Helen Blackwood, Baroness Dufferin and Claneboye
Encyclopedia
Helen Selina Blackwood, Baroness Dufferin and Claneboye, later Helen Selina Hay, Countess of Gifford, born Helen Selina Sheridan, (1807–1867), was a British song-writer, composer, poet, and author. As well as being admired for her wit and literary talents, she was a fashionable beauty and a well-known figure in London
society of the mid-19th century.
, and her mother was Caroline Henrietta Sheridan(Callander) (1779–1851), a novelist. In 1813, Thomas took Helen and his wife with him to a post at the Cape of Good Hope
, where he died four years later on 12 September 1817. Helen then returned to England where she lived in a Hampton Court Palace
"grace and favour
" apartment with her mother, four brothers and two younger sisters. The sisters' beauty and accomplishments led to them being called the "Three Graces
". Caroline
was known as the wittiest of the girls and later developed into a talented writer, and Georgiana, considered the prettiest of the sisters, later became the Duchess of Somerset
.
At seventeen, Helen was engaged to Commander Price Blackwood
, youngest of three sons of Hans, Lord Dufferin, and Mehetabel Temple; owing to the deaths of his brothers he was to be the future Lord Dufferin, although his parents wanted him to marry more advantageously, mainly based on financial grounds. After their London wedding at St. George's, Hanover Square, London, on July 4, 1825, they went to live in Florence
due to the opposition of the marriage by the Blackwood family, but returned two years later with their baby son Frederick
, who was born on 21 June 1826. Helen Blackwood's sisters introduced her to fashionable circles where she mixed with prominent figures of the time, Misses Berry, Samuel Rogers
, Henry Taylor
, Brougham
, Lockhart
, Sydney Smith
, and Benjamin Disraeli most notably Disraeli who in later life said she had been "his chief admiration". In 1839 she became Lady Dufferin when her husband inherited his title. He died in 1841 of an accidental morphine overdose; Helen continued to spend her summers at his family estate at Clandeboye
in Ireland, which now belonged to Frederick.
One of her most popular ballads was The Irish Emigrant, which was published in New York
and Boston
as well as in London. In this and in other work written around the time of the great Irish famine
she shows some understanding of "the destructive impact of the famine on love and the family" despite her "social distance", though one critic believes the Irish people's suffering is merely "hinted at" in this "ballad for the English middle class". Alfred Perceval Graves
, writing in the early 20th century, was more enthusiastic: "…her warm heart beats in such close sympathy with her peasant neighbours that… she writes as if she were one of themselves, while her sense of fun floats through her Irish poems with a delicate breeziness."
In 1863 a play of hers was staged, and in the same year she published an account of her travels up the Nile
with her son. This poked fun at writing by lady travellers; the title Lispings from Low Latitudes, or, Extracts from the Journal of the Hon. Impulsia Gushington echoed Frederick's book Letters From High Latitudes
. The purpose of the play was to satire travel literature, specifically that of women, during the time period. Her play, Finesse, or, A Busy Day in Messina, produced at the Haymarket Theatre
with John Baldwin Buckstone
as one of the actors, was a success, but the writer did not go to any of the performances, nor acknowledge her authorship.
Dufferin's poetry, often set to music by herself or others, reflects important concerns traceable throughout the early and middle periods of Victorian literature: a biting criticism of social class, a spotlight on Irish poverty and emigration, and a despair over loss and separation. While Dufferin infused her early and later writing with an arch wit (particularly in her social satires), the songs and poems written during the middle of her life are marked by sentimentality and often a profound sadness.
In relation to her writing, The Westminster Review gave a very good approximation of her literary skill and emotion laden works.
“Of the songs and verses which have beeu collected in the volume it must be confessed that few of them rise above respectable mediocrity. "The Irish Emigrant" is her best song, and is full of true feeling. "Sweet Kilkenny Town" is intensely Irish, and might fittingly be sung by any of the obscure thousands from Erin who toil for bare existence in the great Republic of the West. In many of her other lyrics we find an echo of Moore, but she lacks his perfection of form and exquisite imagery. It is when she writes in the vernacular that she is in her happiest vein. She sympathised with the peasantry of the land in which she was born, and the great charm of her nature lay, not in the gift of genius—for that she did not possess—but in her sweet and loving Irish heart. That she was endowed with some dramatic power is shown by her comedy, entitled Finesse; or, a Busy Day in Messina. She cannot take rank in literature beside her gifted sister, Mrs. Norton, but her womanhood was richer and more perfect than that of many members of her sex to whom was given "the vision and the faculty divine." It is right that the world should know something of one of the womanliest women that ever breathed, and for this reason Lord Dufferin's biography and the verses which accompany it will be treasured in many homes.”
