Harriet Mordaunt
Encyclopedia
Harriet Sarah, Lady Mordaunt (7 February 1848-9 May 1906), formerly Harriet Moncreiffe, was the Scottish
wife of an English baronet
and Member of Parliament
, Sir Charles Mordaunt
. She was the respondent in a sensational divorce case in which the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) was embroiled and, after a counter-petition led to a finding of mental disorder, spent the remaining thirty-six years of her life in a lunatic asylum.
, Scotland and his wife, Lady Louisa Hay-Drummond (died 1898), eldest daughter of the 11th Earl of Kinnoull
. They had sixteen children, including eight "beautiful" daughters who were, in due course, mostly "extremely well married". Lady Mordaunt was their fourth child (and fourth daughter). Her sister Georgina (the Moncreiffes' third daughter, known to the family as Georgy) became Countess of Dudley
, her husband
having been dubbed "frizzle wig" by Lady Mordaunt. In 1920 Margot Asquith
recalled that "groups of beauties like the Moncrieffes [sic] ... were to be seen in the salons
of the [eighteen] 'eighties. There is nothing at all like this in London
today"
Sir Thomas Moncreiffe served in the Grenadier Guards
and become a captain in the Atholl Highlanders
. He was captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews.
The atmosphere at Moncreiffe has been described as "free and easy".
During her childhood Lady Mordaunt was acquainted with the Prince of Wales and, after his marriage to Princess Alexandra of Denmark
in 1863, attended informal parties, including dances at Abergeldie Castle, near Balmoral
, which the Prince used as his Highland
home. In November 1865 she was invited to Sandringham
, the Waleses' house in Norfolk
, and subsequently joined the Prince and Princess on various occasions in London. Lady Mordaunt grew up to be pretty and flirtatious, but also headstrong and, ultimately, rather unbalanced.
. Sir Charles was a Conservative M.P. for the two-member constituency of South Warwickshire
from 1859 to 1868. Through his brother, John Murray Mordaunt (1837–1923), who played cricket for Warwickshire
and I Zingari
, he was the uncle of three other cricketing Mordaunts, H.J. (Sir Henry Mordaunt
, 12th baronet), E.C. and G.J., who all appeared at county level
.
The couple lived at Walton Hall
, Warwickshire, which, to mark his coming-of-age, Sir Charles had commissioned in the fashionable Gothic style from the architect George Gilbert Scott
, who later designed St. Pancras station in London
. A descendant of Sir Charles once counted 72 bedrooms at Walton. They also had a residence in Belgrave Square, London.
The Mordaunts remained part of the so-called "Marlborough House
set" who were associated socially with the Prince and Princess of Wales. According to later legal reports, Sir Charles made a “handsome” settlement on his wife at the time of their marriage and initially they appeared to live “most happily together”. However, it became clear subsequently that Lady Mordaunt was in the habit of entertaining male guests alone while her husband was absent on Parliamentary business or engaged in his various sporting pursuits.
together early in their marriage, but when, in June 1868, Sir Charles prepared for an annual fishing trip to Norway
, Lady Mordaunt encouraged him to go on his own. Arrangements were made for her to remain at Walton Hall in the company of a sister and another lady. However, when Sir Charles returned early from Norway, he found his wife alone. One of her maids later testified that, during Sir Charles’ absence, Lady Mordaunt had been visited in London by Viscount Cole
(later 4th Earl of Enniskillen), who, after dinner, had “remained alone with her until a very late hour”; on another occasion, he had travelled with her by train from Paddington station
to Reading
, where he alighted from a carriage of which they had been the only occupants. Other servants, who seem to have resented Lady Mordaunt's behaviour, added their own accounts of Lord Cole’s visits.
Parliament rose on 28 July 1868 and Sir Charles did not defend his seat in November when the Liberal Party swept to power at the first general election
since Disraeli's Reform Act of 1867. By then, Lady Mordaunt was five months pregnant. On 28 February 1869 she gave birth prematurely to a daughter, Violet Caroline. The timing was significant in view of Sir Charles’ absence on his fishing trip the previous year. Doctors initially feared that the child might be blind, causing Lady Mordaunt to become hysterical, imagining that this had been brought about by an hereditary sexually transmitted disease. (At the time, gossip surrounding Freddy Johnstone
, a close friend of the Prince of Wales, whom Lady Mordaunt shortly afterwards claimed to have been one of her lovers, was that he suffered from such a disease.) Violet’s eye infection was successfully treated and no venereal infection was found in either mother or child. However, following this episode, Lady Mordaunt not only declared to her husband, "Charlie, I have deceived you; the child is not yours; it’s Lord Cole’s", but claimed to have committed adultery
with “Lord Cole, Sir Frederick Johnstone, the Prince of Wales and others, often and in open day” As one of Princess Alexandra’s biographers put it, “the ensuing scandal was immense”.
