Charlotte Furness - Lady of the House: Elite 19th Century Women and Their Role in the English Country House

Lady of the House

Elite 19th Century Women and their Role in the English Country House

Charlotte Furness

First published in Great Britain in 2018 by

PEN AND SWORD HISTORY

an imprint of

Pen and Sword Books Ltd

47 Church Street

Barnsley

South Yorkshire S70 2AS

Copyright Charlotte Furness, 2018

ISBN 978 1 52670 274 6

eISBN 978 1 52670 276 0

Mobi ISBN 978 1 52670 275 3

The right of Charlotte Furness to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

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Married early to the object of her choice, as a wife, a parent, and a benefactress, she was alike exemplary.

From the obituary of

Elizabeth Manners, 5th Duchess of Rutland

This book has come about thanks to a number of people who have inspired and influenced me throughout my education and writing life, as well as a number of people who have supported and encouraged me.

Firstly, I want to thank the team at Pen & Sword who have helped take this book from idea to product, in particular Jonathan Wright who saw my ideas and agreed to let me write them into books.

Secondly, I want to thank all those who have been involved in helping me when I have been researching this book: country house owners, managers, archivists and more. Thanks go especially to Mr George Drye at Lamport Hall, Victoria Howlett at Lamport Hall, Peter Foden at Belvoir Castle, Her Grace the Duchess of Rutland at Belvoir Castle, Dr Christopher Ridgeway at Castle Howard, Anna Louise Mason at Castle Howard, and the whole team at Northamptonshire Record Office. Thank you for guiding me through procedures and ways to research, for giving me titbits of information which really brought my ladies to life and thank you most of all for allowing me to tell these incredible stories.

Last, but by no means least, I want to thank some very special people close to me, without whom I could not have completed this book:

Catherine Curzon I dont have enough space in this book to document all the ways you have helped both practically and mentally. Youve helped to keep me sane when things have gotten very complicated and stressful, and youve helped to guide me through the process of writing my first book. But most of all, it was you who suggested that I get the ideas out of my head and into a book. Thank you.

Mum My mum has always unfailingly believed in me and my talents at writing. She has also been a constant source of support, friendship, and lots more. To my research assistant and companion, I thank you the road to this book would have been a lot lonelier without you.

Tom My husband Tom is incredible and without him being the person that he is I would not have written this book. His constant ambition and passion for travel led us to Switzerland where I was given the opportunity to plunge headfirst into writing and my dream career. Without this time away from full time work, Lady of the House would not be here and so I need to thank him, not only for his constant support and belief in my ability, but for literally helping to create the opportunity for me to write. I love you so much that to put corny words down on paper would not do it justice.

Finally, anyone else who has encouraged, helped or supported me in any way I have limited space here to thank you but I do remember all the help and appreciate it immensely.

Right, now go read the book!!

The journey of this book first began in 2009 when I was studying for my Masters degree in Country House Studies: Art, Literature and History at Leicester University and working at Lamport Hall & Gardens in Northamptonshire. Part of my role was to get to know how a country house opened to the public this included conducting tours of the house for visitors. I had to get to know the ins and outs of the house and family to enable me to deliver a convincing tour.

During this time, there was one character in the house who stood out from the rest due to her personality and tenacity Mary Isham (ne Close) who left her home in Ireland to move to Northampton with her husband Justinian Isham, 8th Baronet of Lamport Hall. Whilst chatelaine of Lamport, Mary established herself as the ruler of the household, making architectural changes to the house and helping in the management of the wider estate. She was so involved in the management and development of the estate that it was sometimes jokingly referred to as Close Castle.

As I learned more about the family, and particularly about Mary, I realised her life had been tinged with tragedy and sadness. This had me intrigued what was she like, this woman who had seen such sorrow and yet remained so stoic?

A few years later and with more experience working within country houses, I was given the opportunity to put pen to paper and explore Marys story in more detail. It made me wonder if there were other female country house owners out there who had similar stories? I did some research and found a cach of stories of women who had similar personalities and lives within substantial country houses across the country their stories were begging to be told.

I decided that I wanted to find out more about these women and to compare their stories to see what it was that made them so strong and full of personality; was it their birth and upbringing? Was it a combination of maturity and the right husband who allowed them a certain amount of independence and governance? I then wanted to look at how they acted once they oversaw their own households if they had children, did they take a hand in their upbringing? How did they stamp their authority on the estates they managed? And did they encounter any setbacks such as tragedy or financial difficulties?

I would like to state at this point that studies about historical women are evolving as humanity evolves and so whilst I have made every attempt to understand as much about eighteenth-century female attitude and expectations, any mistakes made are unintentional. I also appreciate that this study may become outdated in decades to come but hope that it inspires other historians to continue to research and retell the stories of women throughout history they really are an untapped source of information.

All these questions have followed me around over the last twelve months and have culminated in the book you are about to read. Writing the biography of one person is hard enough, trying to squeeze the histories of three women into one book has felt at times like an insurmountable task. Whilst the women themselves are no longer here to judge my efforts, the legacies they left behind are and so I truly hope I have done justice to both.