Jane Maxwell
Lady Jane Maxwell, married to Jane Gordon, Duchess of Gordon (* 1748 or 1749 in Myrton Castle in Monreith , Scotland , † April 14, 1812 in Pulteney's Hotel in London ) was a society lady of noble origin with excellent connections to the British royal family and the Tory party.
Together with her husband, Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon , and their son George Gordon, Marquess of Huntly and later 5th Duke of Gordon , Jane was instrumental in founding the Gordon Highlanders Infantry Regiment for the British Army. The regiment existed until 1994.
Childhood in Scotland
Jane Maxwell was the fourth of five children of Sir William Maxwell, 3rd Baronet of Monreith, a Scottish landowner, and his wife Magdalene Blair. The Maxwell family lived with their two sons and three daughters in Myrton Castle , which is now in ruins. The son of Sir William Maxwell, the 4th Baronet, who was also called William, inherited the property in 1771 and had Monreith House built in 1791 near Myrton Castle by Alexander Stevens (1739-1796) as a new family seat. The portal was added by the architect Sir Robert Smirke in 1821.
Although Jane's father's way of life was not beyond doubt, he was considered a drunkard, the Maxwells of Monreith were considered a respectable family, as they were related to some of the most important Scottish families such as the Maxwells of Caerlaverock , Earls of Nithsdale , or to Alexander Montgomerie, the 9th Earl of Eglinton.
Living in Edinburgh
While Sir William Maxwell managed his inherited 30,000 acres of land from Myrton Castle with moderate business success and had to sell a piece of land from time to time due to constant financial difficulties, Jane lived with her mother and her two sisters Catherine and Eglantyne, who later became Lady Wallace of Craigie, since 1760 in rather modest circumstances in a rented apartment on the second floor at Hyndford's Close on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh . Jane was eleven at the time. Her sisters Catherine and Eglantyne were 13 and nine years old, respectively. The fact that the mother lived with the children in Edinburgh was in keeping with the customs of the Scottish landed gentry. Only in Edinburgh at that time in Scotland could children be given a good education. It was also a tradition that the young ladies in Edinburgh were introduced to society.
The accident
When Jane was 14 she had an accident while playing on the street in Edinburgh. With the fingers of her right hand she reached into the spokes of the wheel of a wagon. As the wagon moved away, a finger was torn from her right hand. After that accident, Jane wore gloves whenever possible. In the glove, a finger carved out of wood replaced the one she had lost in the accident. One of these wooden fingers is kept in Monreith House to this day, together with a piece of writing that Jane wrote left-handed after the accident and where she described how the accident happened.
Bonnie Jennie of Monreith, the Flower of Galloway
By the time Jane was 16, she had grown into a beauty. The song Bonnie Jennie of Monreith, the Flower of Galloway , written especially in her honor , still tells of her beauty today. It was at this time that she fell in love with a young officer of the Fraser family, a relative of Lord Lovat's . However, the young officer soon left Scotland with his regiment, probably for America. Not long after his departure, Jane was informed that young Fraser had died.
Marriage to the Duke of Gordon
On October 23, 1767, Jane married the 24 year old Alexander Gordon, the 4th Duke of Gordon . The young Duke was considered one of the best games in Great Britain at the time . He had inherited the title and a considerable fortune at the age of nine.
It was on her honeymoon when Jane received a letter from her childhood sweetheart, the young officer Fraser, asking her to marry him. So young Fraser was by no means dead, as Jane had been told. Jane broke down but kept her marriage to the Duke of Gordon alive. Jane and Officer Fraser stayed in contact.
For the next 20 years, the Duke and the Duchess of Gordon lived in Gordon Castle , which the Duke had converted into one of the largest castles in Scotland in 1769 by the Edinburgh architect John Baxter. After the renovation, the main facade of the palace was over 170 meters long. Years later, however, most of the enlargements were reversed. Jane organized balls and hosted large dinners. It made Gordon Castle a widely known gathering place for society. However, Jane was also interested in agriculture and had a variety of trees planted on her husband's lands.
The couple had seven children, two sons and five daughters. The firstborn, George, the Marquess of Huntly, the future 5th Duke of Gordon (born February 2, 1770 in Edinburgh, † May 28, 1836 in London) was born in 1770. Around the same time, a woman named Jane Christie gave birth to the Duke another illegitimate son, also named George. Jane then spoke to distinguish the two boys from "My George and the Duke's George".
