Wedlock (56 page)

39
Testimony of Ann Eliza Stephens (née Planta), 23 February 1788: NADEL 2/12; Bowes, p. 7. The legal case is cited in Hill, Bridget, p. 140.

40
Foot, p. 18.

41
Thackeray, p. 143.

42
Anon [Anne Massingberd] to ARS, 1 November 1776: SPG, volume C.

43
Rate book, Chelsea, 1775-80, Kensington Library, 13 March 1777; Foot, p. 13. Most references to Stanley House state that MEB bought the property from Mary Southwell in 1777. However, the rate book for March 1777 shows that MEB had paid the previous three months’ rates ie since December 1776. This agrees with Foot’s assertion that she owned the house prior to her marriage with ARS. For information about Stanley House see London County Council, vol. 4, pp. 43-4; Faulkner, vol. 1, pp. 55-60. Stanley House was sold, reputedly to a Russian millionaire, in 2004 (personal communication, Hampton estate agents, May 2007).

44
No definite date for the marriage has been found but Eliza would later say she was married in November 1776. Anon,
A full and accurate report of the trial
, p. 29.

45
Thomas Mahon, Bowes’s valet, would testify to seeing Bowes emerge from Eliza’s bedroom at Gibside at 5 one morning in early 1777. Anon,
A full and accurate report of the trial
, p. 29.

46
Anonymous letter [MEB and Eliza Planta to Revd Henry Stephens], n.d. [December 1776], submitted by ARS in evidence in divorce case: LMA, DL/c/561/4. The letter refers to Eliza being then nineteen. Bowes, p. 26.

47
Anonymous letter [MEB and Eliza Planta to Revd Henry Stephens], n.d. [December 1776], submitted by ARS in evidence in divorce case: LMA, DL/c/561/4. This comment would later be produced as evidence that Hunter had helped her attempt an abortion. Evidence of John Hunter, anon,
The Trial of Andrew Robinson Bowes, Esq; first heard in the Arches
, pp. 96-103.

48
Foot, pp. 22-4.

49
Vickers, p. 59.

Events leading up to MEB’s marriage with ARB and immediately after are related in Foot, pp. 45-9 and ‘Lady Strathmore’s Narrative from the time of her Marriage ’till she left Mr Stoney’: SPG, vol. 332. The latter, which is the first of two volumes handwritten by MEB describing events in her life, is undated but was completed by MEB c. 1795. It is hereafter referred to as Narrative.

1
Morning Post
, 12 December 1776. The other letters appeared as follows: Monitus, 24 December 1776; Hamlet, 3 January 1777; Monitus, 7 January 1777.

2
Narrative, p. 1. She explains her decision to marry ARB on p. 6. His application for a marriage licence can be found as Marriage allegation, Andrew Robinson Stoney, 16 January 1777: GL Ms 10091/138.

3
Anon, Allegations against the Countess of Strathmore, p. 8 in anon,
The Trial of Andrew Robinson Bowes, Esq., first heard in the Arches.

4
Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser
, 24 January 1777.

5
Evidence of Jessé Foot, anon,
The Trial of Andrew Robinson Bowes, Esq., first heard in the Arches
, pp. 90-2; Foot, pp. 12 and 8.

6
Narrative, p. 12; Bate’s comment is from Fyvie, p. 91.

7
Fortescue, vol. 5, p. 471 and vol. 6, p. 7. In 1782 George III refused to pay a final pension to ‘that worthless man’ who by that point vocally supported the Prince of Wales.

8
‘A Baite for the Devil’, 1779, cited in George, vol. 5, no. 5550, p. 332.

9
Sheridan; Rhodes, pp. 40-5, 71-2. Foot reveals that Bate had met Garrick shortly after the duel: Foot, pp. 39-40.

10
Evidence of Thomas Mahon, anon,
A full and accurate report of the trial
, pp. 9-10.

11
Newcastle Journal
, 31 May 1788.

12
Narrative, p. 4. She describes Bate’s letter in MEB, ‘An Account of the Inns when I was carried off and a comparison between Major Semple and Mr Stoney’: SPG, vol. 333, p. 128.

13
William Scott to Henry Scott, postmarked 20 March [1777] in Surtees, William, p. 48; Foot, p. 53. Foot describes the revived argument with Bate as happening during the summer but this letter shows it took place earlier. The quote from Bate is from Foot, p. 57. The description of ARB as a ‘coward’ is from Foot, p. 9.

14
Arnold, pp. 63-70. Arnold argues that MEB conspired with Stoney to stage the duel in order to provide an excuse for marrying him rather than Gray but that Bate was an innocent party in the ensuing encounter. However, there is no direct evidence for her role, later trials found that the conspiracy was all Stoney’s and various reports point to Bate’s guilt.

