Marguerite, Countess of Blessington
Encyclopedia
Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington (1 September 1789 – 4 June 1849) was an Irish
novelist.
Born Margaret Power near Clonmel
in County Tipperary
, Ireland
, she was a daughter of Edmund Power, a small landowner. Her childhood was made unhappy by her father's character and poverty, and her early womanhood wretched by her compulsory marriage at the age of fifteen to a Captain Maurice St. Leger Farmer, an English officer whose drunken habits finally brought him as a debtor to the King's Bench Prison
, where he died in October 1817.
Marguerite had left him some time before, moving to Hampshire
where she met the Irish earl Charles John Gardiner, 1st Earl of Blessington
, a widower with four children (two legitimate), seven years her senior. They married at St Mary's
, Bryanston Square
, Marylebone
on 16 February 1818 (only four months after her first husband's death). Of rare beauty, charm and wit, she was no less distinguished for her generosity and for the extravagant tastes she shared with her husband, which resulted in encumbering his estates with a load of debt. On 25 August 1822 they set out for a continental tour
with Marguerite's youngest sister, the 21-year-old Mary Anne, and servants. They met Count D'Orsay
(who had first become an intimate of Lady Blessington in London in 1821) in Avignon
on 20 November 1822, before settling at Genoa
for four months from 31 March 1823. There they met Byron
on several occasions, giving Lady Blessington material for her Conversations with Lord Byron.
After that they settled for the most part in Naples
, where she met the Irish writer Richard Robert Madden
, who was to become her biographer. They also spent time in Florence
with their friend Walter Savage Landor
, author of the Imaginary Conversations
which she greatly admired. It was in Italy
, on 1 December 1827, that Count D'Orsay married Harriet Gardiner, Lord Blessington's only daughter by his former wife. The Blessingtons and the newlywed couple moved to Paris
towards the end of 1828, taking up residence in the Hôtel Maréchal Ney, where the Earl suddenly died at 46 of an apopleptic
stroke in 1829. D'Orsay and Harriet then accompanied Lady Blessington to England, but the couple separated soon afterwards amidst much acrimony. D'Orsay continued to live with Marguerite until her death. Their home, first at Seymour Place, and afterwards Gore House, Kensington
, now the site of The Albert Hall, became a center of attraction for all that was distinguished in literature, learning, art, science and fashion. Benjamin Disraeli wrote Venetia
whilst staying there.
After her husband's death she supplemented her diminished income by contributing to various periodicals as well as by writing novels. She was for some years editor of The Book of Beauty and The Keepsake, popular annuals of the day. In 1834 she published her Conversations with Lord Byron. Her Idler in Italy (1839–1840), and Idler in France (1841) were popular for their personal gossip and anecdote, descriptions of nature and sentiment.
Early in 1849, Count D'Orsay left Gore House to escape his creditors; subsequently the furniture and decorations were sold in a public sale successfully discharging Lady Blessington's debts. Lady Blessington joined the count in Paris, where she died on 4 June 1849 of a burst heart. On examination it was found that her heart was three times normal size.
Her Literary Life and Correspondence (3 vols.), edited by Richard Robert Madden, appeared in 1855. Her portrait was painted in 1808 by Sir Thomas Lawrence
and can be seen in The Wallace Collection, London.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
novelist.
Born Margaret Power near Clonmel
Clonmel
Clonmel is the county town of South Tipperary in Ireland. It is the largest town in the county. While the borough had a population of 15,482 in 2006, another 17,008 people were in the rural hinterland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian army which sacked both...
in County Tipperary
County Tipperary
County Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, she was a daughter of Edmund Power, a small landowner. Her childhood was made unhappy by her father's character and poverty, and her early womanhood wretched by her compulsory marriage at the age of fifteen to a Captain Maurice St. Leger Farmer, an English officer whose drunken habits finally brought him as a debtor to the King's Bench Prison
King's Bench Prison
The King's Bench Prison was a prison in Southwark, south London, from medieval times until it closed in 1880. It took its name from the King's Bench court of law in which cases of defamation, bankruptcy and other misdemeanours were heard; as such, the prison was often used as a debtor's prison...
, where he died in October 1817.
Marguerite had left him some time before, moving to Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
where she met the Irish earl Charles John Gardiner, 1st Earl of Blessington
Charles John Gardiner, 1st Earl of Blessington
Charles John Gardiner, 1st Earl of Blessington was an Irish earl best known for his marriage to Margaret Farmer, née Power, whom he married at St Mary's, Bryanston Square, London, on 16 February 1818...