Patroness of Robert Burns
Around 1780 Jane began moving her social activities to Edinburgh. She quickly became a celebrated hostess. In matters of good taste, her judgment set the tone. Horace Walpole once called it "The Empress of Fashion". Entry to her literary salon was popular. It supported and promoted young artists and talents. It was in her salon in Edinburgh that the young Robert Burns first presented his poems to the Edinburgh Society. Jane became one of the main patrons of Robert Burns.
Move to London
The Duke and Duchess of Gordon moved to London in 1787. First they rent a house on Lord Sheffield's Downing Street . They then moved to the Marquess of Buckingham's house on Pall Mall and then to a house in St. James's Square. In London, too, Jane soon became one of the most famous and influential hosts with her cheerful manner. She counted both King George III. to her friends and regular guests as well as Prime Minister William Pitt , whose Tory party she supported. So she was in direct competition with her greatest rival at the time for the favor of better society in London, Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire . Like Jane, the Duchess of Devonshire was considered an influential lady of society and style icon. Unlike Jane, however, the Duchess of Devonshire supported the Whig party.
Foundation of the Gordon Highlanders: The Bet with the Prince Regent
The revolutionary government of France declared war on Great Britain in 1793 . However, the British Army ran out of recruits at that time, so the British government commissioned Jane's husband, the 4th Duke of Gordon, to set up a new regiment. At the time, military service was not very popular with the young men of military age. Accordingly, the British government struggled to recruit soldiers. This prompted Jane to bet with the Prince Regent , later King George IV . You bet him that she can recruit more recruits than he or the British government. Even though Jane was 45 years old at the time, she was still extremely attractive. To win her bet, Jane used an unusual recruiting technique: dressed in a uniform and a black hat with feathers (highland bonnet), she attended festive events in the Scottish highlands (country fairs), where she organized dances (reels). Everyone who danced automatically joined the army and received the so-called "King's shilling ", a coin, the usual recruitment wages of the time, from the Duchess of Gordon herself, which she wedged between her lips and gave each recruit with a kiss. In this way, Jane recruited 940 soldiers and thus laid the foundation for the foundation of the Gordon Highlanders , which appeared for the first time on June 24, 1794 at a parade in Aberdeen . The majority of the soldiers came from the area of the extensive lands of the Dukes of Gordon, such as Badenoch , Lochaber and Strathspey, and from the district of Aberdeen, Banff and Elgin . The command of the new infantry regiment lay with Jane's son, Lieutenant-Colonel George Gordon, the Marquess of Huntly, who later became the 5th Duke of Gordon. The regiment was in the British Army until 1994.
Kinrara House
As she got older, Jane became depressed. In 1799 she became seriously ill. This also had to do with her family situation. Her eldest son George went to war, which prompted Jane to write a letter to a friend: "Oh where and oh where has my highland laddie gone?" Her second son Alexander (* 1785; † January 8, 1808) died with them 23 years unmarried. In addition, her husband invited his mistress Jane Christie to live in Gordon Castle. The duke built a house for his wife , called Kinrara, not far from the hamlet of Alvie near the Spey River . Jane lived there for another six years, where she continued to host evening parties. The house still exists today.
Three Dukes and a Marquess: The Marriage of the Daughters
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Jane was anxious to marry her five daughters as best as possible. In 1802 she traveled to Paris with her youngest daughter Georgiana (* July 18, 1781 in Gordon Castle; † February 24, 1853 in Nice ), because she wanted to marry her off to the son of Empress Joséphine . But nothing came of it. Rumors later emerged that Georgiana was close friends with Francis Russell, the 5th Duke of Bedford, and would probably marry him. But nothing came of it either, as the duke died that same year. Jane then arranged a meeting with the late Duke's younger brother, John Russell, the 6th Duke of Bedford, who had inherited his late brother's title and estate. He already had three sons and had been a widower since the death of his first wife in 1801. Everything went according to plan and Georgiana married the 6th Duke of Bedford in 1803. As the Duchess of Bedford, Georgiana followed in her mother's footsteps. She became a celebrated hostess, for which her husband's castle, Woburn Abbey , provided the ideal setting. The Duchess of Bedford was said to have had a long affair with the painter Sir Edwin Landseer . Rumor has it that Edwin Landseer was the father of Georgiana's youngest daughter, Lady Rachel Evelyn Russell (1826–1898).
Her eldest daughter Charlotte (born September 20, 1768 in Gordon Castle, † May 5, 1842 in London) Jane wanted to marry first to the Prime Minister William Pitt . But Jane's plan didn't work out because Pitt's friend, Lord Dundas, showed an interest in Charlotte. In the end, however, Charlotte did not marry Pitt or Dundas. Charlotte married Colonel Charles Lennox, who later became the 4th Duke of Richmond , on September 9, 1789 .