15
Narrative, pp. 2-3.

16
Evidence of George Walker, anon,
A full and accurate report of the trial
, p. 6.

17
Narrative, p. 9; Evidence of George Walker, anon,
A full and accurate report of the trial
, p. 6; Narrative, pp. 10-11.

18
MEB to George Stoney [n.d.] in Stoney, pp. 34-5.

19
Narrative, pp. 92-3.

20
Mary Bowes to MEB, 12 April 1777: BL Add. MSS 40748.

21
Foot, p. 50.

22
Narrative, p. 10.

23
Evidence Ann Mahon, anon,
A full and accurate report of the trial
, p. 12. The maid married Thomas Mahon soon after Mary’s marriage. Her husband’s statement is from Evidence Thomas Mahon, anon
, A full and accurate report of the trial
, p. 10.

24
Narrative, pp. 17-18.

25
George Selwyn MP to Lord Carlisle, February 1777, HMC Carlisle, p. 319.

26
Anon [James Perry], ‘The Torpedo, a poem to the electrical eel’ (London, 1777), p. 6.

27
Anon, ‘The Diabo-Lady’ (London, 1777), pp. 8-9.

28
Anon, Allegations against the Countess of Strathmore, p. 6 in
The Trial of Andrew Robinson Bowes, Esq., first heard in the Arches
.

29
Trust document, signed George Walker and Joshua Peele, 9 and 10 January 1777: DCRO SEA D/St/D13/4/22. 30 Bowes, pp. 29-30.

31
Evidence George Walker, anon,
A full and accurate report of the trial
, p. 7.

32
Background on the 1777 by-election can be found in Namier and Brooke, vol. 2, pp. 106-8 and 350-1; Knox (1985). Stoney was granted royal licence to change his name to Bowes on 11 February 1777.
Gentleman’s Magazine
47 (1777), p. 93.

33
ARB to Mayor of Newcastle et al, 17 February 1777, in Stoney, p. 37; Isaac Stoney to Thomas Bowes, 8 February 1777, in Stoney, pp. 35-6.

34
Handbill, ‘Bowes and Freedom!’: SPG, box 78, bundle 13;
Newcastle Chronicle
, 5 March 1777: BM Album. 35 Foreman, p. 147.

36
Newcastle Chronicle
, 8 March 1777: BM Album.

37
Copy of letter or note by Edward Montagu, 1777: BM Archives.

38
Evidence Francis Bennett, anon,
A full and accurate report of the trial
, pp. 17- 18. The pamphlets are Handbill, ‘Bowes and Freedom!’: SPG, box 78, bundle 13; ‘A New Song on the Countess of Strathmore’s Birth-day’, n.d. [1777]: SPG, volume C; and Handbill, ‘To the Worthy Freeman in Newcastle’, n.d. [1777]: BM Album.

39
Lady Maria Bowes to Mary Lyon, 7 April 1777: SPG, box 202, bundle 10.

40
Copy of letter or note by Edward Montagu, 1777: BM Archives.

41
ARB to Thomas Bell, 19 May 1777: SPG, Bowes Papers vol. 41. Bowes reported the figure at a public meeting:
Newcastle Courant
, 27 May 1780.

42
Testimony Ann Eliza Stephens (née Planta), 23 February 1788: NA DEL 2/12.

43
Testament Thomas Mahon, anon,
A full and accurate report of the trial
, p. 29.

44
ARB to Henry Stephens, Good Friday [28 March 1777] and MEB to Henry Stephens, 28 March 1777, submitted as evidence by ARB: NA DEL 2/12.

45
Anon [ARB to Gibson Gorst] n.d. [1777]: SPG, volume C.

46
Evidence Henry Stephens and Ann Eliza Stephens, anon,
A full and accurate report of the trial
, pp. 27 and 29.

47
George Walker to Mary Morgan, 31 March 1788: SPG, box 69, bundle 6.

48
Bowes, pp. 12-13.

49
Deed of revocation 1 May 1777, signed by ARB and MEB, witnessed by John Scott, John Hunter and William Gibson: DCRO SEA D/St/D13/4/23; Evidence of John Hunter, anon,
A full and accurate report of the trial
, p. 26; MEB [to Farrer and Lacey] n.d.: SPG, box 185, bundle 2. The Bowes fortune was still held in trust, so that no land, property or heirlooms could be sold off and the estate kept intact for future generations, but all profits and income accrued to the life tenant (originally MEB, now ARB) for their lifetime.

50
Narrative, p. 19.

51
Sherwen.

52
Anon [ARB to Gibson Gorst] n.d. [1777]: SPG, volume C.

53
Hicks, p. 173; Hill, G. B., vol. 2, p. 247. The Duchess of Grafton’s delivery is described in Stone (1993), pp. 139-56. William Hunter’s anecdote is given in Wadd, p. 283. The Bristol incident is from
Jackson’s Oxford Journal
, 29 March 1755, cited in Hill, Bridget, p. 35.

