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ARISTOCRATIC WOMEN
The Social, Political and Cultural History of Rich and Powerful Women

Part 2: The Correspondence and Diaries of Charlotte Georgiana, Lady Bedingfeld (formerly Jerningham) c1779-1833, together with the letters of Anna Seward, c1791-1804 and Lady Stafford, c1774-1837 from Birmingham University Library

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

The project Aristocratic Women concentrates on substantial and revealing clusters of correspondence between aristocratic women in the Eighteenth and early Nineteenth centuries enabling the social, political and cultural history of this landed élite to be studied. These women wielded real financial power, were active in local social welfare, actively debated political issues and read widely.

This second part of the project makes available three separate collections from Birmingham University Library.
The first collection is that of Charlotte Georgiana, Lady Bedingfeld (formerly Jerningham) consisting of 1,764 letters (bound in 21 volumes) dating from c1779-1824 and 7 diaries for the years 1809, 1816, 1818, 1819-20, 1830, 1831 and 1833. Included is the detailed catalogue to the collection which contains an index by correspondent.

Charlotte, Lady Bedingfeld, was the only daughter of Sir William and Lady Jerningham, a Catholic family of Costessey Hall, Norfolk and wife of Sir Richard Bedingfeld of Oxburgh, Norfolk. The letters are from her mother and other members of the large Jerningham and Bedingfeld families and chronicle her life and experiences from childhood, through her schooldays and her marriage to her elder years.

The letters therefore chronicle the private lives of two important Catholic families during the transition from the late Georgian to pre-Victorian era.

They give a fascinating insight into the life of the period and include: "the first letter I ever received" and descriptions of visits to the Opera and the Theatre including Mrs Siddons in "The Fatal Marriage". A letter of 24 December gives details of a performance of “Isabella” and regrets that they were so close to the stage.  They shared a box with Mr Pitt, who inspired them more than Mrs Siddons.  Further letters cover gossip about the separation of the Prince of Wales, Mrs Fitzherbert and the wedding of Fanny Dillon; riots in Paris in 1792; references to Anna Seward's poem "Llangollen Vale" and numerous books; the latest fashions; portrait painting; childbirth and children’s education and their upbringing;        Anglo-French hostilities; health; Catholic views regarding Ireland;  Catholic emancipation; Society at Bath and in London; broken marriages; Madame de Stael’s soirée, attempts to restore the monarchy in France; Bonaparte's surrender to the Duke of Wellington; travels; pregnancy; illegitimacy; dinner parties and balls and many other topics.

The following extract from a letter from her brother in 1786 describes the way of life of "gentlemen, always upon visits":

Edward Jerningham to Charlotte (Letter 44) Cossey, 4 June 1786

"My Dear Dear Sister

....We did not come immediately to Cossey as my Papa had some business in Norwich where we staid an hour. We there met our horses which carried us to Cossey where I was very glad to find General Jerningham, and also my Uncle Edward and Mr Lemon whom I suppose you have heard my Mama talk of in her letters to you as he has got no home, but is always upon visits. So he goes to see one person and stays there about a month or 2 months, when he goes to another Persons house and stays as long as he pleases there so he goes from one person's house to another, and as he has travelled all over England, Scotland and Wales, he knows a great number of gentlemen, so he easily finds places to go, and has I believe taken up his quarters here for the most part of this Summer but he is very good natured...."

your most affectionate Brother
Edward Jerningham

Other letters describe Charlotte’s expenses of £200 a year, a visit to the Queen’s Drawing Room, news of Catholic friends and the exiled French Court, Lady Primrose’s elopement and Lord Melville’s trial.

There are a number of good diaries in the collection: the one kept through Sir William Jerningham's final illness and death in 1809; a diary of tours in October 1816 and March - June 1818; a volume describing a visit to England in 1819-20 after she had been away in Ghent; a diary written in a convent in Hammersmith in 1830; a diary covering Charlotte's attendance at court in 1831; a volume covering the period of her supervision of Princess Louisa of Saxe Weimar in Brighton in 1831; and a final two volume diary covering her attendances on Queen Adelaide at Windsor in 1833.

The second small but interesting collection is that of 22 letters, dating from 1791-1804 of Anna Seward, the "Swan of Lichfield", (1742-1809). Also included is the handlist to the letters.

