ELIZABETH CRAVEN AND HER WORLD

     There is a letter from "E. Craven" dated 21st April 1791 in the collection of the Wellcome Foundation in London. The library catalogue does not identify it as being from Elizabeth Craven, let alone cross-reference it. Nor does it connect it in any way with Dr. Edward Jenner, the celebrated physician. It is in the papers of the Reverend George Charles Jenner (1767-1846), who was in 1791 the vicar of Berkeley in Gloucestershire, a parish that included Craven's ancestral family home, Berkeley Castle.       T he Berkeleys and Cravens had very close links with the Jenner family, who held this church living for many generations. The Earls of Berkeley were patrons of the parish and chose its incumbent. The Rev. George Jenner was the son of the Rev. Henry Jenner (1737-1798) previous vicar of Berkeley, who had succeeded his father the Rev. Stephen Jenner (1702-1754).      Dr Edward Jenner (1749-1823), the pioneer of vaccination, was another son of the Rev. Stephen Jenner and

     In his book  Who Betrays Elizabeth Bennet?: Further Puzzles in Classic Fiction , Professor John Sutherland raised the question of how the rumour of Elizabeth Bennet's imminent engagement to Mr Darcy could have reached the ears of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, prompting her to make her bossy and interfering call on Elizabeth at Longbourn in volume 3 of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice .      I love this sort of criticism, which used to be referred to as the "How many children had Lady Macbeth?" school. Now desperately unfashionable, it treats characters in novels as real people who exist beyond the parameters of the written narrative and can thus be followed and investigated outside the boundaries of the text. It makes an interesting game, and it is certainly far less absurd than many of the currently fashionable schools of criticism. Professor Sutherland is right, that if we cannot provide any reasonable explanation of how and why this rumour travelled from Hertford

       Throughout her life, Elizabeth Craven was haunted by the scandal deliberately spread by her first husband, Lord Craven, at the time of their separation. It was impossible for any woman to separate from her husband in Georgian England without a tinge of unpleasant scandal, and he went further than most irate husbands, spreading sensational accounts of her behaviour to stir up malicious gossip.      Needless to say, he did not attract any opprobrium for having a mistress, but she f or the rest of her life, struggled to throw off this unfair reputation.     In 1794, when she had re-married and returned to England, a lengthy poem appeared entitled  The Children of Apollo: a Poem. Containing an Impartial Review of all the Dramatic Works of out Modern Authors and Authoresses. Particularly Lady Wallace. Margravine of Anspach. Honourable Major North. Honourable John St. John. Sheridan. Colman. Holcroft. Jackman. O'Keeffe. Coob. Cumberland. Lorris. Bate. Miss Lee. Mrs. Cowly. -Inchba

When Sophie de Tott came to England in 1802, she and other French refugees got favourable treatment since Great Britain was at war with Napoleonic France. The public was sympathetic, and there were subscriptions raised in their favour. She got commissions as a portrait painter and gave musical evenings. While she was not well off, by 1809 she was able to afford lodgings in Park Street, a pleasant part of Mayfair close to Park Lane. One of her letters to Elizabeth Craven is dated from Park Street. The house Sophie lived in has been modernised, but this nearby house a few doors away is preserved in the original Georgian style. Built in the 1720s it had five stories, including a basement where the kitchen was situated.  It would be wonderful to have a blue plaque attached to one of the houses in this street, to commemorate the fact that Sophie de Tott lived here. Painter, novelist, musician and secret agent, she surely merits it and should be celebrated. https://www.lulu.com/shop/julia-ga