, a widower with four children (two legitimate), seven years her senior. They married at St Mary's
St Mary's, Bryanston Square
St Mary's, Bryanston Square, is a Church of England church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Bryanston Square, London, just a five minute walk from any of Marylebone, Baker Street or Edgware Road tube stations...
, Bryanston Square
Bryanston Square
Bryanston Square is a square in Marylebone, Westminster, London, England. Named after its owner Henry William Portman's home village of Bryanston in Dorset, it was built as part of the Portman Estate between 1810 and 1815, along with Montagu Square a little to the east and Wyndham Place to its...
, Marylebone
Marylebone
Marylebone is an affluent inner-city area of central London, located within the City of Westminster. It is sometimes written as St. Marylebone or Mary-le-bone....
on 16 February 1818 (only four months after her first husband's death). Of rare beauty, charm and wit, she was no less distinguished for her generosity and for the extravagant tastes she shared with her husband, which resulted in encumbering his estates with a load of debt. On 25 August 1822 they set out for a continental tour
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
with Marguerite's youngest sister, the 21-year-old Mary Anne, and servants. They met Count D'Orsay
Alfred Guillaume Gabriel, Count D'Orsay
Alfred d'Orsay, known as the comte d'Orsay was a French amateur artist, dandy, and man of fashion in the early- to mid-19th century.-Life:...
(who had first become an intimate of Lady Blessington in London in 1821) in Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...
on 20 November 1822, before settling at Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
for four months from 31 March 1823. There they met Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS , commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement...
on several occasions, giving Lady Blessington material for her Conversations with Lord Byron.
After that they settled for the most part in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, where she met the Irish writer Richard Robert Madden
Richard Robert Madden
Richard Robert Madden was an Irish doctor, writer, abolitionist and historian of the United Irishmen....
, who was to become her biographer. They also spent time 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....
with their friend Walter Savage Landor
Walter Savage Landor
Walter Savage Landor was an English writer and poet. His best known works were the prose Imaginary Conversations, and the poem Rose Aylmer, but the critical acclaim he received from contemporary poets and reviewers was not matched by public popularity...
, author of the Imaginary Conversations
Imaginary Conversations
Imaginary Conversations is the best-known prose work of the English poet and author Walter Savage Landor. It comprises 6 volumes of imaginary conversations between personalities of classical Greece and Rome, poets and authors, statesmen and women, and fortunate and unfortunate...
which she greatly admired. It was in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, on 1 December 1827, that Count D'Orsay married Harriet Gardiner, Lord Blessington's only daughter by his former wife. The Blessingtons and the newlywed couple moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
towards the end of 1828, taking up residence in the Hôtel Maréchal Ney, where the Earl suddenly died at 46 of an apopleptic
Apoplexy
Apoplexy is a medical term, which can be used to describe 'bleeding' in a stroke . Without further specification, it is rather outdated in use. Today it is used only for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy and ovarian apoplexy. In common speech, it is used non-medically to mean a state...
stroke in 1829. D'Orsay and Harriet then accompanied Lady Blessington to England, but the couple separated soon afterwards amidst much acrimony. D'Orsay continued to live with Marguerite until her death. Their home, first at Seymour Place, and afterwards Gore House, Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
, now the site of The Albert Hall, became a center of attraction for all that was distinguished in literature, learning, art, science and fashion. Benjamin Disraeli wrote Venetia
Venetia (Disraeli novel)
Venetia is a minor novel by Benjamin Disraeli, published in 1837, the year he was first elected to the House of Commons.The novel traces the eponymous heroine’s development from romantic idealist into social pragmatist against a backdrop of British industrialisation.A contemporary reviewer, writing...
whilst staying there.
After her husband's death she supplemented her diminished income by contributing to various periodicals as well as by writing novels. She was for some years editor of The Book of Beauty and The Keepsake, popular annuals of the day. In 1834 she published her Conversations with Lord Byron. Her Idler in Italy (1839–1840), and Idler in France (1841) were popular for their personal gossip and anecdote, descriptions of nature and sentiment.
Early in 1849, Count D'Orsay left Gore House to escape his creditors; subsequently the furniture and decorations were sold in a public sale successfully discharging Lady Blessington's debts. Lady Blessington joined the count in Paris, where she died on 4 June 1849 of a burst heart. On examination it was found that her heart was three times normal size.
Her Literary Life and Correspondence (3 vols.), edited by Richard Robert Madden, appeared in 1855. Her portrait was painted in 1808 by Sir Thomas Lawrence
Thomas Lawrence (painter)
Sir Thomas Lawrence RA FRS was a leading English portrait painter and president of the Royal Academy.Lawrence was a child prodigy. He was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper. At the age of ten, having moved to Bath, he was supporting his family with his...
and can be seen in The Wallace Collection, London.