Anna Seward was a noted poet and letter writer born at Eyam in Derbyshire and daughter of Rev Thomas Seward, himself a poet and Canon of Lichfield from 1754.

She drew public notice in 1780 with elegiac poems on David Garrick and Captain Cook. In 1784 her verse novel "Louisa" was published and in 1786-7 controversial letters in The Gentleman's Magazine. In 1786 her poem dedicated to her friends Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Sarah Ponsonby, the Ladies of Llangollen, "Llangollen Vale" was published and in 1799 a collection of sonnets.

She had extensive literary friendships and much interest in female writing and topics covered in the letters include: "the qualities of a woman that ought to be possessed by a woman to be worthy of Colonel Dowdeswell; a concert in Birmingham held in honour of Duncans' victory at Camperdown; health; travels on the continent; monetary matters; the conduct of French prisoners; government policy against France and comments on naval victories (including references to Pitt, Dundas, Lord St Vincent and Jervis); the loss of the American Dominions; democracy in France; Louis XVI and the September massacres.

The following extract from a letter from her father in 1764 expresses pleasure that she has rejected a suit from a military gentlemen.

Thomas Seward to Anna  (AS18)Eyam,  November 24 1764

"My best my very best correspondent's Letter has been an high entertainment for the fond Father after he had been bother'd by a Storm of Rain over the East Moor...I hope we shall be able to treat you once every three or four years with the Repitition of the same gay Scene, unless for variety sake you chose your next Tour to Bath. What You say and what you promise with regard to M W is a cordial which would have given me a Rapturous Joy had I read it in the middle of the East Moor Storm. Whenance he is indifferent to you, it is wholly indifferent to me whether he deserves censure or praise as a Soldier; I believe he came from Germany with a very fair character, but it was afterwards at Bellisle that his quitting his Post upon the attack of the French in the night was certainly censured, whether justly or no I pretend not to say, but I saw a Defence of him in the Papers which express'd much anger against those who had censur'd him...."

Other letters are full of accounts of London friends, Mr Garrick, the theatre, comparisons between life in Paris and Winterbourne, discussions of poetry and literature.

The final collection is of Charlotte, daughter of Granville Leveson-Gower, Earl Gower and subsequently first Marquess of Stafford, and Lady Susannah Leveson-Gower (neé Stewart). Charlotte, (1771-1854) married Henry, Marquess of Worcester, later to become Duke of Beaufort.

There are 155 letters, bound in 4 volumes dating from 1774 to 1837. Included also are two miscellaneous photographs and the catalogue to the letters.

The correspondence covers an influential Protestant family living at Trentham in Staffordshire.  Most letters are from Lady Stafford to her daughter Charlotte.  They feature advice on behaviour, religion and handwriting;  topics such as health; the writings of Thomas Paine; the pernicious effect of gossip; babies; William Pitt and contemporary politics; the massacre of priests in France and trial of Marie Antoinette; the threat of invasion by the French; sea bathing; elections; needlework; descriptions of local balls; fashion; child rearing; travels in England and Europe; the Duchess of York's behaviour; London society and the theatre.  A number of letters refer to Lord Gower’s European travels; another comments on the bad conduct of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu after her marriage.  Other letters cover Charlotte’s marriage to Lord Worcester.

The following extract written by her mother in 1787 gives moral advice to Charlotte.

Lady Stafford to Charlotte (Letter 27) Trentham, April 9-11 1787

"My dearest Charlotte

I have always a most unfeigned pleasure in hearing from you. Your letters are next to conversing with you, they express what gives me great satisfaction. Oh my  dear Child, let not the world, company, Admiration or Prosperity ever change your sentiments. I fear nothing for you so much as fashionable company. Your compliant temper will naturally lead you to do as those do with whom you live. Therefore you cannot be too much on your Guard about your intimates...."

These three collections provide a wealth of material on home life, the running of a household, consumerism, education and reading, child rearing, medical problems, intellectual life, family values and life generally in Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Century England.

Researchers may also be interested in The Ladies of Llangollen: The letters and journals of Lady Eleanor Butler (1739-1829) and Miss Sarah Ponsonby (1755-1831) from the National Library of Wales.  This is a related microfilm project also available from Adam Matthew Publications.  Anna Seward was a close friend of the Ladies of Llangollen.

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