our salon is graced by a most questionable sort. Witch, poisoner and executed criminal, Giovanna Bonanno became known as la Vecchia Dell'aceto (Old Vinegar) in fearful recognition of the deadly potions she brewed.

Bonanno's early life is shrouded in mystery and she first appears in records in 1744 when a woman named Anna Pantò married Vincenzo Bonanno. Her existence appears to be one of hardship, scratching a living from begging on the streets of Palermo and selling concoction and potions to those who believed her to be a witch. However, she was to delve into much darker schemes for moneymaking and in the mid-1780s, fate played a deadly hand.

In 1786, a young mother brought her baby to Bonanno for a healing potion, explaining that the child had accidentally taken a drink of a potion intended for the external treatment of lice. The child fell deathly ill and the so-called witch looked on with interest, thinking that this could be a most useful means by which an unhappy woman might rid herself of an unwanted spouse. After all, one less mouth to feed could make a world of difference to women like her, who were forced to scrimp and beg from day to day.

Bonanno's vinegar, a mixture of lice poison and arsenic, proved deadly and impossible to detect in small, repeated doses. Soon men were keeling over all over town and the authorities found themselves utterly helpless to solve this strange string of deaths, all of which were characterised by stomach disorders. For her clients, the system was perfect. Since they believed they were buying an innocent vinegar that had been bewitched, they convinced themselves that they were somehow blameless and that Bonanno was the only guilty party, as she was the woman placing the charms on the liquid.

Bonanno's run of luck could not go unchallenged though eventually Maria Pitarra, a woman who made the deliveries of vinegar, realised that one of the bottles of potion was destined to be used on Giovanna Lombardo, the son of a friend. She warned Lombardo who falsely left word that he would like to buy a draft himself. When Bonanno arrived to make the sale, Lombardo and his witnesses detained her and she was taken  put on trial for witchcraft.

At her trial the suppliers of her ingredients and even some of her clients lined up to point the finger, accusing Bonnarno of bewitching them into making the purchases. and under interrogation, she confessed. Bonnarno was fond guilty and sentenced to hang; she went to the gallows on 30th July 1789 and within six weeks, cautionary plays were being performed telling the story of the notorious witch of Palermo.

"One does not make revolutions by halves": The Execution of Saint-Just

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just (Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just; Decize, France, 25th August 1767 – Paris, France, 28th July 1794)

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, 1793

In the past we have met many famed figures of the French Revolution and witnessed many iconic victims of the National Razor, Today we return to that heady time and the death of a man whose name has become synonymous with the Terror, Louis Antoine de Saint-Just.

Saint-Just's rise to power was stratospheric and unstoppable. Fiercely intelligent, dedicated and focused on his cause, he drafted the French Constitution of 1793 and was among Robespierre's most trusted friends. Like Robespierre, when the end came for Saint-Just it was swift and merciless and he was executed alongside his friend on 28th July.

Immediately before his arrest, Saint-Just attempted to make an eloquent speech in defence of Robespierre before members of the Convention but found himself unable to finish. Disgruntled deputies countered and heckled until, eventually, Jean-Lambert Tallien interrupted and silenced him, pushing him away from the lectern. Despite this, Saint-Just would not be provoked and instead attempted to continue speaking and make his point. Calm and dignified, he refused to surrender the platform and remained in place until his arrest and removal.

Detained in the Hôtel de Ville with the other arrested men, Saint-Just remained as calm as ever as around him, his former colleagues fell into a panic. Whilst others committed suicide or attempted to do so, Saint-Just calmly accepted his fate and walked unflinchingly to the scaffold alongside Robespierre and twenty others. With no trace of fear he went to the guillotine, convinced of his righteousness to the last.

The Murder of Joseph Foullon de Doué

Joseph-François Foullon de Doué (Saumur, France, 25th June 1715 – Paris, France, 22nd July 1789) 

Today marks the anniversary of a gruesome episode in French political history, though it is one of many that occurred during the heady, deadly Revolutionary days. It is the tale of a murdered politician and official, a man who had many enemies among the people.

Foullon was appointed Controller-General of Finances in 1789, replacing Jacques Necker, who enjoyed great popularity with the citizens of France. Foullon, however, was less well-loved and seen as a sop to the conservative traditionalists, interested only in preserving the power of the ruling classes. He was a strict disciplinarian and rumours spread that not only had he grown rich from the suffering of the poor and manipulated the food supply for financial gain, but that he had once said of the starving peasants, "If they have no bread, then let them eat hay". 

