Louisa Brunton, the Actress Who Married An Earl.

    There were a lot of actresses on the English stage in Georgian times who attracted noble, rich and sometimes powerful admirers. Some of them - quite a lot - became mistresses. This one did even better for herself, and married an Earl.
    She is Louisa Brunton, celebrated comedic actress, Jane Austen fan and Countess of Craven. Unlike many others who trod the boards, she was not interested in liaisons or a quick legover in return for a few jewels and a bunch of flowers. No! She was virtuous, and she was smart. She was also, let's face it, lucky. 
    There were lots of rich admirers who were married already and others whose families would have put a firm foot down to prevent such a misalliance. The heir to a noble house was usually supposed to marry some titled girl whose ancestry - and dower - were worthy of his.
    The noble admirer whose eye Louisa caught was none other than William, Earl of Craven, who was quite a catch from every point of view. 

    He had not spent his entire life hanging around theatres ogling attractive actresses. He had served with distinction in the Napoleonic wars and reached the rank of Lieutenant-General. He was even an aide-de-camp to the King. This portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence shows him in a pose that is reminiscent of classical statues, and the fashions of the time exposed the legs as far as possible in tight white breeches, so as to resemble a marble statue. He stands on a battlefield, in a glorious scarlet coat that would have made young ladies' heads turn.
    The Earl had several ancestral homes, including Coombe Abbey and Ashdown House, as well as a splendid London residence in Charles Street, Mayfair, where the wedding took place. The newspapers reported “Miss Brunton of Covent Garden Theatre, was married to the Earl of Craven, at seven in the evening at Craven House, and the following day the happy pair set off to Coombe Abbey.” 

    The Earl had been something of a rake before his marriage, but doubtless Louisa had been told that a reformed rake makes the best husband. His various mistresses had included the most notorious courtesan of the Regency period, Harriette Wilson.

    Her other lovers included the Duke of Wellington, the Marquess of Worcester, the Duke of Argyll, and Lord Melbourne, some of whom are pictured here watching her write her famous Memoirs.
It was a very different matter when the Earl captured Louisa's hand. He put his wild escapades behind him, and was devoted to his new Countess, who became a model wife to him.
    After her marriage, Louisa was presented at court by William's sister, Lady Sefton, one of the high priestesses of the haut ton, who presided over the ultra-exclusive Almack's Club. We mentioned her on a previous blog.

    William had a very famous mother, none other than Elizabeth Craven, the Georgian feminist writer, known by that time as the Margravine because of her second marriage, and living at Benham House which she had bought from her son.

She had in fact addressed one of her most important books to William, Letters to Her Son, and it was all about the art of happiness in matrimony. So Louisa Brunton had good reason to be grateful to her mother-in-law.

    To find out more about Elizabeth Craven, her life and her writings, read 
Elizabeth Craven: Writer, Feminist and European,

by Julia Gasper 
Vernon Press 2017.
ISBN: 9781622732753
https://vernonpress.com/title.php?id=334

Lieutenant-General William, 1st Earl of Craven, 1815 (c) | Online ...

www.nam.ac.uk/online-collection/detail.php?acc=1970-12-30-1

Lieutenant-General William, 1st Earl of Craven, 1815 (c). Oil on canvas by Sir Thomas Lawrence(1769-1830), 1815 (c). Aide-de-camp to King George III.

Court Magazine, and Monthly Critic: Containing Original Papers ..., Volume 10 page 240