54
Anon, Allegations against the Countess of Strathmore, p. 10 in anon,
The Trial of Andrew Robinson Bowes, Esq., first heard in the Arches
; Foot, p. 51.

55
Biographical details of Elizabeth Craven, née Lady Elizabeth Berkeley, later the Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Bayreuth, are from Craven,
passim
; and ODNB, vol. 18, pp. 94-5. Background on Craven Cottage is from Fe‘ret, vol. 3, pp. 90-3. The Fulham parish rate book shows rates were first paid on the house in 1779 by Lady Craven. Lady Mary Coke said in 1781 it had been built ‘two or three years’ earlier. Craven Cottage burnt down in 1888 and the grounds of Fulham Football Club, known as Craven Cottage, were later built on the site. The description by Mary Coke is cited in Lewis, vol. 41, p. 404n.

56
Evidence John Hunter,
The Trial of Andrew Robinson Bowes, Esq., first heard in the Arches
, p. 96.

57
ARB to George Stoney, 14 November 1777, in Stoney, p. 37.

58
Anon, Allegations against the Countess of Strathmore, p. 10 in anon,
The Trial of Andrew Robinson Bowes, Esq., first heard in the Arches
.

59
The parish register states ‘baptized 25 Nov 1777 St Mary’s Church Whickham, Mary daughter of Andrew Robinson Bowes Esq & Maria Countess Dowager of Strathmore his wife born Nov 16 privately baptized 25th’. Parish register Whickham Church, DCRO;
Gentleman’s Magazine
47 (1777), p. 555;
Annual Register
1777, p. 218.

60
Pinchbeck and Hewitt, vol. 2, pp. 582-9.

61
Francis Bennett to MEB, 21 May 1785: SPG, box 185, bundle 2.

62
A Supplement to the Court of Adultery
(1778) and
A New Song
(1779): DUL BBP Box 71, 239 and 248.

63
Evidence Isabella Filliberti (née Fenton), Consistory Court of London deposition book 1783-90: LMA DL/C/282.

64
Earl of Strathmore v Bowes b. r. [15 June 1777]: NA C12/1057/31.

65
Anne Massingberd to MEB, 30 May 1777; and AM to ARB, 16 July 1777: SPG, volume C. The letter from Scarborough is Judith Noel to Mary Noel (her aunt), 26 August 1777, in Elwin, p. 68. Anne Massingberd married William Maxwell by licence, 6 December 1777, at Ormsby parish church. Marriage register, parish of Ormsby, cited in Massingberd, p. 369. 66 Narrative, pp. 21-3.

67
Narrative, p. 18.

The main secondary source for Paterson and his travels in the Cape is Forbes’s and Rourke’s book. As well as providing plentiful biographical information, this transcribes the manuscript account of his journeys from his notebook which was discovered in London in 1956. Forbes and Rourke cite the baptism in Kinnettles parish church of ‘William Son of David Paterson Gardener in Bridgetoun’ on 22 August 1755. Other biographical information on Paterson can be found in Gunn and Codd, pp. 273-5 and Desmond (1994), p. 539.

1
Log book
Houghton
: BL India Office, L/MAR/B/438N. The ship left Plymouth on 9 February 1777 and arrived in False Bay for Cape Town on 15 May.

2
Paterson to William Forsyth, 24 May 1777, in Forbes and Rourke, p. 33. Sadly Paterson’s letters to Forsyth are currently missing from Kew Library.

3
Lemmon, p. 64.

4
Paterson (1790), p. 3. This tribute only appears in the second edition of the book. It is entirely omitted from the first edition published in 1789. All information and quotes are from the first edition, 1789, unless specified.

5
Forbes and Rourke, p. 20.

6
Spencer, pp. 108-9.

7
Paterson, p. 9. This plant was later named
Erica patersonia
in Paterson’s honour. Forbes and Rourke, p. 66n.

8
Only two paintings bear Paterson’s signature and these are from his later visit to India. For discussion of the possible candidates see Forbes and Rourke, p. 38n.

9
The name Gordon’s Bay has been transferred to the former Vishoek Bay while Paterson’s Bay was later renamed Plettenberg Bay. Forbes and Rourke, p. 63n.

10
Paterson, pp. 29 and 35.

11
MEB, ‘Copies and Extracts’: SPG, box 243, f. 1; Foot’s verdict is Foot, p. 10.

12
Bowes, p. 5. Succeeding quotes are all from Bowes, pp. 12, 89-90 and 46-7.

13
Narrative, p. 16.