The shrewd Foullon was no fool and, once the Bastille fell, he fled Paris to take refuge in Viry-Châtillon. Here he began to put word about that he was dead, including staging a fake funeral. However, news of his location eventually leaked out and the once powerful man was seized by local people. Stripped of his shoes, a garland of thistles about his neck and bales of hay tied to his back, Foullon was dragged to the Hôtel de Ville. When he complained of thirst, Foullon was given vinegar and the sweat of his brow was wiped with stinging nettles in the harsh summer heat.

Despite the best efforts of officials, the furious citizens would not be stilled and Foullon was dragged to the Place de Grève to be hanged. On three occasions he was strung up and on three occasions the rope broke. Finally the man who had known such influence was beheaded, his severed head paraded through the streets with his mouth stuffed full of hay in answer to his reported comments on the starving people of France.

The Murder of ​​Johann Joachim Winckelmann

​​Johann Joachim Winckelmann (Stendal, Germany, 9th December 1717 – Trieste, Italy, 8th June 1768)

Johann Joachim Winckelmann by Anton von Maron, 1768

Johann Joachim Winckelmann was a man who knew a thing or two about history and was not averse to the odd bit of adventure. A leading authority on Greek and Roman archaeology and art, Winckelmann's work was hugely influential in the field of art history, bringing new theories and insights to the fore in his writings and discoveries.

Today marks the anniversary of the death of this great thinker but the method of his passing was for from distinguished. Instead, it was tragic, violent and senseless and came at the height of Winckelmann's fame. It came as he was travelling across Europe, returning from an audience with Maria Theresa of Austria, where he had been richly decorated.

Winckelmann arrived in Trieste on 1st June 1768 and took up residence under an assumed name in a local inn as he waited to sail for Rome. Here he became acquainted with the occupant of the neighbouring room, Francesco Arcangeli, a 31 year old unemployed cook and petty criminal. The exact nature of the relationship has been debated and discussed ever since Winckelmann's death with many scholars suggesting that the two men were lovers for the duration of Winckelmann's stay in Trieste. Certainly he and Arcangeli spent many long hours together and dined alone each night; Arcangeli was by all accounts fascinated by the historian, who shared with him tales of his adventures and illustrious friends.

On 7th June Arcangeli launched a frenzied and ultimately unexplained attack on Winckelmann, initially attempting to strangle him with a length of rope and then, when this failed, stabbing his victim multiple times. Eventually he fled, leaving the fatally injured Winckelmann to seek help to treat the wounds that would soon kill him. In fact Winckelmann lived on for just a few short hours and though he forgave Arcangeli before he died, that was not enough to save the life of his murderer.

Arcangeli was swiftly arrested and interrogated several time over the following days. He gave a number of reasons for the attack ranging from robbery to political intrigue but the verdict came quickly enough and Arcangeli was sentenced to death. The condemned man was executed on the wheel in front of the inn where he had killed Winckelmann, the true motive for the crime forever unknown.

The Execution of Jonathan Wild, Thief-Taker General

Jonathan Wild (Wolverhampton, England, 1682/3 – London, England, 24th May 1725)

Our notorious guest today is a man whom we have met before, a supporting player in the tale I told last year of Joseph "Blueskin" Blake. Today though, on the anniversary of his execution, the stage belongs squarely to Jonathan Wild, the man known throughout England as the unflinching Thief-Taker General.

An arch manipulator and expert schemer, Wild enjoyed a reputation for his unerring commitment to fighting crime in London, known for a talent for retrieving stolen goods and bringing the guilty to justice. In fact this supposed champion of justice was a gang master himself, controlling an enormous network of thieves, fences and informers, moving vast amounts of stolen property across England and into Europe. He raked in a fortune in rewards for supposedly retrieving items that his own gangs had stolen, setting aside a good portion for the purposes of blackmail and bribery should it be needed. 

A ticket to the execution of Jonathan Wild

Even when the authorities became aware that something might be amiss, Wild proved too slippery for them for a good long time but eventually the net began to tighten. As 1724 became 1725, bad things were afoot in the world of the Thief-Taker General. The captain of the sloop used by Wild to ferry stolen goods to Europe was informed on by a crewman over a length of stolen lace after the two argued over money. When Wild bailed out the captain, the affronted crewman informed on the Thief-Taker and his empire began to crumble. The authorities moved in to search his warehouses and found items that appeared to be stolen; though Wild protested his innocence, it would do him no good.