) was innocuous. When published later in provincial newspapers and the London Times, they were judged to be "simple, gossipy, everyday letters"; a biographer of the actress Lily Langtry, another of the Prince's mistresses, observed that "typical lines to Harriet might have come from a benevolent uncle".
There is a widely recounted story of Sir Charles' returning to Walton Hall to find his wife in the company of the Prince and two white ponies, which, following the Prince’s expulsion from the premesis, he had shot in her presence. However, although Sir Charles acted very bitterly towards the Prince, he did not cite him in any legal action and so formal contemporaneous accounts of Lady Mordaunt’s activities tend to skirt around such episodes.
on 20 April 1869. In view of her nervous and erratic behaviour after Violet’s birth, to which the details were given full rein by her servants, Lady Mordaunt’s family claimed that she was insane and unfit to plead. A counter-affidavit
on behalf of Sir Charles maintained that she was feigning a mental disorder. On 30 July 1869 Sir Thomas Moncreiffe, acting as his daughter’s guardian ad litem
, formally alleged that, at the time the summons was served on her, she was "not of sound mind". In her diary on 6 August, Princess Alexandra noted that "a commission has been ordered to investigate and report if Harriet Mordaunt is truly mad".
in the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes
on 23 February 1870. Having been summoned to appear as a witness, the Prince of Wales was examined for seven minutes by Lady Mordaunt's counsel, the first time that a Prince of Wales had given evidence in open court. He flatly denied any “improper familiarity” or “criminal act” with Lady Mordaunt – “Never!” – and was not cross-examined by Sir Charles' counsel, William Ballantine
. The Prince had sought advice about whether to accept the subpoena
from, among others, the Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, Sir Alexander Cockburn, who in advising him to do so, described Lady Mordaunt as “a lady of such apparently fragile virtue” and referred to the notion that “one to whom a woman has given herself up is bound, even at the cost of committing perjury, to protect her honour”.
After a trial lasting seven days, the jury determined that Lady Mordaunt was suffering from “puerperal mania
” at the time the summons was served on her and that she was unable to instruct a lawyer in her defence. Accordingly, Sir Charles’ petition for divorce was dismissed, while Lady Mordaunt was committed to an asylum.
, for example, asked why the Prince (“a young married man”) should have been “so eager to pay weekly visits to a young married woman when her husband was absent, if it was all so innocent?”
There is some evidence that the “Establishment
” closed ranks at a time when republican sympathies in Britain had been aroused by Queen Victoria’s virtual withdrawal from public life. It seems that, in advance of the trial, the Prince's Household received private assurances that his position would be protected as far as possible, and, some years later, his private secretary, Francis Knollys
, recalled that the Prime Minister William Gladstone had been involved indirectly "and successfully" behind the scenes.
The Queen strongly disapproved of her son's (and daughter-in-law's) lifestyle, writing to her eldest daughter, the Crown Princess of Prussia
, on 2 March 1870 that "they lead far too frivolous a life and are far too intimate with people - with a small set of not the best and wisest people who consider being fast the right thing". She seemed especially concerned (with, as Lord Hattersley has put it, "admirable understanding of the moral superiority of the lower orders of society") that the affair could damage the Prince's reputation in the eyes of "the middle and lower classes". However, Victoria seems to have been convinced of her son's innocence regarding Lady Mordaunt and remained staunch in his defence, as did Alexandra, who described him to her sister-in-law Princess Louise
as “my naughty little man”, but was nonetheless deeply hurt by the affair. For his part, Gladstone observed rather despairingly to his Colonial Secretary, Lord Granville
, that "in rude and general terms, the Queen is invisible and the Prince of Wales is not respected".
who published in 1977 an account of the Prince’s involvement in the Tranby Croft
baccarat
scandal of 1890, commented that, by the time the Mordaunt case came up, Lady Mordaunt was “quite obviously insane” and that her physical condition had also deteriorated.
