(With apologies, another rerun, this time Women Behaving Badly.)
Though I’ve blogged about Lady (Seymour) Worsley before (here and here), I only recently read Hallie Rubenhold’s book, The Lady in Red. In it we find not only a more detailed picture of the lady, her strange marriage, and the sensational 1782 crim. con. trial, but insights into the world of the 18th century English aristocracy. We're familiar with aristocratic Men Behaving Badly. But in Rubenhold’s book you’ll find episodes of Girls Gone Wild.
On 14 January 1779, Lady Worsley, age 21, and her friends, the two Misses Cramer, unable to persuade their host to lend them a coach for a trip to Leeds, rode off with his cart horses.
“En route the ladies ‘stopt at one of the inns and ordered the waiter to show them into such a room, which he told them he could not do, as it was kept for the officers of the Militia and their colours, etc., were there’. Upon hearing this, Seymour and the Miss Cramers became ‘determined to go in and took the pokers and broke open the door, then they heated them red hot and pop’d them into the colours which set them in a blaze’ . . . ‘How do you think they quenched the flame their own fair selves had caused? The did not call water! Water!, it was more at hand . . .’ These three well-bred young ladies . . .lifted their silk skirts ‘and fairly pissed it out . . .’”
After which they had fun at the windows. “One of their victims . . . had the misfortune of sauntering by in ‘his best coat & wig & laced waistcoat’. As he passed beneath them ‘they threw some water, I really don’t know what sort upon him, and immediately a large bag of soot which covered him entirely over’ . . . After they had thoroughly raised terror at the inn, the gang proceeded on their cart-horses to . . . the home of Walter Spencer Stanhope, where ‘they broke upon his library, threw all his books about, and . . . took away a pockett book full of Bank Notes’.”
The girls went on like this for three days.
Illustration: Thomas Rowlandson. Two Girls Tippling. Courtesy Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
One of us -- 
4 comments:
have you read the book The Whig World by Leslie Mitchell? Quite an interesting portrait of part of the aristocracy that has influenced our picture of the Regency period.
There is another book with Whig in the title by Airlie . The two books say the Whigs were the ones who were irreligious( Marrying into a Methodist or other religious family was considered on a par with marrying a shop keeper's daughter-). Of course, all who considered themselves above the law or rules weren't all Whigs but rank, wealth and no respect for religion or rules did set up a climate where bad behaviour was likely.
I love that book! I used Lady Worsley and the New Female Coterie as my heroine's circle of friends in my first book.
I've come across these people before in history books. Its amazing that people still think the youngest generation comes up with all the badness, whereas if they looked at their own ancestors they might be having a rare fright. Youngsters today are pretty civilized in comparison really!!!
Great post. Nice to be reminded of my former wild bachelor days in 18thC Albion.
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