Social Victorians/1897 Fancy Dress Ball/Quadrilles Courts

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The Processions and Quadrilles[edit | edit source]

After they arrived and had been greeted by the 20-year old William, Duke of Manchester (grandson of Louisa, Duchess of Devonshire) at the bottom of the famous Devonshire House stairs and the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire at the top, the Royals led the processions into "the White and Gold Saloon," where a dais had been set up for them.[1]:p. 7, Col. 4c?

Once the Royals were on the dais, the processions began, followed by the quadrilles. The Gentlewoman emphasized the "Oriental" procession, which was the first to be presented (the newspapers used the word Oriental to refer to what we would now call Asian):

First came the Oriental queens, headed by the Duchess of Devonshire herself, who was accompanied by the Duke, as Charles V. of Germany, in black velvet and furs. Among the most magnificent of the Oriental personages was Princess Henry Pless, who, as the Queen of Sheba, was gorgeous to behold. Her dress was of purple and gold-shot gauze, bodice and skirt embroidered nearly to the knees, the train being one mass of jewels encrusted in gold. An Assyrian headdress, with clusters of diamonds over each ear, jewelled feathers, and chains of diamonds and turquoises, which were attached to armlets from shoulder to wrist, completed a costume of dazzling splendour. The other Queen of Sheba, who was Lady Cynthia Graham, was charmingly attired in white and silver and rose red. There were also two Cleopatras — Lady de Grey was one mass of beautiful embroideries, and Mrs. Arthur Paget looked her character to the life, and her jewels were quite the most magnificent in the room. Mr. Gerald Paget walked beside her, attired very effectively as Mark Antony. Among the gods and goddesses was Titania, the Queen of the Fairies; Lady Westmorland who made the prettiest Hebe; the Furies, Lady Lurgan and Lady Sophie Scott; and Lady Archibald Campbell, who elected to appear as Diana.

Then came the processions of the various Courts, who afterwards formed into separate quadrilles.[2]:p. 32, Col. 2c

The reports in the Times and the Gentlewoman agree that first the processions were presented to the Prince and Princess of Wales, and then the quadrilles were danced in front of the royals.[3]:p. 12, Col. 1a Dancing quadrilles was a custom at other fancy-dress balls or costume parties as well. (One type of quadrille is the American square dance). Not everyone was part of a procession, but the quadrilles, which had been rehearsed, seem usually to have been smaller groups of people.

The Courts[edit | edit source]

The processions were made up of the members of the "Courts" of the various monarchs, particularly queens. The first procession was the "Oriental" one, which included Louisa, Duchess of Devonshire as Zenobia, the Queens of Sheba and the Cleopatras. This procession was followed by the goddesses and gods.

Contrasting this ball with the fancy-dress ball hosted by the Prince and Princess of Wales at Marlborough House on 22 July 1874, the Times says,

the innovation of yesterday was the idea of different Courts headed by various well-known ladies and attended by their friends as Princes and courtiers. The Royal party itself fell in very readily with this idea, and attended in historical and mostly Royal costumes of the 16th century. There were four Courts strictly so-called, besides two groups which were separately arranged, but which are only to be called Courts by an extension of the term. The four were the Elizabethan Court, headed by Lady Tweedmouth as Queen Elizabeth with Sir Francis Jeune as Lord Chief Justice, Lord Arran a Cardinal, and [Col. 1a / Col. 1b] Lord Rowton as Archibishop Farrer; the Louis XV. and XVI. Court, with Lady Curzon as Queen Marie Leczinska and Lady Warwick as Marie Antoinette; the Court of Maria Theresa with Lady Londonderry as the Empress, Lord Lansdowne as Prince Kaunitz, and Lady Lansdowne as Lady Keith; and the Court of the Empress Catherine II of Russia, its Imperial centre being Lady Raincliffe. Of equal importance with these Courts were the group of Orientals and the Italian procession, the chief members of the former being the hostess herself, the Duchess of Devonshire as Zenobia, Lady de Grey as Lysistrate, and Lady Cynthia Graham as the Queen of Sheba; while the latter, which covered not only the great period of Italian art but the 17th century as well, was made illustrious both by the beauty of the dresses and by the great distinction of many of those who wore them.[3]:p. 12, Col. 1a–2b

Referencing the article on the ball in the Times, both the Westminster Gazette and the London Evening Mail say,

THE VARIOUS "COURTS."