In the 1960s, the historical biographer, Elizabeth Hamilton, whose husband, Sir Richard Hamilton, 9th baronet (1911–2001) inherited Walton Hall in 1961, found a vast consignment of papers there that she used as the basis of a book about the scandal. She took the view that Lady Mordaunt probably did fake her madness at first, but added that “if you feign insanity, it can become a habit, and you can genuinely go mad”. Reviewing Lady Hamilton's book for the Sunday Telegraph, Nicola Shulman, Marchioness of Normanby
, observed that "the sly unhindered crimes committed against Harriet Mordaunt make plain what rights a woman was owed in 1869".
of 1871 reveal that Lady Mordaunt was living on the western outskirts of London, at an asylum in Chiswick
whose clinical director was Thomas Harrington Tuke. Tuke was, at the time, one of the most respected practitioners in lunacy
and, together with the Prince of Wales' physician, William Gull, played a prominent role in the Mordaunt case; his previous patients included the Chartist leader Feargus O’Connor, the painter Sir Edwin Landseer and Sophy Gray
, sister-in-law and muse of the painter John Everett Millais
. In evidence to the court, Tuke had been clear in his assertion that Lady Mordaunt was suffering from puerperal insanity, regarding her confessions of serial adultery with several men up to a few week's before the birth of her daughter as typical delusions associated with that condition. However, he had a humane reputation and the régime at Chiswick was, by the standards of the day, very enlightened, with high staffing ratios and reasonable levels of freedom accorded to its patients.
(in the judicial capacity that it exercised then), Sir Charles Mordaunt’s petition for divorce was remitted to the original court on the basis that Lady Mordaunt’s insanity was not, as a matter of law, a bar to proceedings. Eventually, in 1875, Sir Charles was granted a divorce on the grounds of his wife’s adultery with Lord Cole, who did not contest the action. In 1878 Sir Charles married Mary Louisa Cholmondeley, the daughter of a parson.
, Surrey
. She was buried at Brompton Cemetery.
Violet died in 1928. Her son Henry, the 6th Marquess
, described by Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire
as "the handsomest man you ever saw", was one of the "bright young people
" of the 1920s and became famous in the 1960s for developing a safari park
on the family's estate at Longleat
. In his entry for Who's Who
, the 6th Marquess referred to his mother as the daughter of Sir Charles Mordaunt, but made no mention of Lady Mordaunt. Violet was the grandmother of the present 7th Marquess
who is known for his polyamorous relationships and, according to Diana Mosley, was "the image" of the 5th Marquess.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
wife of an English baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
and Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
, Sir Charles Mordaunt
Sir Charles Mordaunt, 10th Baronet
Sir Charles Mordaunt, 10th Baronet was a wealthy English country gentleman, a Conservative Member of Parliament for South Warwickshire , High Sheriff of Warwickshire 1879, was notorious for involving the Prince of Wales in his divorce case.Sir Charles was married on 7 December 1866 to Harriet...
. She was the respondent in a sensational divorce case in which the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) was embroiled and, after a counter-petition led to a finding of mental disorder, spent the remaining thirty-six years of her life in a lunatic asylum.
Background and marriage
Lady Mordaunt (as she is referred to throughout this article) was born Harriet Sarah Moncreiffe. Her parents were Sir Thomas Moncreiffe of that Ilk, 7th baronet (1822–1879) of Moncreiffe House, PerthshirePerthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
, Scotland and his wife, Lady Louisa Hay-Drummond (died 1898), eldest daughter of the 11th Earl of Kinnoull
Thomas Hay-Drummond, 11th Earl of Kinnoull
Thomas Robert Hay-Drummond, 11th Earl of Kinnoull was the son of Robert Hay-Drummond, 10th Earl of Kinnoull. He served as Lord Lyon King of Arms from 1804 until 1866, succeeding his father in that office...
. They had sixteen children, including eight "beautiful" daughters who were, in due course, mostly "extremely well married". Lady Mordaunt was their fourth child (and fourth daughter). Her sister Georgina (the Moncreiffes' third daughter, known to the family as Georgy) became Countess of Dudley
Georgina Ward, Countess of Dudley
Georgina Elisabeth Ward, Countess of Dudley, RRC DStJ née Moncreiffe, was the daughter of Sir Thomas Moncreiffe, 7th Baronet and Lady Louisa Hay-Drummond and a noted beauty of the Victorian era....
