ELIZABETH CRAVEN AND HER WORLD

  This portrait of William, 6th Baron Craven, is currently on show in Berkeley Square London, among other Georgian paintings being sold by Isherwood Fine Art. It is very similar but not identical to the better-known portrait of him by Thomas Beach, in which he is holding the plans for Benham. Apparently three versions were painted, the third one with his right hand resting on a large dog.  It shows that Lord Craven could be quite a dandy, in this pale almond green velvet suit, with a quilted blue waistcoat and lace cravat. It would be a wonderful acquisition for one of the Berkshire museums or perhaps for the up-market restaurant that is going to be opened at 16, Charles Street, London, formerly the Craven home.

            Sydney, Lady Morgan, is a Regency period novelist whose name makes her sound far grander than she was. She was born Sydney Owenson, daughter of an actor in Dublin, and started writing novels about Ireland that were an immediate success. Her best known is entitled The Wild Irish Girl.      Her books were met with enthusiasm by many readers as well as damning reviews from some critics. She became a paid companion to Lady Abercorn, who persuaded her to marry Thomas Morgan, the Abercorn   family physician;  he later got knighted as a result of the Abercorns pulling strings. So Sydney became Lady Morgan and as such was received in London high society. She went on to write many more novels and books about France and Italy where she travelled widely. Her very Liberal and allegedly republican views got her banned from Tuscany by the Austrian rulers, but only after she had visited it and described it in detail.    ...

Fitzroy Square London c.1800     We've recently been told that less than 5 per cent of rapes reported in England today lead to prosecution. I n Regency England, it was very different. A man accused of rape could face such severe penalties as the reproach of his wife -- a fearsome deterrent! East Fitzroy Square, London 1807 This case was reported in 1817 as taking place in Fitzroy Square in the heart of Mayfair. The accuser, or "prosecutrix" as she was called in court, was a fourteen-year-old servant girl and the man she accused was her employer, a butcher in Fitzroy Market.      The newspaper report ran:- WEDNESDAY. - Clark, a butcher, in Fitzroy-market, was indicted for a rape on  Leah   Edwards . The prosecutrix deposed, that she is 14 years of age. Her mother resides in Grafton-street, Fitzroy-square, and she herself was servant to the prisoner, who is a married man.      On the night of the 13th of March, the prisoner was from h...