It is twenty-three years (the Times continues) since a ball of similar design and magnificence was given. We are referring to the famous ball at Marlborough House on July 22, 1874. In one respect there was a considerable difference, for, whereas the Prince of Wales's ball had a number of distinct quadrilles — a Venetian quadrille, a Vandyck quadrille, and a pack-of-cards quadrille — the innovation of yesterday was the idea of different Courts headed by various well-known ladies and attended by their friends as princes and courtiers. ...

The dancing was of the most desultory description. In the quadrilles people did their best to vie with the old-fashioned courtliness and grace. Some of their courtesies were quite beautifully done. In the procession everyone saluted the Princess of Wales in appropriate style. The Orientals spread out their hands in the impressive Oriental manner; the gods struck the ground with their sticks, and so on.[4]:p. 5, Col. 2–3 [5]:p. 8, Col. 1a–b

A report in Truth emphasizes the queens among the costumed guests. Framed as a letter to "Amy" and referring obliquely to the extensive newspaper coverage of the ball, the report begins,

DEAREST AMY, — The historic and fancy ball at Devonshire House outshone, as the moon the stars, every other social event of the week. I must try to describe some of the dresses for you, and am sending a sheaf of newspapers from which you will gather some idea of the splendour of the occasion. In tissue of silver and cloth of gold, and richly jewelled from head to foot, stood the stately Zenobia, Duchess of Devonshire, at the head of her marble stairway, to receive her guests of all the ages: queens who had stepped out of history to grace the scene, queens from the idyllic stories of the long ago, queens from ancient Persia and Abyssinia, and queens from Fairyland. Was not Titania there herself, with glittering wings and lily-wand? And the beautiful fair-haired queen, before whom all bent and performed obeisance as she passed, fair Marguerite de Valois, in gleaming snowy satin and high lace collar, with silver-lined train of cloth of gold, was she not our own Princess, the Queen of Hearts?

The Princess of Wales was "our own Princess, the Queen of Hearts." Titania "with glittering wings and lily-wand" may have been one of three women:

  1. Susannah Wilson Graham Menzies, whose costume included "an immense spray of white lilies"[6]:p. 5, Col. 7b as a kind of very large wand or staff; her costume does not, however, seem to have wings.
  2. Mary Graham Murray: neither wings nor wand is mentioned in the scant coverage in the press of her costume.[2]
  3. Mademoiselle de Alcalo Galiano, whose portrait is in the album, although no newspaper descriptions of her costume exist at this time. What Mademoiselle de Alcalo Galiano is wearing on her shoulders could be interpreted as glittering wings, perhaps, but no wand or lilies are present in the portrait, and because her photographer was Bassano, other poses or images of her in costume do not seem to exist at this time.

How the Courts Were Organized[edit | edit source]

The suggestion that some of the women form courts, which may have come from the Duchess of Devonshire herself,[7] caused the ball to be visually organized in a way that it would not have been otherwise, because so many of the costumes were from the same time periods. Dressing as a queen was not only not unusual, but, at the many fancy-dress balls and Gothic revival tournaments, “One of the most common costumes for a lady of the Victorian period was … that of a Queen.”[8]:270 There were actual royals present — the Prince of Wales and his family as well as expatriate royals living in London. Put on the dais and the object of formal presentations by the processions and quadrilles, the actual royals mostly did not assert their royalty fictionally. The highest fictional rank among the royals was Alexandra, Princess of Wales, who was dressed as Marguerite de Valois.

The total number of women dressed as queens is large but, according to the Times, only 4 defined the courts, "strictly so-called."[3]:p. 12, Col. 1a–2b The first 4 — Marie Thérèse of Austria, Catherine II of Russia, Marie Antoinette and Queen Elizabeth — were the most important and organized in the ball, and their "courts" accounted for many of the others who attended.

Of the 700 or so people who attended the ball, 134–137 are accounted for by the first 4 queens and 263–267 by all the various kinds of courts, processions and quadrilles. (The numbers of people in the various courts are not perfectly stable: not all the newspapers that treat the courts agree on who was in them; these numbers are based on the typeset visualizations in the Morning Post.)

Just because of chance and the individual choice of whom to personate, many of the others at the ball would have contributed to the number of people dressed in that time period and looking as if they could have been part of the courts.