, her husband
William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley
William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley , known as The Lord Ward from 1835 to 1860, was a British landowner and benefactor.-Background and education:...
having been dubbed "frizzle wig" by Lady Mordaunt. In 1920 Margot Asquith
Margot Asquith
Margot Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith , born Emma Alice Margaret Tennant, was an Anglo-Scottish socialite, author and wit...
recalled that "groups of beauties like the Moncrieffes [sic] ... were to be seen in the salons
Salon (gathering)
A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to...
of the [eighteen] 'eighties. There is nothing at all like this in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
today"
Sir Thomas Moncreiffe served in the Grenadier Guards
Grenadier Guards
The Grenadier Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It is the most senior regiment of the Guards Division and, as such, is the most senior regiment of infantry. It is not, however, the most senior regiment of the Army, this position being attributed to the Life Guards...
and become a captain in the Atholl Highlanders
Atholl Highlanders
The Atholl Highlanders is a Scottish infantry regiment. Based in Blair Atholl, the regiment is not part of the British Army. Instead, the regiment is in the private employ of the Duke of Atholl, making it the United Kingdom's, and indeed Europe's, only legal private army.-77th Foot:The name Atholl...
. He was captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews.
The atmosphere at Moncreiffe has been described as "free and easy".
During her childhood Lady Mordaunt was acquainted with the Prince of Wales and, after his marriage to Princess Alexandra of Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
in 1863, attended informal parties, including dances at Abergeldie Castle, near Balmoral
Balmoral
- Australia :* Balmoral, New South Wales, a locality of Sydney* Balmoral, New South Wales * Balmoral, New South Wales * Balmoral, Queensland* Balmoral, Victoria* Balmoral, Western Australia- Canada :...
, which the Prince used as his Highland
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
home. In November 1865 she was invited to Sandringham
Sandringham House
Sandringham House is a country house on of land near the village of Sandringham in Norfolk, England. The house is privately owned by the British Royal Family and is located on the royal Sandringham Estate, which lies within the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.-History and current...
, the Waleses' house in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, and subsequently joined the Prince and Princess on various occasions in London. Lady Mordaunt grew up to be pretty and flirtatious, but also headstrong and, ultimately, rather unbalanced.
Marriage to Sir Charles Mordaunt
On 6 December 1866, at the age of 18, Lady Mordaunt married Sir Charles Mordaunt, 10th baronet (1836–1897) at St. John’s Episcopal Church in PerthPerth, Scotland
Perth is a town and former city and royal burgh in central Scotland. Located on the banks of the River Tay, it is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire...
. Sir Charles was a Conservative M.P. for the two-member constituency of South Warwickshire
South Warwickshire (UK Parliament constituency)
South Warwickshire was a parliamentary constituency in the county of Warwickshire in England. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.- History :...
from 1859 to 1868. Through his brother, John Murray Mordaunt (1837–1923), who played cricket for Warwickshire
Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...
and I Zingari
I Zingari
I Zingari are English and Australian amateur cricket clubs.-History:...
, he was the uncle of three other cricketing Mordaunts, H.J. (Sir Henry Mordaunt
Sir Henry Mordaunt, 12th Baronet
Sir Henry John Mordaunt, 12th Baronet was an English baronet and cricketer. Mordaunt was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm fast.-Cricket career:...
, 12th baronet), E.C. and G.J., who all appeared at county level
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
.
The couple lived at Walton Hall
Walton Hall, Warwickshire
Walton Hall is a 19th century country mansion at Walton, near Wellesbourne, Warwickshire, once owned by the late entertainer Danny La Rue, now in use as an hotel. It is a Grade II* listed building....
, Warwickshire, which, to mark his coming-of-age, Sir Charles had commissioned in the fashionable Gothic style from the architect George Gilbert Scott
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott was an English architect of the Victorian Age, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches, cathedrals and workhouses...
, who later designed St. Pancras station in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. A descendant of Sir Charles once counted 72 bedrooms at Walton. They also had a residence in Belgrave Square, London.
The Mordaunts remained part of the so-called "Marlborough House
Marlborough House
Marlborough House is a mansion in Westminster, London, in Pall Mall just east of St James's Palace. It was built for Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, the favourite and confidante of Queen Anne. The Duchess wanted her new house to be "strong, plain and convenient and good"...
set" who were associated socially with the Prince and Princess of Wales. According to later legal reports, Sir Charles made a “handsome” settlement on his wife at the time of their marriage and initially they appeared to live “most happily together”. However, it became clear subsequently that Lady Mordaunt was in the habit of entertaining male guests alone while her husband was absent on Parliamentary business or engaged in his various sporting pursuits.
