Evelyn Medows and Clara Hayward, 1776 in Town & Country Magazine

Evelyn Philip Medows (1736 to 1826) was featured in a satirical article in Town & Country Magazine in 1776. The series, called "History of the Tête-à-tête", mocked some of the illicit or scandalous love affairs of the day. Each article was accompanied by an engraved portrait of the man and woman involved, in an oval frame, presented facing each other. Many of these portraits have found their way to the British Museum's collection, though currently I can't find this particular set (Numbers IV and V) in the catalogue.


There are a few things I'd like to pass along about this satire.


The reference for the actual article is "History of the Tête-à-tête annexed: or, Memoirs of P_____ M______, Esq; and Miss Clara H_____d. (No. 4, 5)" in The Town and Country Magazine of February 1776, at page 65, with the engravings on the page between 64 and 65. The page with the engravings shows a date of March 1, 1776, but the online version of the magazine is quite clearly the February 1776 issue. It caused me a little confusion when I found the article referred to as being in the March edition, so, don't do what I did and go looking in March. The thing you want is in February.

It's a bit confusing that the man is identified (cryptically but not impenetrably) as Philip Meadows, Deputy Ranger of Richmond Park. Philip Meadows, whose name often uses the Meadows spelling, unlike most other family members, who show as Medows, was the father of Evelyn Philip Medows. Philip Meadows Esquire was born in 1708 and died in 1781. His wife, Lady Frances Pierrepont, lived from 1713 to 1795. While it is entirely possible that Philip had a mistress or two in his day (I've seen nothing either way on this), Philip was probably more than 40 years older than Clara Hayward, and at the time of these portraits in 1776, would have been 63 years old. I'm thinking that such a gap in age, had it existed, would have been remarked upon in the satire, and also that this picture looks like a younger man.

Evelyn Philip Medows, on the other hand, lived from 1736 to 1826, making him about 14 years older than Clara and aged 40 during the heyday of their romance. Some records say that Evelyn married Margaret Cramond, and in one of the Duchess of Kingston's letters, she mentions his wife. However, when this marriage occurred and how long it lasted, I don't know. I haven't seen records of any surviving children.

I don't know why Town and Country identified him as Philip Meadows, nor do I know whether Evelyn Medows ever held the position of Deputy Ranger of Richmond Park. It is quite possible that he did: his father had that role, as did his uncle Sidney Medows (from whom Evelyn eventually did inherit a substantial fortune, including his house in Charles Street). John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, was Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1762-1763, and Ranger of Richmond Park from 1761 (whether until his death in 1792 or some earlier date, I don't know, but he occupied White Lodge in the park during this whole time, apparently).

The Earl of Bute was connected by marriage to the Pierrepont family (notably to Evelyn Pierrepont, Duke of Kingston, brother to Lady Frances Medows nee Pierrepont) and thus to the Medows. Evelyn Medows was the eldest son of Lady Frances, and the eldest nephew of the childless Duke, making him the heir apparent of the Pierreponts. It wouldn't surprise me if the Earl favoured him with a home at Richmond Park. However, I have no proof at all that Evelyn was ever the Deputy Ranger. I'm casting about for an explanation as to why Town and Country gave the description they did.

At any rate, the satire tells of how the young man was a favourite hunting companion of the King of Prussia and had visited Voltaire in France. Disappointed in love in England, he took a three-month tour of the country, eventually settling into his post at Richmond Park. He saw the lady on the stage and was smitten; took her to Richmond and there they lived in rural contentment.


There is no question about the Town and Country lady's identity. She is Clara Hayward, an actress about whom I've only found snippets on the Web. In the satire, her story is one of rags to riches, or at least from rags to comfort at the expense of a series of men, including a lawyer and a dashing officer. She appears as a supporting character in a variety of books about the life and times of women in the 18th century and I believe there is much more known about her than I have found in my Web surfing. Here are a few quotes about Clara.