Despite her nineteenth-century popularity, Dufferin's work is now largely obscured, in part by the current critical focus on her sister, Caroline Norton.
(1822–1862) but had always refused to marry him. After he had a serious accident in 1862, she agreed "at his earnest request". She explained to his father
that this would allow her to devote herself to him, bring him comfort in the last few weeks of life, and then mourn him openly.
She died of breast cancer
on 13 June 1867 at Dufferin Lodge in Highgate
and was buried in Friern Barnet
with her second husband. Her son Frederick, who had always had a close and affectionate relationship with his mother, published a volume of Songs, Poems, & Verses by Helen, Lady Dufferin with a memoir in 1894. Earlier he had named the village and railway station
built on his land Helen's Bay
, and he dedicated Helen's Tower on the Clandeboye estate
to her. The tower inspired poems by both Tennyson
and Browning
who compared this Helen favourably with the beautiful Helen of Troy of legend:
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...
society of the mid-19th century.
Childhood and marriage
Helen Sheridan came from a literary and theatrical family with political connections. Her father, Thomas Sheridan (1775–1817), an actor, soldier and colonial administrator, was the younger son of famous Irish playwright Richard Brinsley SheridanRichard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan was an Irish-born playwright and poet and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. For thirty-two years he was also a Whig Member of the British House of Commons for Stafford , Westminster and Ilchester...
, and her mother was Caroline Henrietta Sheridan(Callander) (1779–1851), a novelist. In 1813, Thomas took Helen and his wife with him to a post at the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
, where he died four years later on 12 September 1817. Helen then returned to England where she lived in a Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Greater London; it has not been inhabited by the British royal family since the 18th century. The palace is located south west of Charing Cross and upstream of Central London on the River Thames...
"grace and favour
Grace and favour
A grace and favour home is a residential property owned by a monarch by virtue of their position as head of state and leased rent-free to persons as part of an employment package or in gratitude for past services rendered....
" apartment with her mother, four brothers and two younger sisters. The sisters' beauty and accomplishments led to them being called the "Three Graces
Charites
In Greek mythology, a Charis is one of several Charites , goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility. They ordinarily numbered three, from youngest to oldest: Aglaea , Euphrosyne , and Thalia . In Roman mythology they were known as the Gratiae, the "Graces"...
". Caroline
Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton
Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton was a famous British society beauty, feminist, social reformer, and author of the early and mid nineteenth century.-Youth and Marriage:...
was known as the wittiest of the girls and later developed into a talented writer, and Georgiana, considered the prettiest of the sisters, later became the Duchess of Somerset
Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset
Sir Edward Adolphus Seymour , 12th Duke of Somerset, etc. KG, PC , styled Baron Seymour until 1855, was a British Whig aristocrat and politician, who served in various cabinet positions in the mid-19th century...
.
At seventeen, Helen was engaged to Commander Price Blackwood
Price Blackwood, 4th Baron Dufferin and Clandeboye
Price Blackwood, 4th Baron Dufferin and Claneboye was the third and eldest surviving son of Hans Blackwood, 3rd Baron Dufferin and Claneboye....
, youngest of three sons of Hans, Lord Dufferin, and Mehetabel Temple; owing to the deaths of his brothers he was to be the future Lord Dufferin, although his parents wanted him to marry more advantageously, mainly based on financial grounds. After their London wedding at St. George's, Hanover Square, London, on July 4, 1825, they went to live in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
due to the opposition of the marriage by the Blackwood family, but returned two years later with their baby son Frederick
Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava
Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, KP, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, PC was a British public servant and prominent member of Victorian society...
, who was born on 21 June 1826. Helen Blackwood's sisters introduced her to fashionable circles where she mixed with prominent figures of the time, Misses Berry, Samuel Rogers
Samuel Rogers
Samuel Rogers was an English poet, during his lifetime one of the most celebrated, although his fame has long since been eclipsed by his Romantic colleagues and friends Wordsworth, Coleridge and Byron...