Lady Mordaunt’s extra-marital activities and birth of a daughter
The Mordaunts had toured SwitzerlandSwitzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
together early in their marriage, but when, in June 1868, Sir Charles prepared for an annual fishing trip to Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Lady Mordaunt encouraged him to go on his own. Arrangements were made for her to remain at Walton Hall in the company of a sister and another lady. However, when Sir Charles returned early from Norway, he found his wife alone. One of her maids later testified that, during Sir Charles’ absence, Lady Mordaunt had been visited in London by Viscount Cole
Lowry Cole, 4th Earl of Enniskillen
Lowry Egerton Cole, 4th Earl of Enniskillen KP , known as Viscount Cole from 1850 to 1886, was an Irish peer and Conservative Member of Parliament.-Biography:...
(later 4th Earl of Enniskillen), who, after dinner, had “remained alone with her until a very late hour”; on another occasion, he had travelled with her by train from Paddington station
Paddington station
Paddington railway station, also known as London Paddington, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex.The site is a historic one, having served as the London terminus of the Great Western Railway and its successors since 1838. Much of the current mainline station dates...
to Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
, where he alighted from a carriage of which they had been the only occupants. Other servants, who seem to have resented Lady Mordaunt's behaviour, added their own accounts of Lord Cole’s visits.
Parliament rose on 28 July 1868 and Sir Charles did not defend his seat in November when the Liberal Party swept to power at the first general election
United Kingdom general election, 1868
The 1868 United Kingdom general election was the first after passage of the Reform Act 1867, which enfranchised many male householders, thus greatly increasing the number of men who could vote in elections in the United Kingdom...
since Disraeli's Reform Act of 1867. By then, Lady Mordaunt was five months pregnant. On 28 February 1869 she gave birth prematurely to a daughter, Violet Caroline. The timing was significant in view of Sir Charles’ absence on his fishing trip the previous year. Doctors initially feared that the child might be blind, causing Lady Mordaunt to become hysterical, imagining that this had been brought about by an hereditary sexually transmitted disease. (At the time, gossip surrounding Freddy Johnstone
Sir Frederick Johnstone, 8th Baronet
Sir Frederick John William Johnstone, 8th baronet was an English racehorse owner and Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1874 to 1885....
, a close friend of the Prince of Wales, whom Lady Mordaunt shortly afterwards claimed to have been one of her lovers, was that he suffered from such a disease.) Violet’s eye infection was successfully treated and no venereal infection was found in either mother or child. However, following this episode, Lady Mordaunt not only declared to her husband, "Charlie, I have deceived you; the child is not yours; it’s Lord Cole’s", but claimed to have committed adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
with “Lord Cole, Sir Frederick Johnstone, the Prince of Wales and others, often and in open day” As one of Princess Alexandra’s biographers put it, “the ensuing scandal was immense”.
Involvement of the Prince of Wales
Sir Charles forced the drawer of Lady Mordaunt's writing desk and found a number of letters to her from the Prince of Wales. It was plainly unwise for the Prince to have written these and, throughout his life, he seems to have had trouble resisting such communication with women he admired. However, their content (though very similar to the sort of things he wrote some years later to his mistress, Alice KeppelAlice Keppel
Alice Frederica Keppel, née Edmonstone was a British socialite and the most famous mistress of Edward VII, the eldest son of Queen Victoria. Her formal style after marriage was The Hon. Mrs George Keppel. Her daughter, Violet Trefusis, was the lover of poet Vita Sackville-West...
) was innocuous. When published later in provincial newspapers and the London Times, they were judged to be "simple, gossipy, everyday letters"; a biographer of the actress Lily Langtry, another of the Prince's mistresses, observed that "typical lines to Harriet might have come from a benevolent uncle".
There is a widely recounted story of Sir Charles' returning to Walton Hall to find his wife in the company of the Prince and two white ponies, which, following the Prince’s expulsion from the premesis, he had shot in her presence. However, although Sir Charles acted very bitterly towards the Prince, he did not cite him in any legal action and so formal contemporaneous accounts of Lady Mordaunt’s activities tend to skirt around such episodes.