A large number of individuals, including almost all the royals (check Princess Louise, Faust costume, opera?), were also in Elizabethan dress. The Western Gazette says that "the French and Spanish Courts [were] of the same era."[9] (p. 2, Col. 7a) These additional costumes from the time periods of the major courts might have made the ball look more coherent, although one newspaper account describes the effect of random and unrelated people seen side by side in conversation (find this).

Nearly fifty women came as historical, Biblical, and occasionally fictional queens, empresses and other regents. They were

  1. Louise, Duchess of Devonshire, dressed as Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra and functioning as an individual, maybe but not probably part of the "Oriental" procession
  2. Fanny Marjoribanks, Lady Tweedmouth, dressed as Elizabeth, Queen of England and leading 40 people
  3. Theresa Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry, dressed as Marie Thérèse of Austria, Queen and Holy Roman Empress and leading a procession of between 34 and 37 people
  4. Grace Denison, Viscountess Raincliffe, dressed as Catherine II, Queen of Russia and leading the Russia procession of 31 people plus trumpeters and "Black Attendants"
  5. Daisy, Countess Warwick, dressed as Marie Antoinette, Queen of France and leading 29 Louis XV and XVI royals and courtiers, not counting pages
  6. Alexandra, Princess of Wales, dressed as Marguerite de Valois and with a court of 7 or 8 people, all family members, plus 2 attendants
  7. Violet, Countess of Mar and Kellie, dressed as Beatrice and leading the Venetians procession of 47 people
  8. Lady Mary Gerard, dressed as Astarte, Goddess of the Moon, not exactly a queen but in this list because she led the 7-person procession of goddesses from mythology
  9. Lilian, Marchioness of Zetland, dressed as Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I of England and leading 12 people in the courts of Charles I and Charles II
  10. Elizabeth Butler, the Marchioness of Ormonde, dressed as Queen Guinevere and leading 21 people in the Knights of the Table of King Arthur procession
  11. Corisande Evelyn Vere, Lady Rodney, dressed as Queen Guinevere, was not listed as being in the procession; she attended with her husband, who was dressed as King Arthur.
  12. Daisy Cornwallis-West, Princess Henry of Pless, dressed as Queen of Sheba and leading a procession of “Oriental” queens (23 people) with Lady Cynthia Graham
  13. Lady Cynthia Graham, dressed as Queen of Sheba and leading a procession of “Oriental” queens (23 people) with Daisy, Princess Henry of Pless
  14. Katherine Osborne, Duchess of Leeds, not a queen but in this list because she led the 17-person procession of Duchesses with Georgina, Dowager Countess of Dudley
  15. Georgina, Dowager Countess of Dudley, not a queen but in this list because she led the 17-person procession of Duchesses with Katherine, Duchess of Leeds
  16. Lady Minnie Paget, dressed as Cleopatra in the "Oriental" procession; attended with her husband and her brother-in-law, who was dressed as Marc Anthony
  17. Gwladys Robinson, Marchioness of Ripon (when Countess de Grey), dressed as Cleopatra
  18. Kathleen Pelham-Clinton, Duchess of Newcastle, dressed as Princess Dashkova
  19. Princess Louise, Duchess of Connaught, dressed as Anne of Austria, Queen of France
  20. Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck, dressed as Princess Sophia Electress of Luneberg and Hanover, mother of George I
  21. Madame Baudon de Mony, dressed as Princess of Navarre
  22. Jesusa Murrieta del Campo Mello y Urritio, Marquisa de Santurce, dressed as the Infanta of Spain
  23. Thérèse née Kinsky, Countess Clary-Aldringen, dressed as the Queen of Naples, Napoleon's sister
  24. Princess of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, née Countess Josephine Kinsky, dressed as Princess Pauline Borghese, Napoleon's sister
  25. Amelia, Lady Fitzgerald, dressed as Marie Joséphe, Queen of Poland, A.D. 1737
  26. Margaret Child-Villiers, Countess of Jersey, dressed as Anne of Austria, Queen of France
  27. Katharine Montagu-Douglas-Scott, dressed as Marie Stuart, Mary Queen of Scots
  28. Mary, Countess of Minto, dressed as Princess Andrillon
  29. Muriel Wilson, dressed as Queen Vashti
  30. Candida Louise, Marchioness of Tweeddale, dressed as Empress Josephine
  31. Aileen, Countess of Meath, dressed as Queen Hortense
  32. Alice, Duchess of Buckingham and Chandos, dressed as Caterina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus
  33. Alice, Countess of Lathom, dressed as Catherine of Aragon
  34. Leonie Blanche Jerome, Lady Leslie, dressed as Brunhild
  35. Helena, Countess of Stradbroke, dressed as Delilah
  36. Ethel, Lady Knaresborough, dressed as Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia
  37. Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill, dressed as Empress Theodora, wife of Justinian
  38. Adela, Countess of Essex, dressed as Berenice, Queen of Palestine
  39. Hon. Julia Beatrice Maguire, dressed as Dido, Queen of Carthage
  40. Clarisse Bischoffsheim, dressed as Anne of Austria, queen with Louis XIII of France
  41. Violet, Lady de Trafford, dressed as Semiramis, Queen of Assyria
  42. Millicent, Lady Cradock-Hartopp, dressed as the Empress Josephine
  43. Beatrix, Countess Cadogan, dressed as Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia
  44. Susan Margaret, Duchess of Somerset, dressed as Jane, Queen of England, wife to King Henry VIII and mother of King Edward VI
  45. Emily Theresa, Lady Ampthill, dressed as the Princess de Lamballe
  46. Blanche, Lady Gordon-Lennox, dressed as the Princess de Lamballe
  47. Rachel, Countess of Dudley, dressed as Queen Esther
  48. Mademoiselle de Alealo Galiano, dressed as the Queen of the Fairies
  49. Susannah Graham Menzies, dressed as Titania, Queen of the Fairies