With Wild arrested and taken to Newgate, the outraged public demanded justice against the man they had once thought a hero. He mounted an impassioned defence but with evidence and witnesses mounting up, Jonathan Wild's fate was sealed. He was sentenced to death for his involvement in the matter of the stolen lace.

As the morning of his execution dawned, Wild took a quantity of laudanum with the intention of cheating the hangman. His scheme failed and he was taken in a state of delirium to Tyburn. All along the route the crowd jeered and heckled and pelted the once powerful Thief-Taker with missiles including dead animals and faeces. The cart stopped a number of times to allow Wild alcoholic refreshments at inns along the route but inevitably they eventually came upon Tyburn and the immense crowd gathered to witness the final moments of the once-admired crime fighter.

The skeleton of Jonathan Wild at the Royal College of Surgeons

Joining Wild on the gallows that day were three other convicts and the executioner was Richard Arnet, who had once been a guest at the wedding of the Thief-Taker. With a great noise from the crowd drowning out the last prayers of the condemned men, the nooses were put in place and the cart pulled away. Wild did not die without a struggle, desperately clutching onto the men who were hanging beside him in an effort to give himself leverage but it was a wasted effort and before an audience of thousands, Jonathan Wild died.

According to Wild's wishes his wife, Mary, arranged for his body to be secretly buried in the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church, whilst circulating rumours that it had been taken to the Surgeon's Hall. In fact, the efforts proved wasted and within the week the anatomists descended on St Pancras and dug up the Thief-Taker General, spiriting him away to the Royal College of Surgeons, where his remains are still on display.

The Assassination of Spencer Perceval

Spencer Perceval, KC (London, 1st November 1762 – London, 11th May 1812)

Spencer Perceval by George Francis Joseph, 1816

There have been many cases of political leaders falling victim to assassination attempts whilst in office. The USA has seen its fair share and so have many other countries across the world but in England, only one Prime Minister has been felled by an assassin's attack and that somewhat questionable honour belong to Spencer Perceval. As some of you know, before I opened the salon I spent many a long year in the employ of the House of Commons and the tale of Perceval is one that our visitors always liked to hear!

Perceval had assumed the office of Prime Minister on 4th October 1809, having previously served in a number of senior governmental positions. He survived a number of political challenges and won himself the backing of the Prince Regent, but away from the House of Commons, Perceval had made a most murderous enemy.

In 1803, John Bellingham, a merchant, was working in Russia when he was maliciously accused of being a debtor. Bellingham was held in Russia for six years on a variety of charges  and only freed after he made a personal petition to the Tsar. He had spent the years since his return to England engaged in fruitless efforts to gain compensation from the British government for his incarceration, believing that his country had done little to help him win his freedom. Of course, these appeals for money were all denied and Bellingham's anger quietly, furiously, festered.

John Bellingham from The Newgate Calendar, 1812

At 5.15pm on 11th May 1812, the Prime Minister entered the Commons lobby and was confronted by Bellingham, who calmly raised a pistol and shot Perceval in the chest. The unfortunate politician collapsed to the ground whilst his assassin calmly took a seat and watched the ensuing panic. Perceval was carried from the lobby into a private room and within minutes, he had succumbed to his injuries.

Meanwhile, Bellingham, was apprehended and hurried from the scene of his crime amid fears that more trouble might be to come. In fact he was alone and was neither part of nor the leader of a revolutionary mob and within days he was on trial for his life. Bellingham was calm, considered and utterly convinced of the righteousness of his actions. His demeanour at the trial was perfectly pleasant and following a long and detailed description of his many grievances against the government  the jury retired. Within  a quarter of an hour, they decided that Bellingham was not only guilty, but of sound mind too and he was sentenced to hang.

Bellingham went to the gallows on 18th May before a crowd of onlookers who did not celebrate his execution. Viewed as a man who had fallen foul of an unjust government, the public was somewhat sympathetic to his plight and a public subscription was raised for his widow and children that raised a large sum of money for their support.

The Assassination of Spencer Perceval, 1812

Just two days before Bellingham was hanged, Perceval's funeral took place at St Luke's Church, Charlton. Greatly mourned by his political colleagues, he was laid to rest in a private funeral attended by close colleagues and family. He is, so far, the first and only Prime Minister to fall victim to an assassin.