Legal proceedings
Sir Charles commenced proceedings for divorceDivorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
on 20 April 1869. In view of her nervous and erratic behaviour after Violet’s birth, to which the details were given full rein by her servants, Lady Mordaunt’s family claimed that she was insane and unfit to plead. A counter-affidavit
Affidavit
An affidavit is a written sworn statement of fact voluntarily made by an affiant or deponent under an oath or affirmation administered by a person authorized to do so by law. Such statement is witnessed as to the authenticity of the affiant's signature by a taker of oaths, such as a notary public...
on behalf of Sir Charles maintained that she was feigning a mental disorder. On 30 July 1869 Sir Thomas Moncreiffe, acting as his daughter’s guardian ad litem
Legal guardian
A legal guardian is a person who has the legal authority to care for the personal and property interests of another person, called a ward. Usually, a person has the status of guardian because the ward is incapable of caring for his or her own interests due to infancy, incapacity, or disability...
, formally alleged that, at the time the summons was served on her, she was "not of sound mind". In her diary on 6 August, Princess Alexandra noted that "a commission has been ordered to investigate and report if Harriet Mordaunt is truly mad".
Mordaunt v. Mordaunt, Cole & Johnstone (1870)
The resulting case came up for trial before Lord PenzanceJames Wilde, 1st Baron Penzance
James Plaisted Wilde, 1st Baron Penzance was a noted British judge and rose breeder who was also a proponent of the Baconian theory that the works usually attributed to William Shakespeare were in fact authored by Francis Bacon....
in the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes
Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes
The Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes was created by the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, which transferred the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts in matters matrimonial to the new court so created....
on 23 February 1870. Having been summoned to appear as a witness, the Prince of Wales was examined for seven minutes by Lady Mordaunt's counsel, the first time that a Prince of Wales had given evidence in open court. He flatly denied any “improper familiarity” or “criminal act” with Lady Mordaunt – “Never!” – and was not cross-examined by Sir Charles' counsel, William Ballantine
William Ballantine
Serjeant William Ballantine SL was an English Serjeant-at-law, a legal position defunct since the legal reforms of the 1870s.-Early career:...
. The Prince had sought advice about whether to accept the subpoena
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
from, among others, the Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, Sir Alexander Cockburn, who in advising him to do so, described Lady Mordaunt as “a lady of such apparently fragile virtue” and referred to the notion that “one to whom a woman has given herself up is bound, even at the cost of committing perjury, to protect her honour”.
After a trial lasting seven days, the jury determined that Lady Mordaunt was suffering from “puerperal mania
Postpartum psychosis
Postpartum psychosis is a term that covers a group of mental illnesses with the sudden onset of psychotic symptoms following childbirth. In this group there are at least a dozen organic psychoses, which are described under another heading "organic pre- and postpartum psychoses"...
” at the time the summons was served on her and that she was unable to instruct a lawyer in her defence. Accordingly, Sir Charles’ petition for divorce was dismissed, while Lady Mordaunt was committed to an asylum.
A conspiracy?
The convenient finding of insanity inevitably gave rise to suspicions that there was a conspiracy to silence Lady Mordaunt. Reynold’s NewsReynold's News
Reynold's News was a Sunday newspaper in the United Kingdom.The paper was founded as Reynolds's Weekly Newspaper by George W. M. Reynolds in 1850, who became its first editor. By 1870, the paper was selling more than 350,000 copies per week...
, for example, asked why the Prince (“a young married man”) should have been “so eager to pay weekly visits to a young married woman when her husband was absent, if it was all so innocent?”
There is some evidence that the “Establishment
The Establishment
The Establishment is a term used to refer to a visible dominant group or elite that holds power or authority in a nation. The term suggests a closed social group which selects its own members...
” closed ranks at a time when republican sympathies in Britain had been aroused by Queen Victoria’s virtual withdrawal from public life. It seems that, in advance of the trial, the Prince's Household received private assurances that his position would be protected as far as possible, and, some years later, his private secretary, Francis Knollys
Francis Knollys, 1st Viscount Knollys
Francis Knollys, 1st Viscount Knollys, GCB, GCVO, KCMG, PC, ISO , was Private Secretary to the Sovereign 1901–1913....
, recalled that the Prime Minister William Gladstone had been involved indirectly "and successfully" behind the scenes.
