Double Duchess

[S. S.]

While reading Brian Masters' The Dukes, I noticed one of his statement that Elizabeth Gunning, sister of Maria Gunning (later wife of 6th Earl of Coventry) and daughter of John Gunning was one of the rare instances where a woman married two different dukes. 

Elizabeth married firstly the 6th Duke of Hamilton and then the 5th Duke of Argyll. She was later created Baroness Hamilton suo jure [GB] in 1776. 

 Elizabeth Cavendish, eldest daughter of Henry Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne married firstly the 2nd Duke of Albemarle and secondly Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu. Ralph was the second son of the 2nd Baron Montagu of Boughton, though was extraordinarily created Duke of Montagu due to his marriage with Elizabeth.

Louis von Alten, daughter of Count Karl von Alten married firstly the 7th Duke of Manchester and secondly the 8th Duke of Devonshire. 

I cannot think of any other example of a double duchess, unless one of you smart people can think of one. I am sure there are also many examples of women marrying two different peers of the same rank, e.g. double countess etc

S.S.

[dpth...@gmail.com]

As for Gunning, as I posted a couple months ago

https://groups.google.com/g/peerage-news/c/xL6kzm-Qxlo/m/0-9GyjK_AwAJ

Walpole wrote that she had her choice of dukes, having chosen Argyll over Bridgewater after Hamilton died.

"Singular was the fortune of the Duchess of Argyll. She and her sister the celebrated Lady Coventry were Irish girls (Gunning) of no fortune, and scarce gentlewomen but by their mother. They had been designed for the stage. The wonderful beauty of their faces and persons had captivated the Earl of Coventry and Duke Hamilton. The younger had preserved the fairest reputation; and on Duke Hamilton's death she was sought in marriage by the Duke of Bridgewater, but preferred the Duke of Argyll and became mother of both those formerly great and contending houses..."

[dpth...@gmail.com]

One who tried to join this group was Anne Parsons (ca 1735-ca 1814), who eventually married the 2nd Viscount Maynard.

As Walpole wrote to Lady Ossory 20 June 1770:

"...another lady who has been on the brink of marrying as many dukes as the Duchess of Argyll, is not yet Lady Maynard."

This was a rather pointed comment since Anne Parsons' most famous relationship was that with the Duke of Grafton, Lady Ossory's first husband. Grafton hated his first wife after she became connected with Lord Ossory (he never mentioned her in his autobiography, even though it was written in the form of a message to their son), but Grafton had been involved with Parsons long before his wife strayed.

During Anne Parsons' career she had been mistress of, or connected to, the Dukes of Bedford and Dorset, as well.

On Monday, October 23, 2023 at 11:42:31 PM UTC-5 S. S. wrote:

[Peter FitzGerald]

I find the reference to "Duke Hamilton" interesting. Nowadays it is considered that Dukes always have an "of", and such a reference would be unheard of (at least by anyone with even a passing familiarity with correct form), yet here we have as esteemed a writer as Horace Walpole using that form consistently.

[dpth...@gmail.com]

I don't know that most people at the time called Hamilton merely "Duke Hamilton", and if this had come from one of the letters I might attribute it to his conversational style, but this excerpt is from Walpole's "Journal of the Reign of King George III".

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Journal_of_the_Reign_of_King_George_the/LJ4QAAAAYAAJ?gbpv=1   at page 35

[dpth...@gmail.com]

" Elizabeth Cavendish, eldest daughter of Henry Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne married firstly the 2nd Duke of Albemarle and secondly Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu. Ralph was the second son of the 2nd Baron Montagu of Boughton, though was extraordinarily created Duke of Montagu due to his marriage with Elizabeth."

Calling him second son of the 2nd Baron Montagu makes him sound like a penniless younger son, but he had succeeded his father in 1684, his elder brother having died in 1665, and he was created an Earl in 1689, while he was still married to his first wife (herself the widow of an Earl.)

He married the Duchess of Albemarle in 1692 and was not created a Duke until 1705. If the creation was because of the Duchess of Albemarle then it took a long time to happen. Possibly as significant a reason was his son's marriage to Lady Mary Churchill just a month or so before his dukedom was created, considering the friendship between the Queen and Lady Mary's mother?

I am aware of the doggerel quoted by Cokayne implying Montagu's unfitness for a Dukedom, but the next footnote describes his fine estates and property.

Is there any stronger evidence that Montagu owed his dukedom to the identity of his wife?

On Monday, October 23, 2023 at 11:42:31 PM UTC-5 S. S. wrote:

[S. S.]

Paul, you are quite right. I missed out on the fact that Ralph was created Earl of Montagu in 1689. As to the "real" reason for his dukedom being conferred, I suspect the History of Parliament: House of Commons, 1660-1690 holds a clue: 

"It is to Montagu’s credit that, despite his recent differences with Shaftesbury, he remained loyal to the opposition leader till he left England, visiting him in the Tower and offering to stand bail for him. He tried to improve his interest at Northampton by laying out £500 to have his father elected recorder in November 1681, but the appointment was vetoed by the King. Although he had no connexion with the Rye House Plot, he was one of the Northamptonshire Whigs presented as disaffected by the grand jury in July 1683, and he obtained a pass to France in the following month. Even before his father’s death, he was alleged to enjoy an income of £8,500 p.a. ‘besides his place’. On the accession of James II, he applied to kiss the new King’s hand, but was refused permission, and deprived of the mastership of the great wardrobe. Nevertheless, if Montagu failed to become a Whig collaborator in the new reign it was not for want of trying, but rather because his price was too high; he was still aiming at a secretaryship of state. He took credit to himself for persuading Schomberg to accompany William of Orange to England in 1688. In the House of Lords in 1689 he spoke against a regency, and—again by his own account—won over three peers to vote for the transfer of the crown. He was restored to his offices and made an Earl, but never again employed in a position of trust. He occupied his time with building and litigation, both enormously expensive and spectacular. Under Queen Anne, he secured promotion to the highest rank in the peerage by a family alliance with the Duke of Marlborough"

S.S.

[dpth...@gmail.com]

Elizabeth Albemarle was nevertheless an interesting person.

According to footnotes in the 1936 edition of The Complete Peerage, she was known as "the mad Duchess". Cokayne quotes R W Blencowe, in a note to Sidney's Diary, as saying "Montagu wooed and won her in the character of the Emperor of China, and he kept her in a sort of confinement at Montagu House, where she was always served upon the knee as Empress of China"

Cokayne goees on to quote a verse written by an "unsuccessful rival, Lord Ross", who wrote:

"Insulting rival! never boast
Thy conquest lately won;
No wonder if her heart was lost,
Her senses first were gone.
From one that's under Bedlam's laws
What glory can be had?
For love of thee was not the cause;
It proves that she was mad."

[S. S.]

I always like the accounts of peers in the 17th and 18th centuries. Colorful and somewhat sassy. Makes a nice change when characterizing their lives as such. There are also the various anonymous/lesser known works that tend to satirize peers, whether politically or socially. 

S.S.