Early training

From an excerpt of the scanned version of England's mistress: the infamous life of Emma Hamilton, by Kate Williams, published by Hutchinson, 2006; excerpt in scanned version viewed courtesy Google Books:

Aspiring actresses competed for a place at Kelly's for many stars of the eighteenth-century London stage, including Mrs Abington and Clara Hayward, had learnt posture and dance at Arlington Street.

***

Early fame (1760s)

From an excerpt of the scanned version of Ladies fair and frail: sketches of the demi-monde during the eighteenth century, by Horace Bleackley, published by Dodd, Mead and Company, 1926; excerpt in scanned version viewed courtesy Google Books.

This [the 1760s] was the time when giddy Nan Catley was at her zenith, when spendthrift Baddeley had reached the height of her fame, when the youthful Clara Hayward had begun to conquer all hearts with her dainty ways. Nevertheless, from the year 1769 till the year 1773 Miss Kennedy remained as great a favourite with the bucks and bloods as any of these pretty actresses.

 ****

1770 theatrical debut

From an excerpt of the scanned version of The Letters of David Garrick, by George Morrow Kahrl, published by Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1963; excerpt in scanned version viewed courtesy Google Books.

Clara Hayward made her debut at Drury Lane on Oct. 27, 1770; she appeared in a number of roles, with varying success, and after March 1772 her name no longer appears on the Drury Lane playbills (Theatrical Biography, 1772, I, 20-23 …

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1772 with Evelyn Medows

From A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Volume 7, Habgood to Houbert: Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers, and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800,  by Philip H. Highfill, Kalman A. Burnim, Edward A. Langhans, SIU Press, 1982; excerpt in scanned version viewed courtesy Google Books:

Clara Hayward (fl. 1770—1772) actress. The 1772 edition of Theatrical Biography reported that Miss Clara Hayward came from an obscure and humble background (her mother dealt in oysters, said the Town and Country Magazine in February 1776).  

She attracted the attention of a young guards officer who initially wished only "temporary gratification," but, charmed with her mind as well as her person, he taught her to read. When he left her, she "fled to her books as an asylum, which she occasionally relieved with a lover." Her reading attracted her to tragedy and to the stage, and through a friend who knew Samuel Foote, she was introduced to theatrical circles. Sheridan "voluntarily became her instructor in the histrionic mysteries," and on 9 July 1770 she made her first appearance on any stage at the Haymarket Theatre playing Calista in The Fair Penitent.

[I am assuming from the context that this part of the quote from the Theatrical Biography (1772) describes her relationship with Evelyn Medows:] She accepted the heart of a young gentleman in the guards, as remarkable for the oddity of his taste in dress, as the delicacy of his person; which last is so remarkable that he has often gone into keeping himself when his finances have run short. Such is her present connexion.

***

1774 party girl (perhaps earlier)


Memoirs of William Hickey (1749 - 1830) Volume 1 mentions Clara Hayward three times, from around 1774.

He refers to her as one of his favourites (among 20 or so) who was, to paraphrase, warmer in bed than one Emily, to whom he is drawing a comparison. (All 20-plus are warmer than Emily.) The timing here seems confusing as in 1772 and 1776, the publications of the day have Clara linked to Evelyn Medows.

In planning a very expensive party to be held at Richmond-upon-Thames, Hickey lists the beautiful ladies he will invite, Clara among them, " … each of whom could with composure carry off her three bottles [of wine]."

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1776 with Evelyn Medows

From an excerpt of the scanned version of Ladies fair and frail: sketches of the demi-monde during the eighteenth century, by Horace Bleackley, published by Dodd, Mead and Company, 1926; excerpt in scanned version viewed courtesy Google Books.