The Murderous Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers

Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers (London, England, 18th August 1720 – London, England, 5th May 1760)

Copper engraving of Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, 1810

Today we greet a singular sort of criminal in the shape of Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers. The scandalous Earl Ferrers holds the dubious honour of being the last member of the House of Lords to be hanged in England.

Ferrers had lived a life of hedonistic excess, fuelled by family money and privilege and his private life was far from happy. Tired of his maltreatment, Ferrers' wife, Mary, succeeded in the remarkable business of obtaining a legal separation from her husband on account of his intolerable cruelty. It was agreed that Mary's maintenance would be provided in the form of rental income from estate properties and the collection of this rent was placed in the trusted hands of John Johnson, a family retainer and steward of no small experience.

On 18th January 1760, which carrying out his usual business of collecting rent, Johnson was summoned to his master's home at Staunton Harold, Leicestershire. Here the Earl accused him of conspiring to defraud him and, as the argument became more heated, Ferrers shot Johnson. The old man survived and though a doctor named Kirkland was summoned, the Earl refused to let his victim leave. Once Ferrers had fallen into a drunken slumber, Johnson was taken home and died soon afterwards. 

The Earl assured the unfortunate man's family that he would provide for them on the condition that no prosecution was brought but by now the stage was set. Scandal around the crime was immediate and uproarious and when Ferrers' trial began in Westminster Hall, London was on tenterhooks.

Earl Ferrers shooting his steward, from the Newgate Calendar

The Earl defended himself against Attorney General Charles Pratt and pleaded not guilty on the grounds of insanity. Though it can hardly be doubted that there was insanity in his family, his eloquent defence was hardly indicative of a man of unsound mind and Ferrers was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was held at the Tower of London until the appointed day of execution, which was 5th May 1760.

On the fateful spring day, Ferrers dressed in his wedding suit and travelled in his own, very grand carriage, to Tyburn, where executioner, Thomas Turlis, awaited him and received a £5 tip for his troubles. Although reports of a silken noose were untrue, here the notorious Earl knelt to pray on a black silk cushion before calmly facing his fate. In deference to his elevated status, the scaffold had been engineered so that he might stand on a platform that would descend, leaving him at the end of the noose in an early version of the now-familiar drop method.

Just before noon Earl Ferrers took his place on the platform; his head was covered and the platform descended. It took Ferrers just under five minutes to die and as was his sentence he was eventually cut down and taken to Surgeon's Hall for dissection, his infamous career at an end.

Princess Élisabeth of France, A Most Loyal Sister

Princess Élisabeth of France (Élisabeth Philippine Marie Hélène de France, Versailles, France, 3rd May 1764 - Paris, France, 10th May 1794)

Élisabeth de France by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun

It seems like barely a week goes by without a trip to revolutionary France and today we are there again, this time to meet the lady known as Princess Élisabeth of France. Known as Madame Élisabeth, she was a loyal and loving sister of Louis XVI and remained with the doomed royal family to the very end.

Élisabeth birth was a far cry from the sad scenes that would close her life and she was born at the Palace of Versailles, daughter of Dauphin Louis and Marie-Josèphe of Saxony. Orphaned at the tender age of two, the little girl and her sister, Madame Clotilde, were raised Marie Louise de Rohan, comtesse de Marsan.

Under Marie Louise's tutelege they enjoyed an excellent education and Élisabeth soon showed herself to be a highly skilled artist as well as a pious young lady dedicated to her faith and family above all else. The thought of leaving France was one that the young Élisabeth refused to countenance and as a result she rebuffed discussions regarding a possible marriage to Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor. Instead, Élisabeth remained with the family she adored and she held true to this even when Revolution swept through France urging her brother to put down the people by force.

Élisabeth of France by Joseph Ducreux, 1768

A passionate defender of the French monarchy, she wrote a letter to her brother,  Charles-Philippe, comte d'Artois, urging him to marshal military forces to come to her brother's aid. The letter was intercepted by the National Assembly and they began to regard Élisabeth with new eyes though even now her fate was not quite decided.

Further opportunities were presented for Élisabeth to leave the family and go to safety with her aunts yet she elected instead to join the ill-fated flight to Varennes, in the guise of a nursemaid. When the escape was thwarted she was returned to Paris with her family, providing much needed moral support as their situation became more desperate.

