Harriet Mellon
Her Grace The Duchess of St Albans | |
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Personal details | |
Born | Mellon 11 November 1777 |
Died | 6 August 1837 | (aged 59)
Spouses | |
Parent |
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Harriet Beauclerk, Duchess of St Albans (alternate spelling: Harriot;
Early life and first marriage
Mellon, according to her memoirs published in 1839, was born near Cork in the south of Ireland to parents who were typical cottiers of the period; that is poor Catholic subsistence farmers. This makes her rise to be the richest woman of her age all the more remarkable. When her village was visited by strolling players (members of a travelling theatre company) she decided upon a life as an actress.[4]
When she was young, she appeared at the Duke Street Theatre, where she attracted the attention of an elderly wealthy banker,
In 1822, after her husband's death, she became very wealthy, having been bequeathed his entire fortune, including his interest in the family bank.[7] She purchased the lease on a country property four miles away at the Holly Lodge in Highgate, holding parties there and at her town house at 78 Stratton Street Piccadilly. She also spent time at her house in Brighton, St Alban's House, 131 Kings Road, on the corner of Regency Square.[8]
Second marriage
In 1827, she married
What a strange eventful life has mine been, from a poor little player child, with just food and clothes to cover me, dependent on a very precarious profession, without talent or a friend in the world – first the wife of the best, the most perfect being that ever breathed ...and now the wife of a Duke! You must write my life... my true history written by the author of Waverley.[9]
On her death in 1837, her property and fortune went to her stepgranddaughter, selected as heir after careful scrutiny of the possible recipients, who as a condition of the inheritance adapted her name to
See also
References
- ^ a b William Cushing (1885). Initials and Pseudonyms: A Dictionary of Literary Disguises. Thomas Y. Crowell. p. 541.
- ^ a b Mrs. Cornwell Baron-Wilson (1839). Memoirs of Harriot, Duchess of St. Albans. H. Colburn.
- ^ Lundy, Darryl (2 December 2010). "Harriet Mellon". www.thepeerage.com. Retrieved 24 January 2012.[unreliable source]
- ^ Perkin, Joan. From Strolling Player to Banker-Duchess History Today Volume 50 Issue 10 (October 2000).
- ISBN 0-340-55826-1.
- ^ public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Coutts, Thomas". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 337. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ required.)
- ^ Old and New London Illustrated: A Narrative of its History, its People and its Places. Illustrated with numerous engravings from the most Authentic Sources. (6 vols) sub vol. 3&4 combined: Westminster and the Westminster Suburbs. 1881. pp. 278–281.
- ^ The Journal of Sir Walter Scott June 30 1827 (published 1891)
Further reading
- There is one biography of Harriot Mellon: Joan Perkin's The Merry Duchess (Athena Press, 2002)
- Old and New London Illustrated: A Narrative of its History, its People and its Places. Illustrated with numerous engravings from the most Authentic Sources. (6 vols) sub vol. 3&4 combined: Westminster and the Westminster Suburbs. 1881. pp. 278–281.
- Healey, Edna. Coutts & Co 1692–1992: The Portrait of a Private Bank. ISBN 0-340-55826-1.