In the Morning Post of the 27th of January 1776 there appeared a description of one of the numerous masquerades at the Pantheon in Oxford Street, and as usual the "free and easy" portion of the company was mentioned in the report. Among these were several handsome women, whose names were familiar to everyone. The "laughter-loving" Clara Hayward, as the newspapers were fond of styling her, had risen to fame half-a-dozen years before, when she appeared as Calista in "The Fair Penitent " at Foote's Theatre in the Haymarket, where she had shown sufficient ability to secure an engagement at Drury Lane ; and now having left the stage she had become a more or less inconstant mistress of Evelyn Meadows, the favourite nephew and presumptive heir of the eccentric Duchess of Kingston. The graceful Harriet Powell, equally frail and famous, whose winsome face was portrayed in many a mezzotint, had spent her early youth as an inmate of Mrs Hayes's disreputable establishment in King's Place, but now at last she had become faithful to one man, and was keeping house with Lord Seaforth, the creator of a famous regiment.


and


That she [Grace Dalrymple Eliot] should have been regarded as a formidable rival to Clara Hayward and Charlotte Spencer indicates to what depths she had sunk.

As we know from the lawsuit in which Evelyn Medows (the usual spelling) effectively accused the Duchess of Kingston of bigamy in order to undo the will of the late Duke, who had disinherited him, Evelyn was hardly the favourite nephew and presumptive heir of the Duchess at all times. However, her attitude toward him was far less negative than might be thought, and she did indeed seem to favour him in the years after the trial, up to her death. (I think they were kindred spirits.)

In addition to the Morning Post item mentioned, the Town and Country Magazine profile of Clara and Evelyn appeared in February 1776.

Regarding Charlotte Hayes and her establishment, Jan Toms has presented a few interesting facts in her short article, "The 18th Century Brothel – How Some Girls Won Fame and Fortune".

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1778 or possibly earlier, painted by Gainsborough

From an excerpt of the scanned version of Thomas Gainsborough: his life and work, by Mary Woodall, published by Phoenix House, 1949; excerpt in scanned version viewed courtesy Google Books.

…'In the following year [appears to refer to 1778], eleven portraits and two landscapes were sent to the Academy from Schomberg House. He has, it is plain, been visited by Miss Dalrymple, Clara Hayward and another well-known character of the same stamp.'(1) The portraits were considered to be remarkably strong likenesses, although the real faces of the 'painted ladies' had not been seen for many years.

 As a side note, Clara Hayward appears as a character in a play of the early 1950s by Cecil Beaton, about Gainsborough and his family, The Gainsborough Girls, later re-presented as Landscape with Figures. 

***

Charles Dickens et al in Bentley's Miscellany, on the Trial of the Duchess of Kingston

The full story of the Duchess of Kingston is well-recorded elsewhere. My main interest is in what her story reveals of the character of her persecutor, Mr. Evelyn Medows.

Evelyn was the heir apparent of the Duke of Kingston, and stood to inherit considerable wealth and estates, but the Duke left everything to his floozy (some would say) wife for life, and then to Evelyn's younger brother. This outrageous snub is credited as the cause of the law suits brought to prove the Duchess a bigamist, and therefore not the lawful wife of the Duke, and to set aside the will.

The trial of bigamy ended with the Duchess being found guilty, but her first marriage – the one she had denied in the course of the trial – saved her. She was a peeress, being married first to the Earl of Bristol. And so she claimed the privilege of a peer, and was left to walk away with a warning that her punishment for a further offence would be death.

One report of the trial comes almost 80 years later, though it claims to be from an eye witness. As with all accounts, it must be taken with a grain of salt and compared to other versions. However, the comments about Evelyn Medows are interesting, and that's what I have selected here, after a description from the beginning of the piece telling us its origin.

From:
Bentley's miscellany, Volume 33 (Google eBook)
Charles Dickens, William Harrison Ainsworth, Albert Smith


Richard Bentley, 1853 - Literary Criticism



At page 562, the account begins.



In her defence, the Duchess told of why the Duke so hated his eldest nephew, Evelyn Medows (sometimes spelled Meadows, as here). The Duchess was alleged to have caused the rift between the Duke and Evelyn, but she said the opposite was true: she had tried to reconcile them.





I haven't found out who "Miss Bishop" is.

The description the writer gave:

"the vile man; … of all those on whom the name of man is prostituted, he is doubtless the vilest; … I am sure the devil has marked him for his own"

leaves no doubt what she thought of Mr. Medows!