Madame Élisabeth by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, 1788

Following the Insurrection of 10th August 1792, she was imprisoned in the Temple Tower with the rest of the royal family. Élisabeth and her niece, Marie-Thérèse remained with Marie Antoinette until she was transferred to the Concierge on 2nd August 1793 and were never told of her death. The final letter written by the queen was addressed to Élisabeth but never reached her. Held in the Temple with the teenaged Marie-Thérèse, Élisabeth provided her niece with moral support and comfort, a familiar and friendly face at what must have been a terrifying time for the young girl.

Élisabeth presented something of a problem for the new administration and initially they hoped to exile her from the country yet it soon became apparent that she was not willing to go quietly. Accused of aiding her brother's escape attempts, she remained defiant at her trial and spoke passionately to the Tribunal in support of her family and the monarchy.  There was no question of what the verdict would be and she was duly pronounced guilty and sentenced to death.

Madame Élisabeth as a Vestal Virgin by Charles Le Clerq, 1780s

The Princess was one of two dozen prisoners who were condemned to be executed on the same day and as she waited for her turn on the scaffold Élisabeth provided support and prayers for those who were due to die alongside her. Élisabeth mounted the steps to the scaffold with dignity, showing no fear to the crowd that had gathered to watch and following her death she was interred in a mass grave at the Cimetière des Errancis.

Following the Restoration, Louis XVIII attempted to recover her remains but they were unidentifiable. Instead, the Princess is remembered with a memorial dedicated to her name in the Basilica of Saint Denis.


Life in the Georgian Court, true tales of 18th century royalty, is available at the links below.

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A Deadly Affair: Count Johann Friedrich Struensee

Count Johann Friedrich Struensee (Prussia, 5th August 1737 – Copenhagen, Denmark, 28th April 1772)

Johann Friedrich Struensee by Hans Hansen after Jens Juel, 1824

Today we mark the death of a polarising figure in Scandinavian court politics, Count Johann Friedrich Struensee. My post on Queen Caroline Mathilde, right back in the early weeks of the Guide, remains a popular item almost a year after it was first published and I thought it might be germane to revisit this turbulent story, with a look at the final act of the life of Struensee.

Struensee was brought into the Danish court to quell the eccentricities of King Christian VII and his decision to emply the doctor was initially applauded by his counsellors, who saw the physician as a much-needed stabilising influence. In fact it was to prove a pivotal moment in the history of the Danish monarchy, shaking the house of Oldenburg to its foundations.  Within a year of Struensee's arrival at court the unhappy Queen Caroline Mathilde and Struensee were lovers; as the king decended deeper into madness, so Struensee's influence at court increased until, in late 1770, he was elected privy counsellor.

Caroline Mathilde by Francis Cotes

By the time of Struensee's rise to power the king was confined and often incoherent, so his former doctor enjoyed a period of virtually unchallenged authority, initiating over a thousand reforms that began with the total restructure of the unwieldy Danish cabinet. One might have expected Christian to be disturbed by these developments but in fact it was the opposite; he delighted in the unusual arrangement, glad to see his wife happy, his own marital responsibilities discharged and the burden of government business lifted from his shoulders. 

However, the ruling classes did not share their monarch's delight and when the queen gave birth to a daughter who was assumed to be Struensee's child, they moved in earnest against him. Facing higher taxes, reduced privilege and more reforms than they knew what to do with, the cabinet and court turned against the queen and her lover, their previously anaemic support for Christian returning with a fervour.

Woodcut depicting the arrest of Johann Friedrich Struensee

On 17th January 1772, Caroline Mathilde and Struensee were arrested. Struensee was charged with usurping royal authority and subjected to interrogation and torture. He mounted an eloquent and passionate defence of his actions but the die was already cast and Struensee was sentenced to have his hand severed and then to be beheaded, drawn and quartered. He was held in readiness for execution at Kastellet in Copenhagen and on 28th April was conveyed to the scaffold.

Woodcut depicting the execution of Johann Friedrich Struensee

Here the grisly sentence was enacted before an audience of tens of thousands. Queen Caroline Mathilde and her daughter were sent into exile in Celle, where the queen died aged just 23, never seeing Denmark again.

Life in the Georgian Court, true tales of 18th century royalty, is available at the links below.

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