Georgiana (Spencer) Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire

British, 1757 - 1806

BiographyGeorgiana Spencer was born on June 9, 1757, the eldest of three children of Georgiana (Poyntz) (1738-1814) and her husband John Spencer (1734-83), created 1st Earl Spencer in 1765. From an early age she attracted notice for her naturally vivacious personality and charming lack of affectation. A frequent traveler to continental Europe, she became an intimate friend of Marie Antoinette. During an extended tour of Belgium and France in 1772-74, she met William Cavendish (1748-1811), 5th Duke of Devonshire. Dull and reserved in personality, the Duke had the advantages of fantastic wealth and prestigious rank, and had long been the object of fascinated gossip and marital machinations. Georgiana was just sixteen when she married him on June 5, 1774. As Duchess of Devonshire, she assumed daunting political, social, and cultural responsibilities for which her youth ill-equipped her. Although expected to behave with impeccable propriety while entertaining the country's most influential men and women, her refreshing lack of formality in manner and dress enchanted most observers and launched a legion of imitators. However, her triumphs were marred by a miserable marriage and lapses of judgment that grew increasingly alarming. Her addiction to gambling (shared by many in her social set) began shortly after marriage and she amassed ruinous debts during the ensuing decades. Her frenetic social life induced a string of miscarriages until at last a daughter Georgiana was born in 1783, followed by Harriet (1785) and William Spencer George 1790). In 1778 the duchess published The Sylph, a roman à clef exposing the corrupt morals of her social circle. She also wrote poetry, and her poem "Passage of the Mountain of St. Gothard" (1793), published in English, French, Italian, and German, was praised by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). Politics proved her true métier. From her first meeting with the Whig politician Charles James Fox (1749-1806) in August 1777, she became his loyal supporter, defying social convention in order to make public appearances in his behalf during the Westminster campaigns of 1780 and 1782. In 1784, according to Countess Harcourt, "the Duchess of Devonshire was seen in every dirty alley soliciting and purchasing votes from chimney sweepers and butchers.... Every printshop was filled with caricatures and...the Press teemed with lampoons and satires." Nevertheless, her staunch support bolstered the careers not only of Fox, but also of Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1715-1816), Charles Grey (1764-1835), and others. Grey became her lover around 1788 and they had a child, Eliza Courtney (1792-1859). From 1780 she became the confidante of George, Prince of Wales (1762-1830), who allied himself with the Whigs that year. Her glamour and inventiveness initiated numerous fashions including the "Devonshire hat", the "Devonshire minuet," and "Devonshire brown." She died of an abscess of the liver at Devonshire House, Picadilly, on March 30, 1806, and was buried in the Cavendish family vault at St. Stephen's Church, Derby. On October 19, 1809 her widowed husband married the duchess's best friend, Lady Elizabeth Foster (1759-1824), who had lived on peculiar terms of intimacy with the couple since 1782, and had already borne the Duke two children. He died on July 29, 1811 and was buried with his first wife at All Saints' church.

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