Lady Sefton, Patroness of Almacks

Elizabeth Craven had four daughters and three sons. The girls were named Elizabeth, Maria-Margaretta, Georgiana and Arabella, and of the four of them Maria was certainly the most socially successful.  



The Hon. Maria Margaretta Craven, later Lady Sefton.

She was popular and after making a brilliant marriage became one of the patronesses of the celebrated Almack's Club, whose balls at Almack's Assembly Rooms were more exclusive than the Court itself. This miniature portrait shows Lady Sefton when young and she is a striking beauty, with some resemblance to her mother in the long neck and shape of the nose. Her hair appears to be very black, but in fact she is wearing a headband of black lace, and a black-trimmed stole, suggesting that she is in mourning. When you look closely her hair is actually chestnut brown, not unlike her mother's.
    The girls had rather a difficult time as teenagers as their parents separated, and the girls were left to the care of their father Lord Craven and his rather erratic mistress, who moved in with him at Benham Park. 


    When Maria came out in London society, in 1787, she attracted the attention of a member of the royal family, one of the sons of George III. Her admirer was quite marked in his attentions, sending her bouquets of flowers and getting her invited to occasions and places where he would be present, so that they could meet.     
    This alarmed her father, Lord Craven, who knew that it could be difficult to resist a royal suitor, yet the royal family would never let any of their sons legally marry any woman below the rank of princess. As he certainly didn't want her becoming a royal mistress, he took Maria out of London altogether, to one of his country seats. Can you guess the name of Maria's royal admirer? To give you a clue, he later became a king. You may think there is only one possibility but in fact there are three.
    In 1791, Lord Craven took all four of his daughters to Switzerland, where he died. Soon after their return, Maria was courted by the young Lord Molyneux, son and heir of the Earl of Sefton who had a large estate in the North of England. Molyneux was a close friend of the Prince of Wales, which had plenty of cachet. Maria married him on January 1st 1792, at Berkeley Square. She was twenty-two.

A satirical writer of the time commented on the match "[Lord Molyneux] before he had attained the age of twenty-one,  unadmonished by example, took unto himself a wife,+ who, if we are to judge from the virtues of her most serene Highness, her illustrious mother, will do honour to his bed." (1) 
This uncharitable reflection proved wrong, as the marriage was by and large a happy one. In December 1792, Maria gave birth to the first of their numerous brood. Until 1795, her title was Lady Molyneux. In January 1795 the old earl died and his son succeeded him, so she became Countess of Sefton. 

    It is very pleasant to be able to record that by 1795, Maria was reconciled with her mother. A review of a theatrical production at Brandenburgh House in April that year says, "The company was very numerous and brilliant; amongst the people of fashion we were very happy to discover Lord Sefton, and to hear the same entertainment will be repeated in a fortnight for Lady Sefton's recovery. This harmony will be more delightful again, than even that so well conducted by Salomon and Sapio." (2) So it seems that Maria was not well enough to attend the first performance, but a second one was put on specially for her. As a signal of public reconciliation, this was very clear indeed.
     


The Seftons' house at 21 Arlington Street, St. James's, London.

You may think that Lady Sefton was a very strait-laced person, because she was one of the patronesses of the prim and proper Almacks. Well...no. Funnily enough, she wasn't. There was plenty of gossip about her after her marriage as well as before. There was even speculation about the paternity of some of her ten children, though this didn't seem to bother her husband, who after he became Lord Sefton devoted himself to hunting, racing, gambling and giving gourmet dinners. He was nicknamed "Lord Dashalong" as he loved driving his carriage at top speed.



    Lady Sefton was the mistress of this house, Croxteth Hall in Lancashire, with an estate of five hundred acres.
   She seems to have been fond of reading, as she was a subscriber to some literary works - including the novel The Force of Prejudice, by Joseph Wildman, published in 1800, and The Wanderings of Fancy; Consisting of Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose and Verse (1812), by Mrs. Isaacs, author of Ella St Lawrence, The Wood Nymph, and Glenmore Abbey.
    Having been taught French by Madame de Vaucluse in her girlhood, Maria took pride in the education of her own children. In 1807 a book appeared in print, French and English Dialogues, Written for the Use of the Countess of Sefton's Children, by Miss Dickinson. English children are taught to say such essential phrases as, "It is reported that there has been an engagement at sea. The English have burnt four ships. The French navy is entirely destroyed." (3)
    Maria was often asked to preside over social events in the neighbourhood of Croxteth Hall. In 1819, when the famous aeronaut James Sadler came to Liverpool, near Croxteth Hall, to demonstrate a hot-air balloon ascent, she was invited to see them off. "The Balloon being inflated, the car attached, and every preparation made, Messrs. Livingston and Sadler took possession of their seats, receiving the flags from the hands of the Countess of Sefton and Mrs. Blackburne." The flight was a triumph, lasting three hours and coming down near Stockton-upon-Tees. (4)
    As a successful society hostess and patroness of Almacks as well as a mother, Maria had plenty to keep her busy. Look again at the miniature portrait. Why is she dressed in mourning? One possibility is that she is in mourning for her elder sister Elizabeth, Mrs Maddocks, who died in 1799. The costume fits in with a date of around 1800, when Maria would have been aged 31.
    Like her mother, Lady Sefton lived to an advanced age. She died in 1851, in London, aged 81.