The Queen strongly disapproved of her son's (and daughter-in-law's) lifestyle, writing to her eldest daughter, the Crown Princess of Prussia
Victoria, Princess Royal
The Princess Victoria, Princess Royal was the eldest child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert. She was created Princess Royal of the United Kingdom in 1841. She became German Empress and Queen of Prussia by marriage to German Emperor Frederick III...
, on 2 March 1870 that "they lead far too frivolous a life and are far too intimate with people - with a small set of not the best and wisest people who consider being fast the right thing". She seemed especially concerned (with, as Lord Hattersley has put it, "admirable understanding of the moral superiority of the lower orders of society") that the affair could damage the Prince's reputation in the eyes of "the middle and lower classes". However, Victoria seems to have been convinced of her son's innocence regarding Lady Mordaunt and remained staunch in his defence, as did Alexandra, who described him to her sister-in-law Princess Louise
Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll
The Princess Louise was a member of the British Royal Family, the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert, Prince Consort.Louise's early life was spent moving between the various royal residences in the...
as “my naughty little man”, but was nonetheless deeply hurt by the affair. For his part, Gladstone observed rather despairingly to his Colonial Secretary, Lord Granville
Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville
Granville George Leveson Gower, 2nd Earl Granville KG, PC FRS , styled Lord Leveson until 1846, was a British Liberal statesman...
, that "in rude and general terms, the Queen is invisible and the Prince of Wales is not respected".
Attitudes to Lady Mordaunt's mental condition
Historians have taken differing stances on the extent of Lady Mordaunt’s mental illness. Diana Souhami (1996) reflected on Cockburn’s pre-trial observations that neither her “fragile virtue” nor “honour” were protected; that her “punishment” was to be declared insane; and that “it proved expedient to call her mad and bad”. However, Michael Havers, a future Lord ChancellorLord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
who published in 1977 an account of the Prince’s involvement in the Tranby Croft
Royal Baccarat Scandal
The Royal Baccarat Scandal, also known as the Tranby Croft scandal, was an English gambling scandal of the late nineteenth century involving the future King Edward VII.-Background:...
baccarat
Baccarat
Baccarat is a card game, played at casinos and by gamblers. It is believed to have been introduced into France from Italy during the reign of King Charles VIII , and it is similar to Faro and Basset...
scandal of 1890, commented that, by the time the Mordaunt case came up, Lady Mordaunt was “quite obviously insane” and that her physical condition had also deteriorated.
In the 1960s, the historical biographer, Elizabeth Hamilton, whose husband, Sir Richard Hamilton, 9th baronet (1911–2001) inherited Walton Hall in 1961, found a vast consignment of papers there that she used as the basis of a book about the scandal. She took the view that Lady Mordaunt probably did fake her madness at first, but added that “if you feign insanity, it can become a habit, and you can genuinely go mad”. Reviewing Lady Hamilton's book for the Sunday Telegraph, Nicola Shulman, Marchioness of Normanby
Constantine Phipps, 5th Marquess of Normanby
Constantine Edmund Walter Phipps, 5th Marquess of Normanby is the son of Oswald Phipps, 4th Marquess of Normanby and Grania Guinness. He was educated at Worcester College, Oxford....
, observed that "the sly unhindered crimes committed against Harriet Mordaunt make plain what rights a woman was owed in 1869".
Asylum at Chiswick
Records of the censusCensus in the United Kingdom
Coincident full censuses have taken place in the different jurisdictions of the United Kingdom every ten years since 1801, with the exceptions of 1941 and in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State in 1921; simultaneous censuses were taken in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, with...
of 1871 reveal that Lady Mordaunt was living on the western outskirts of London, at an asylum in Chiswick
Chiswick
Chiswick is a large suburb of west London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located on a meander of the River Thames, west of Charing Cross and is one of 35 major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, with...
whose clinical director was Thomas Harrington Tuke. Tuke was, at the time, one of the most respected practitioners in lunacy
Lunacy
Lunacy may refer to:* Lunacy, the condition suffered by a lunatic, now used only informally* Lunacy , a 2005 Jan Švankmajer's film* Lunacy , a video game for Sega Saturn* Luna Sea, a Japanese rock band originally named Lunacy...
and, together with the Prince of Wales' physician, William Gull, played a prominent role in the Mordaunt case; his previous patients included the Chartist leader Feargus O’Connor, the painter Sir Edwin Landseer and Sophy Gray
Sophy Gray (Pre-Raphaelite muse)
Sophia Margaret Gray , later Sophy Caird, was a Scottish-born model for her brother-in-law, the pre-Raphaelite painter, John Everett Millais. She was the younger sister of Euphemia Gray, who married Millais in 1855 after the annulment of her marriage to John Ruskin.-Background:Sophy Gray was born...