Through her brother, Jane was friends with General Charles Cornwallis . Jane's brother had fought with General Cornwallis in India and America. Jane General Cornwalli's eldest son, Viscount Brome, who later became the 2nd Marquess Cornwallis, was a respectable candidate for her daughter Louisa (born December 27, 1776 in Gordon Castle, † December 5, 1850 in Parc Crescent, Middlesex), her fourth daughter . General Cornwallis opposed the association at first, having heard that the Gordon family was maddened . Only when Jane swore to him that Louisa would not have a single drop of the Gordon family's blood did Cornwallis consent to the wedding. Who actually was Louisa's birth father was never revealed. Rumor had it, however, that it was Jane's childhood sweetheart, Officer Fraser, who had since been promoted to captain.
Susan (February 2, 1774 in Gordon Castle; † August 26, 1828 in Bedfont Lodge), Jane's third daughter, married William Montagu, the 5th Duke of Manchester, on October 7, 1793 and their second daughter Madeleine (* 1772 in Gordon Castle; † May 31, 1874), married Sir Robert Sinclair, the 7th Baronet. In her second marriage, Madeleine married Charles Fysche Palmer on November 25, 1805 in Kimbolton Castle .
The end of the marriage
The marriage of the Dukes and the Duchess of Gordon was ill-fated from the start. Jane learned during her honeymoon that her childhood sweetheart, Officer Fraser, was not dead, contrary to what was reported to her. Simultaneously with the birth of her first son and heir George, the Dukes' mistress also gave birth to a son of the same name. Jane later gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, Louisa. While the Duke's mistress officially resided at Gordon Castle, Jane appears to have met her lover outside. The marriage of the Dukes and the Duchess of Gordon in 1805 was officially over. The couple agreed on a financial arrangement. Jane received a house from her husband and a generous financial settlement and annual financial payments. The duke stood by the financial agreements, but was never able to fulfill them in full due to his increasing financial difficulties.
In memory of the Duchess of Gordon
In the last few years of her life, Jane became increasingly eccentric. She practically only lived in hotels and was increasingly engaging in disputes with the Duke, where it was mostly about money. Jane died on April 14, 1812 in London in the presence of her daughters and surviving son George at Pulteney's Hotel in Piccadilly . Jane's body was brought back to Scotland, where she was buried at the old Celtic chapel of St Eatan's Chapel south of Aviemore on the banks of the River Spey at Kinrara. According to her request, the Duke of Gordon erected a stone monument for her there, where the weddings of their children and the names of their grandchildren are listed. The monument still exists today.
In July 1820, the Duke of Gordon married his mistress Jane Christie, who became the next Duchess of Gordon. She died in 1824. The duke survived both of his wives. He died on June 17, 1827.
Immortalized in words and pictures
Jane was painted by some of Britain's finest portrait painters. Including George Romney , Sir Joshua Reynolds , Sir Henry Raeburn and the then best known for its pastel painting known Daniel Gardner . Robert Burns immortalized his patroness in the following poem:
She kiltit up her kirtle weel
To show her bonie cutes sae sma ',
And walloped about the reel,
The lightest louper o' them a '!
While some, like slav'ring, doited stots
Stoit'ring out thro 'the midden dub,
Fankit their heels amang their coats
And gart the floor their backsides rub;
Gordon, the great, the gay, the gallant,
Skip't like a maukin owre a dyke:
Deil tak me, since I was a callant,
Gif e-er my een beheld the like!
Web links
- Kinrara House
- Duchess of Gordon Monument
- Gordon Highlanders Museum
- History of the Gordon Highlanders
Individual evidence
- ^ A b The Gordon Highlanders Museum, St Lukes, Aberdeen: History of the Gordons.
- ↑ Historic Scotland: Monreith House. Listed Building Report, listed 20th July 1972.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Sir Michael Maxwell of Monreith: Lady Jane Maxwell. Speech to the Clan Maxwell Society of the USA, 1997.
- ↑ a b c The Burns Encyclopedia: Gordon, Jane, Duchess of Gordon.
- ↑ a b c d The Geograph Britain and Ireland Project: Duchess of Gordon's Monument.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Maxwell, Jane |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gordon, Jane, Duchess of Gordon |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Lady of society |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1748 or 1749 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Monreith |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 14, 1812 |
| Place of death | London |