And yet, the Duchess didn't turn her back on him. They had a long-standing attachment of a bizarre kind. Enemies they may have been, but sometimes the emotional bonds between enemies are stronger than between friends. I even wonder if they had a romantic history, given their reported respective licentious natures.

The Duchess escaped to the Continent and eventually died in France, near Paris. Evelyn immediately removed some of her jewels and valuables from her apartment!

Earlier on, the Duchess rescued him when he was arrested or about to be, for non-payment of debts. She paid him an allowance to live on.

When she died, the Duchess left a bizarre and (I believe) invalid last will and testament. I have a copy (readily available from the National Archives for a small fee). It is written to tantalize and tease, with the bulk of her wealth purportedly going to "A", more to "B", and so on, but these alphabetic creatures are never named. It was the worst kind of estate planning, even worse than a granny changing the masking tape on the family silver after every unsatisfying Christmas dinner with the kiddies.

It appears that Evelyn wasn't totally shut out after her death, though. His brother Charles, who became the next Duke of Kingston, paid him an allowance.

I'm going to look next at more of Evelyn's reputation as a "vile man" etc.





The bigamous, scandalous, fiesty Duchess of Kingston, Countess of Bristol, Elizabeth Chudleigh as was

The intriguing life of Mr. Evelyn Medows, late of 51 Charles Street, Berkeley Square, London

A timeline and links for Harriet Maria Campbell, formerly Dickson, formerly Medows, nee Norie

Sir John Campbell's brother-in-law wrote the leading work on navigation: J.W. Norie

From the Royal kalendar, 1820, an interesting charity name

The bigamous, scandalous, fiesty Duchess of Kingston, Countess of Bristol, Elizabeth Chudleigh as was

Imagine a trial in 1776, so well-attended it was one of the hottest tickets in London, where the judges were over 100 members of the House of Lords. The woman being judged is the wife of the Earl of Bristol and the widow of the Duke of Kingston, known to history as the notorious, infamous, etc. so-called Duchess of Kingston, Elizabeth Chudleigh. She is accused of marrying the Duke while her first husband was still living. The penalty for bigamy is death.

A brief Web search for this lady's story will reveal all the details, and the various accounts are worth reading, for it's quite an extraordinary tale. What I have cobbled together here is an amalgam of several sources, and of course they don't all agree. For those wanting something more substantial and reliable, the most recent comprehensive work I am aware of is this book:

Elizabeth: The Scandalous Life of an Eighteenth Century Duchess, by Claire Gervat (2004, Arrow Books).

I rush to say I haven't read the book but in the course of doing the research for this article, I became so interested in the Duchess that I have just this minute purchased the book and will enjoy reading it as I sip iced tea and eat bonbons on the chaise longue. It was favourably reviewed in the UK paper The Telegraph, with Frances Wilson, the reviewer, commenting that the research is solid.

From the various accounts I have read, and in trying to put more weight on the first-hand and contemporary sources, I have got my own idea of the story, which goes like this.

Elizabeth Chudleigh was almost a simple country lass from a good family. Her widowed mother struggled to survive and to keep up appearances in London society. Fortunately, Elizabeth's good looks and wit got her a place as a Maid of Honour to Augusta, Princess of Wales.

Young Elizabeth, disappointed in love by the Duke of Hamilton and cajoled by a deceptive aunt to marry the second man in line to become the the Earl of Bristol, impulsively and secretly did marry him, Augustus John Hervey by name. They had very little time together, as he was off with the navy right away, but their union produced two things: a conviction in both that they were not all that good together, and a son, who died in infancy. The other thing this marriage produced was evidence: a marriage register, witnesses to the wedding, and a doctor who delivered the baby.

The marriage was secret from the start because a married woman could not be a Maid of Honour, and Elizabeth wanted to keep both the status and the income from the position. It would seem, at least at times in her life, and to certain observers, that she never really accepted the fact of her marriage. It was much more convenient to be a socialite and a climber as a single woman. However, she used the marriage when it suited her, and forgot it, even denied it, whenever it didn't fit her current scheme.