, sister-in-law and muse of the painter John Everett Millais
John Everett Millais
Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA was an English painter and illustrator and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Early life:...
. In evidence to the court, Tuke had been clear in his assertion that Lady Mordaunt was suffering from puerperal insanity, regarding her confessions of serial adultery with several men up to a few week's before the birth of her daughter as typical delusions associated with that condition. However, he had a humane reputation and the régime at Chiswick was, by the standards of the day, very enlightened, with high staffing ratios and reasonable levels of freedom accorded to its patients.
Divorce
There is very limited information available about Lady Mordaunt’s life between 1871 and her death in 1906. After various legal appeals, including to the House of LordsHouse of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
(in the judicial capacity that it exercised then), Sir Charles Mordaunt’s petition for divorce was remitted to the original court on the basis that Lady Mordaunt’s insanity was not, as a matter of law, a bar to proceedings. Eventually, in 1875, Sir Charles was granted a divorce on the grounds of his wife’s adultery with Lord Cole, who did not contest the action. In 1878 Sir Charles married Mary Louisa Cholmondeley, the daughter of a parson.
Final years
After 1879 Lady Mordaunt appears to have resided at an address in SuttonSutton, London
Sutton is a large suburban town in southwest London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Sutton. It is located south-southwest of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. The town was connected to central London by...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. She was buried at Brompton Cemetery.
Violet Mordaunt
Lady Mordaunt’s daughter, Violet, lived at Moncreiffe after her mother's detention at Chiswick. Sir Charles appears to have taken no direct interest in her, although he did make provision for her maintenance as part of a wider settlement after his divorce that included also a sum towards Lady Mordaunt's care. In 1890 Violet married Viscount Weymouth, later 5th Marquess of Bath. Neither her mother nor Sir Charles was present at the wedding and, despite his continual failure to acknowledge Violet, Sir Charles appears to have been offended by the Moncreiffes' decision not to invite him. However, there is some evidence that, at Christmas the previous year, Lady Mordaunt (by then referred to as "Miss Moncreiff") was allowed out of detention to meet her future son-in-law.Violet died in 1928. Her son Henry, the 6th Marquess
Henry Thynne, 6th Marquess of Bath
Henry Frederick Thynne, 6th Marquess of Bath JP , styled Lord Henry Thynne until 1916 and Viscount Weymouth between 1916 and 1946, was a British politician, aristocrat and landowner.-Background and education:...
, described by Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire
Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire
Deborah Vivien Cavendish, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire DCVO , née The Hon. Deborah Freeman-Mitford is the youngest and last surviving of the six noted Mitford sisters whose political affiliations and marriages were a prominent feature of English culture in the 1930s and 1940s...
as "the handsomest man you ever saw", was one of the "bright young people
Bright Young People
The Bright Young People was a nickname given by the tabloid press to a group of bohemian young aristocrats and socialites in 1920s London. They threw elaborate fancy dress parties, went on elaborate treasure hunts through nighttime London, and drank heavily and experimented with drugs—all of which...
" of the 1920s and became famous in the 1960s for developing a safari park
Safari park
A safari park, sometimes known as a wildlife park, is a zoo-like commercial tourist attraction where visitors can drive in their own vehicles or ride in vehicles provided by the facility to observe freely roaming animals...
on the family's estate at Longleat
Longleat
Longleat is an English stately home, currently the seat of the Marquesses of Bath, adjacent to the village of Horningsham and near the towns of Warminster in Wiltshire and Frome in Somerset. It is noted for its Elizabethan country house, maze, landscaped parkland and safari park. The house is set...
. In his entry for Who's Who
Who's Who (UK)
Who's Who is an annual British publication of biographies which vary in length of about 30,000 living notable Britons.-History:...
, the 6th Marquess referred to his mother as the daughter of Sir Charles Mordaunt, but made no mention of Lady Mordaunt. Violet was the grandmother of the present 7th Marquess
Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath
Alexander George Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath , styled Viscount Weymouth between 1946 and 1992, is an English politician, artist and author...
who is known for his polyamorous relationships and, according to Diana Mosley, was "the image" of the 5th Marquess.