, Henry Taylor
Henry Taylor
Henry Taylor may refer to:* Henry Taylor , English dramatist* Henry Taylor , U.S. boxer* Henry Taylor , British race car driver...
, Brougham
Brougham
Brougham could betransport:* Brougham , a single-engined aircraft of the 1920s and 1930s.* Brougham , a light four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage* Brougham , an automobile with a similar style; later applied to any luxurious car...
, Lockhart
Lockhart
-Places:In the United States:*Lockhart, Alabama*Lockhart, Florida*Lockhart, South Carolina*Lockhart, Texas*Lockhart Township, Minnesota*Lockhart StadiumIn Australia:*Lockhart, New South Wales*Lockhart River, Queensland...
, Sydney Smith
Sydney Smith
Sydney Smith was an English writer and Anglican cleric. -Life:Born in Woodford, Essex, England, Smith was the son of merchant Robert Smith and Maria Olier , who suffered from epilepsy...
, and Benjamin Disraeli most notably Disraeli who in later life said she had been "his chief admiration". In 1839 she became Lady Dufferin when her husband inherited his title. He died in 1841 of an accidental morphine overdose; Helen continued to spend her summers at his family estate at Clandeboye
Clandeboye
Clandeboye is in modern times an area of Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is named after the Clandeboye family, a branch of the O'Neill dynasty. They settled in the 1330s after the death of the Earl of Ulster in what is now south Antrim and north Down, giving their name to the territory...
in Ireland, which now belonged to Frederick.
Writing
From childhood Helen had written poems, songs and prologues for private theatrical productions. After she and Caroline jointly brought out a Set of ten Songs and two Duets, she started to publish her verse, sometimes set to her own music. Her name was not usually printed at first, but she did not stay entirely anonymous.One of her most popular ballads was The Irish Emigrant, which was published in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
as well as in London. In this and in other work written around the time of the great Irish famine
Irish Potato Famine (1845–1849)
In Ireland, the Great Famine was a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration between 1845 and 1852. It is also known, mostly outside Ireland, as the Irish Potato Famine...
she shows some understanding of "the destructive impact of the famine on love and the family" despite her "social distance", though one critic believes the Irish people's suffering is merely "hinted at" in this "ballad for the English middle class". Alfred Perceval Graves
Alfred Perceval Graves
Alfred Perceval Graves , was an Anglo-Irish poet, songwriter, and school inspector . His first marriage to Jane Cooper, eldest daughter of James Cooper of Cooper Hill, Co. Limerick, resulted in five children: the journalist Philip Graves, Mary, Richard, Alfred, and Susan...
, writing in the early 20th century, was more enthusiastic: "…her warm heart beats in such close sympathy with her peasant neighbours that… she writes as if she were one of themselves, while her sense of fun floats through her Irish poems with a delicate breeziness."
In 1863 a play of hers was staged, and in the same year she published an account of her travels up the Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
with her son. This poked fun at writing by lady travellers; the title Lispings from Low Latitudes, or, Extracts from the Journal of the Hon. Impulsia Gushington echoed Frederick's book Letters From High Latitudes
Letters From High Latitudes
Letters From High Latitudes is a travel book written by Lord Dufferin in 1856, recounting the young lord's journey to Iceland, Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen in the schooner Foam....
. The purpose of the play was to satire travel literature, specifically that of women, during the time period. Her play, Finesse, or, A Busy Day in Messina, produced at the Haymarket Theatre
Haymarket Theatre
The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...
with John Baldwin Buckstone
John Baldwin Buckstone
John Baldwin Buckstone was an English actor, playwright and comedian who wrote 150 plays, the first of which was produced in 1826....
as one of the actors, was a success, but the writer did not go to any of the performances, nor acknowledge her authorship.
Dufferin's poetry, often set to music by herself or others, reflects important concerns traceable throughout the early and middle periods of Victorian literature: a biting criticism of social class, a spotlight on Irish poverty and emigration, and a despair over loss and separation. While Dufferin infused her early and later writing with an arch wit (particularly in her social satires), the songs and poems written during the middle of her life are marked by sentimentality and often a profound sadness.
In relation to her writing, The Westminster Review gave a very good approximation of her literary skill and emotion laden works.
