Mary Coke

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Lady Mary Coke painted by Allan Ramsay

Lady Mary Coke (born February 6, 1727 , † September 30, 1811 , Morton Hall , Chiswick ) was an English noblewoman and diary and letter writer.

Early years and marriage

Mary Coke's father John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, painted by William Aikman

Mary Campbell was the fourth and youngest daughter of the soldier and politician John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll (1680-1743) and his second wife Jane (approx. 1683-1767), a lady in waiting for Queen Anne and Princess Caroline . She was a cousin of Lady Louisa Stuart and Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire . The girls grew up in Sudbrook in a separate house near the family seat, the Young Ladies House, with their own servants. Her father, who had hoped for a male heir, called his daughters "senseless burdens". The parents did not care about their daughters' education, and when it came up to hire a French teacher for them, the duke refused on the grounds that it was sufficient for girls to master a language. Mary was the only one of the four girls who took an interest in reading and thus trained herself. The isolation meant that the girls lacked any social ground, and after being introduced into society, they were because of their loud shrill voices the screaming sisterhood (dt. Screaming sisterhood ) or bawling Campbell (dt. Roaring Campbell ) called .

On April 1, 1747, Mary Campbell married Edward Coke, Viscount Coke (1719-1753), son of Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester . Even before the arranged wedding, she was distant and impolite towards her future husband. On the wedding night, Coke, who was notorious as a rude drunkard and gambler, left his wife because she had refused to give him sex. He formally detained her for three years at his family home in Holkham Hall in Norfolk and forbade her to have any contact with her family and friends. The married couple's families met in court, and in 1750 an agreement was reached that Mary Coke was allowed to live with her mother in Sudbrook, but remained married to Edward Coke. It was also agreed that she would not be allowed to travel to London during his lifetime .

Commemorative plaque at Aubrey House

Coke died as a result of his lifestyle in 1753 when his wife was 26 years old. Despite the separation, she kept the official mourning period for her husband in order to comply with social rules and subsequently received a comfortable income from her father that made her independent. She did not remarry and led a life marked by gossip, travel, devotion to royalty, and self-inflicted misery . From 1767 to 1788 Lady Mary Coke lived at Aubrey House in Campden Hill , London . A Blue Plaque of the London County Council reminded the house to them and other residents.

Because of her noble origins, Mary Coke had access to the highest social circles, but her arrogant and self-righteous personality made her fall out with many people who eventually despised or scoffed at her. She herself had a high opinion of her privileges and achievements, dramatized even small incidents in her life and glorified her own meaning, especially her relations with the royal family. She mainly occupied herself with writing her diaries, with reading and gardening, but also liked and often played the card game Loo ; She recorded her profits and losses meticulously in writing every day.

More years

Mary Coke's friend Horace Walpole, painted by Joshua Reynolds

After the end of the mourning period for her husband, Mary Coke started rumors that her engagement to Lord William March was imminent, which March rejected extremely angrily. Then she had an intense flirtation with heir apparent Eduard August, Duke of York and Albany . She claimed that the affection was mutual, while Eduard August himself, who was twelve years younger than her and was considered easygoing, did not take herself and this relationship seriously. For example, Amelia, the unmarried sister of King George II , with whom she was close friends, told her that she was making a fool of herself because the Duke of York had made fun of her behind her back. When the Duke died in 1767, Mary Coke surrendered publicly in spectacular two years of mourning and indicated that she had been secretly married to the Duke, which she exposed to general ridicule.

For many years, Lady Mary Coke was a close friend of Horace Walpole . He was her devoted admirer and flattered her jokingly and gallantly; so he dedicated his book The Castle of Otranto to her in 1765 . Nevertheless, he recognized her flaws in character, complained about her lack of humor and arrogance, and referred to her as violent, absurd and mad (Eng. Passionate, ridiculous and crazy ). He called her and two of her sisters, Caroline Townshend, Baroness Greenwich, and Lady Betty Mackenzie, "the three Furies".

In 1770 Mary Coke traveled to the continent and was warmly welcomed at the court in Vienna . She made friends with the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria , who gave her a jewel pin when she left. In England she showed off her new acquaintance. The cordial understanding between Coke and the Empress ended abruptly on another visit there in 1772, because Lady Mary had participated in a court intrigue. Mary Coke herself saw no guilt for the rift and henceforth interpreted every calamity - incompetent servants, unsuccessful bids at auctions, rheumatism - as part of a conspiracy instigated by Maria Theresa against her, whose spies would pursue her through Italy to France. When she was in Paris in 1775, she accused Emily Barry, Countess of Barrymore and wife of the 6th Earl , of luring away her previously loyal servant in order to support the plan of her murder by Maria Theresa's daughter Marie Antoinette on behalf of her mother. Because of her countess of Barrymore accusations, a falling out with Walpole broke out, which lasted until a reconciliation five years later. Despite these accusations, she was at the court in Versailles of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. receive.