To find out more about Elizabeth Craven, her life and her writings, and learn the answer to the question above, read  
Elizabeth Craven: Writer,
 Feminist and European
 by Julia Gasper
published by Vernon Press.

https://vernonpress.com/title?id=334










23 Jun 2017 - Elizabeth Craven's fascinating life was full of travel, love-affairs and scandals but this biography, the first to appear for a century, is the only one ...


(1) The Female Jockey Club by Charles Piggott (1794) p.174  
(2 ) The Register of the Times, Or: Political Museum, Volume 4 1795, p.203  
(3) French and English Dialogues, Written for the Use of the Countess of Sefton's Children, by Miss Dickinson. By the Author of L'Histoire de France en Forme de Cartes, Dédiée aux Ladies Molyneux. Dulau and Company Printed by R. Zotti, 1807.
(4) The Imperial Magazine, Or, Compendium of Religious, Moral, & Philosophical Knowledge. by Rev. Drew. 1819, page 779



William Philip [Molyneux], 2nd Earl of Sefton from Cracroft's Peerage


born

18 Sep 1772

mar.

1 Jan 1792 Hon Maria Margaret Craven (b. 26 Apr 1769; d. 9 Mar 1851; bur. at Hanwell, co. Middlesex), sister of William [Craven], 1st Earl of Craven, and 1st dau. of William [Craven], 6th Baron Craven, by his wife Lady Elizabeth Berkeley, 2nd dau. of Augustus [Berkeley], 4th Earl of Berkeley

children  SONS

1. Hon Charles William Molyneux, later 3rd Earl of Sefton

2. Lt Col Hon George Berkeley Molyneux (b. 16 Jul 1799; d. 27 Aug 1841)

3. Lt Col Hon Henry Richard Molyneux (b. 27 Aug 1800; d. 23 May 1841)

4. Hon Francis George Molyneux (b. 5 Mar 1805; dspm. 24 May 1886), mar. 1842 Lady Georgina Jemima Mitford (b. 11 May 1805; former wife of Henry Reveley Mitford, of Exbury House, co. Hampshire, and Newton Park, co. Northumberland; d. May 1882), 3rd dau. of George [Ashburnham], 3rd Earl of Ashburnham, by his second wife Lady Charlotte Percy, sister of George [Percy], 5th Duke of Northumberland, and 1st dau. of Algernon [Smithson later Percy], 1st Earl of Beverley, and had issue:

DAUGHTERS

1. Lady Georgina Isabella Frances Molyneux (d. 28 Jun 1826), mar. 22 Jun 1819 Charles Pascoe Grenfell MP, of Taplow Court, co. Buckingham (d. 21 Mar 1867), and had issue

2. Lady Maria Molyneux (d. 3 May 1872)

3. Lady Louisa Anne Maria Molyneux (d. Jul 1855)

4. Lady Frances Molyneux

5. Lady Caroline Harriett Molyneux (d. 8 Feb 1866), mar. 19 Nov 1836 Charles Towneley, of Towneley, co. Lancaster (b. 1803; d. 5 Nov 1876), 1st son and heir of Peregrine Edward Towneley, of Towneley, co. Lancaster, by his wife Charlotte Theresa Drummond, dau. of Hon Robert Drummond, banker, of Cadlands, co. Hampshire, and Charing Cross, London (by his wife Winifred Thompson, dau. of William Thompson, of Ipsden, co. Oxford), 6th son of William [Drummond], 4th Viscount of Strathallan, and had issue

6. Lady Katherine Molyneux (d. 25 Mar 1855)

   He died  1838

-------------------------------------



Maria Molyneux, Countess of Sefton - Geni
https://www.geni.com › people › Maria-Molyneux-Count...
Birthdate:
Death:March 09, 1851 (81)
Arlington Street, St. James', Piccadilly, Westminster, Middlesex, England
Immediate Family:Lady 

Daughter of William Craven, 6th Baron Craven and Lady Elizabeth Berkeley, Princess Berkeley
Wife of William Philip Molyneux, 2nd Earl of Sefton
Mother of 

Lady Georgiana Frances Grenfell

 Charles William Molyneux, 3rd Earl of                                                                Sefton;

 Lady Caroline Harriett Towneley;

 Hon. Francis George Molyneux

Lady Maria Molyneux 

Lady Louisa Anne Maria Molyneux

Lady Frances Molyneux

Lady Katherine Molyneux;

 Lt.-Col. George Berkeley Molyneux 

 Lt.-Col. Henry Richard Molyneux 






31 Jul 2020 — Her married name became Molyneux. Children of Hon. Maria Margaret Craven and William Philip Molyneux, 2nd Earl of Sefton. Charles William ...





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