Read that Telegraph review if you want a colourful description of how Elizabeth was at once fascinating and vulgar.

One of her famous stunts was her appearance at a costume party, where King George II, among others, was present, and in fact the good King took quite a personal interest in Miss Chudleigh's original costume. She was semi-dressed as a maiden from Greek mythology, Iphigenia. Whether it was historical faithfulness or mere artistic license at work, readers will have to decide for themselves, but the costume Miss Chudleigh / Mrs. Hervey wore apparently began at the waist and worked its way diaphanously down her legs, declining to travel any distance at all in the northerly direction. Topless, in other words.

Another time she apparently brandished a pistol to make her point in an argument.

Who knows what exactly Elizabeth's amorous history was, but it does seem to have been the best of 18th century tabloid fodder.

Interestingly, Evelyn Medows was cut from not radically dissimilar cloth. Despite the fact that they were opponents in the notorious bigamy trial, and had a longstanding dispute over her inheritance, I think they each recognized in the other a bit of themselves.

The story will continue in another post.









The intriguing life of Mr. Evelyn Medows, late of 51 Charles Street, Berkeley Square, London

A timeline and links for Harriet Maria Campbell, formerly Dickson, formerly Medows, nee Norie

Sir John Campbell's brother-in-law wrote the leading work on navigation: J.W. Norie

From the Royal kalendar, 1820, an interesting charity name

How could Sir John Campbell, K.C.T.S., afford to live on Charles Street, Berkeley Square?

The intriguing life of Mr. Evelyn Medows, late of 51 Charles Street, Berkeley Square, London

Evelyn Medows was born in about December 1736. By the time he married his second wife, Harriet Maria Norie in 1811, he was already 74 years old and had lived a colourful life. In 1776, four years before Harriet was born, Evelyn was a key player in one of the most famous British court cases: the trial of the Duchess of Kingston for bigamy. The Duchess remains a noted, or perhaps notorious historical figure, but of Mr. Medows, we don't hear quite so much. Here's what I have pieced together.

The first-born son of Lady Frances Pierrepont and Philip Medows, Deputy Ranger of Richmond Park, Evelyn would at first blush appear to have the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth. Not quite.

Lady Frances and her only sibling, Evelyn Pierrepont, later the Duke of Kingston upon Hull, became orphans when she was a minor. An eligible young woman, she could have become very wealthy through a well-orchestrated marriage. The Duchess of Marlborough would have seen to this, but Lady Frances on the day of her 21st birthday went to the opera and stepped out at intermission for an elopement with Philip. Tsk, tsk, said her aunt, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, nee Pierrepont, in a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. Lady Mary's own elopement is legendary.

So, no great fortune on either side of Evelyn's family, but enough social standing to get by on and enough money to live comfortably, it seems.

Young Evelyn at the age of 14, in 1751, became a page to the Duke of Cumberland.

Clip from The London Magazine and daily chronologer for 1751, courtesy Google Books




In 1755 (age 18), Evelyn Medows Esq. became an Ensign in the First Regiment of Foot Guards.

Clip from The London Magazine, or, Gentleman's monthly intelligencer, Vol. 24, 1755, courtesy Google Books



Somewhere in the next 20 years, young Evelyn seems to have lost his taste for the military life. There are references to him here and there as an "adventurer" who seems to have been as at home in France as in England. He may have been living it up secure in the knowledge that as the eldest nephew of the childless Duke of Kingston, he would inherit a great estate. After all, who wouldn't?

Even so, in 1760 Evelyn married Margaret Cramond, according to some sources but I have not verified this. In fact, I know very little about this marriage, but there is no mention anywhere of children, and Evelyn outlived Margaret, perhaps by many years. Or, she was just a tolerant wife. The way Evelyn is described in writing from the 1770s makes him sound very much the bachelor.

While Evelyn Medows was enjoying life, his uncle Evelyn Pierrepont was doing the same. We will next enter the stormy waters churned up by the so-called Duchess of Kingston.