“Of the songs and verses which have beeu collected in the volume it must be confessed that few of them rise above respectable mediocrity. "The Irish Emigrant" is her best song, and is full of true feeling. "Sweet Kilkenny Town" is intensely Irish, and might fittingly be sung by any of the obscure thousands from Erin who toil for bare existence in the great Republic of the West. In many of her other lyrics we find an echo of Moore, but she lacks his perfection of form and exquisite imagery. It is when she writes in the vernacular that she is in her happiest vein. She sympathised with the peasantry of the land in which she was born, and the great charm of her nature lay, not in the gift of genius—for that she did not possess—but in her sweet and loving Irish heart. That she was endowed with some dramatic power is shown by her comedy, entitled Finesse; or, a Busy Day in Messina. She cannot take rank in literature beside her gifted sister, Mrs. Norton, but her womanhood was richer and more perfect than that of many members of her sex to whom was given "the vision and the faculty divine." It is right that the world should know something of one of the womanliest women that ever breathed, and for this reason Lord Dufferin's biography and the verses which accompany it will be treasured in many homes.”
Despite her nineteenth-century popularity, Dufferin's work is now largely obscured, in part by the current critical focus on her sister, Caroline Norton.
Later life
Lady Dufferin was for many years a close friend of George Hay, Earl of GiffordGeorge Hay, Earl of Gifford
George Hay, Earl of Gifford was a British Liberal Party politician.Lord Gifford was born at Yester House, the eldest son of the 8th Marquess of Tweeddale and was educated at Trinity College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge...
(1822–1862) but had always refused to marry him. After he had a serious accident in 1862, she agreed "at his earnest request". She explained to his father
George Hay, 8th Marquess of Tweeddale
Field Marshal George Hay, 8th Marquess of Tweeddale, KT, GCB was a Scottish soldier and administrator.-Military career:...
that this would allow her to devote herself to him, bring him comfort in the last few weeks of life, and then mourn him openly.
She died of breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
on 13 June 1867 at Dufferin Lodge in Highgate
Highgate
Highgate is an area of North London on the north-eastern corner of Hampstead Heath.Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has an active conservation body, the Highgate Society, to protect its character....
and was buried in Friern Barnet
Friern Barnet
Friern Barnet is a place in the London Borough of Barnet. It is a suburban development situated north of Charing Cross. The centre of Friern Barnet is formed by the busy intersection of Colney Hatch Lane , Woodhouse Road and Friern Barnet Road .-History:Friern Barnet was an...
with her second husband. Her son Frederick, who had always had a close and affectionate relationship with his mother, published a volume of Songs, Poems, & Verses by Helen, Lady Dufferin with a memoir in 1894. Earlier he had named the village and railway station
Helen's Bay railway station
Helen's Bay railway station serves Helen's Bay in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is within the townland of Ballygrot.The station in the grand Scottish Baronial style, built in 1863, was the creation of Lord Dufferin, through whose land the line was laid. His family had their own private entrance...
built on his land Helen's Bay
Helen's Bay
Helen's Bay is a village on the northern coast of County Down, Northern Ireland. It is within the townland of Ballygrot , between Holywood, Crawfordsburn and Bangor. It is served by a railway station and had a population of 1,362 in the 2001 Census...
, and he dedicated Helen's Tower on the Clandeboye estate
Clandeboye Estate
The Clandeboye Estate is a country estate located in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland, outside Belfast. Covering , it contains woodlands, formal and walled gardens, lawns, a lake, and of farmland...
to her. The tower inspired poems by both Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language....
and Browning
Robert Browning
Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.-Early years:...
who compared this Helen favourably with the beautiful Helen of Troy of legend:
Like hers, thy face once made all eyes elate,
Yet, unlike hers, was bless'd by every glance.
Poems online
- Lament of the Irish Emigrant
- Terence's Farewell
- Love hath a language, from To my Son
- The Charming Woman
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Further reading
- 19th century illustrated broadsheet of The Irish Emigrant with commentary
- They bid me forget thee!: music by Helen, words by her sister Caroline
- Helen's Tower by Browning
- Helen's Tower by Tennyson
- Helen's Bay, Helen's Tower and Lord Dufferin's papers
- Grace and Favour apartments at Hampton Court
- http://www.wix.com/mrose12/helenselina
- http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/25366?docPos=3