In 1786, the seamstress Margaret Nicholson tried King George III. to stab. Mary Coke suspected a Catholic conspiracy against the Protestant royal family behind this attack, as well as the marriage of King George IV to the Catholic Maria Fitzherbert .

Mary Coke was very interested in politics and was a regular visitor to the House of Commons and the House of Lords . She gathered a lot of information that she used to protect her family, friends, and herself. She wrote these down in letters and diaries, which she sent or passed on to her sisters.

Four years before she died, Lady Coke bought Morton Hall in Chiswick, a country estate that Stephen Fox had built in the late 17th century. After her death, the country estate was bought by William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire in 1812, who had it demolished in order to have an Italian garden laid out for Chiswick House . She is buried in her father's crypt at Westminster Abbey .

The diaries

Lady Mary Coke is best known as the author of her diaries. They were not intended for publication, but for themselves and their sisters, especially Anne (1719 / 20–1785), wife of William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford . It began with the entries in August 1766 and continued this until January 1791. After that she continued to exchange letters with her niece Lady Frances Scott and her great cousin Lady Louisa Stuart . In 1889, her great-great-great-nephew James Archibald Home published her diaries, but only the entries up to 1774. In 1827 Louisa Stuart wrote a biting biography of her cousin Mary Coke.

The diaries and letters of Lady Mary Coke are an important source for historians on the life of English high society in the 18th century.

Fonts

  • The Letters and Journals of Lady Mary Coke. 4 volumes (Vol. 1: 1756-1767. Vol. 2: 1767-1768. Vol. 3: 1769-1771. Vol. 4: 1772-1774. ). Published by James Archibald Home. Privately printed (Limited edition of 100 copies). D. Douglas, Edinburgh 1889-1896 (facsimile. 4 volumes. Kingsmead Bookshops, Bath 1970, ISBN 0-901571-15-6 ).

literature

  • William S. Lewis (Ed.): The Yale Edition of Horace Walpole's Correspondence. Volume 31: Horace Walpole's correspondence with Hannah More, Lady Browne, Lady Mary Coke, Lady Hervey, Mary Hamilton (Mrs. John Dickenson), Lady George Lennox, Anne Pitt, Lady Suffolk. Yale University Press et al., New Haven CT 1961.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The exact place of birth is unknown: either in Sudbrook, Ham , Surrey or at 27 Bruton Street, London
  2. ^ Sarah E. Jones: A Comparison of the Status of Widows in eighteenth-century England and Colonial America . University of Texas 2004. P. 57 (PDF; 999 kB)
  3. ^ Sarah E. Jones: A Comparison of the Status of Widows in eighteenth-century England and Colonial America . University of Texas 2004. S. 60 (PDF; 999 kB)
  4. ^ Sarah E. Jones: A Comparison of the Status of Widows in eighteenth-century England and Colonial America . University of Texas 2004. pp. 65 f. (PDF; 999 kB)
  5. ↑ a b Jill Rubenstein: "Coke, Lady Mary (1727-1811)". In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved July 19, 2013
  6. ↑ Original quote: marked by gossip, travel, devotion to royalty, and self-imposed misadventure .
  7. ^ Survey of London. Volume 37. Northern Kensington . British History Online. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  8. ↑ Aubrey House . English Heritage. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  9. ^ Sarah E. Jones: A Comparison of the Status of Widows in eighteenth-century England and Colonial America . University of Texas 2004. P. 72 (PDF; 999 kB)
  10. ^ Sarah E. Jones: A Comparison of the Status of Widows in eighteenth-century England and Colonial America . University of Texas 2004. p. 77 (PDF; 999 kB)
  11. ↑ Violent, absurd and mad on thediaryjunction.blogspot.de v. September 30, 2011
  12. ↑ Gillian Clegg: "Moreton Hall: Chiswick's Lost Mansion" on brentfordandchiswicklhs.org.uk
  13. ↑ Karl Miller: "Stuart, Lady Louisa (1757-1851), writer". In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press , September 2004 & online edition , January 2006. Retrieved February 29, 2008
personal data
SURNAME Coke, Mary
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Coke, Lady Mary
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English noblewoman and diarist
DATE OF BIRTH February 6, 1727
DATE OF DEATH September 30, 1811
Place of death Chiswick