Some women came as goddesses:

  1. Marie, Baroness de Courcel, dressed as Night
  2. Florence, Lady Terence Blackwood, dressed as Flora Goddess of Flowers
  3. Probably (Sybil Aimée) Geraldine Webber (née Magniac), dressed as Dawn
  4. Fanny Ronalds, dressed as Euterpe
  5. Alice, Lady Glenesk, dressed as Egeria
  6. Louisa Augusta Beatrice (née Montagu), Countess of Gosford, dressed as Minerva (period of Louis XV)
  7. Sybil Mary (née St Clair-Erskine), Countess of Westmorland, dressed as Hebe
  8. Mary Emmeline Laura (née Milner), Lady Gerard, dressed as Astarte, Goddess of the Moon
  9. Marie Elizabeth Françoise Hope-Vere (née Guillemin), dressed as Medusa
  10. Agnes Adela (née Kindersley), Lady Herschell, dressed as Night
  11. Dorothy Blanche ('Doreen', née Boyle), Viscountess Long, dressed as Urania, Goddess of Astronomy
  12. Edith Amelia (née Ward), Lady Wolverton, dressed as Britannia
  13. Lady Alice Stanley, dressed as Diana

Men also came as kings and emperors:

  1. Spencer Compton, Duke of Devonshire, dressed as the Emperor Charles V
  2. N. Boulatzell, dressed as Prince of Mingrelia
  3. Frederic Glyn, 4th Baron Wolverton, dressed as King Richard Coeur de Lion
  4. Prince Victor Albert Jay Duleep Singh, dressed as Akbar
  5. Charles Stewart Henry Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry when Viscount Castlereagh as the Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria, dressed as
  6. George Rodney, 7th Baron Rodney, dressed as King Arthur of the Round Table
  7. John Dunville, dressed as the Emperor Yuan of China
  8. Reuben David Sassoon, dressed as a Persian Prince
  9. Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe, dressed as Philip II of Spain
  10. Sir Ralph Barrett Macnaghten, 9th Bt., dressed as Jerome Buonaparte, King of Westphalia
  11. Alfred Charles de Rothschild, dressed as King Henry III
  12. Lord Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, dressed as the King of Poland
  13. Sir Charles Edward Cradock-Hartopp, 5th Bt., dressed as Napoleon I

The courts or groupings are subnetworks within the network at this ball: there are other women dressed as goddesses, for example, than the ones included in the procession, suggesting that the ones who organized into groups did it based on relationships with each other than with a preference for a particular time or person. People who came as individuals are often dressed to represent an ancestor, for example.

At this ball, women were “arbiters” of cultural, social and political power. Even though both the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire hosted the ball, it was and has since always been called her ball. As social organizers, they were the gatekeepers to the aristocracy, granting some admittance and denying others (Davidoff). As accomplished beauties and leaders of fashion, they were cultural arbiters (Clarke). Costumed as queens, they presented themselves as “makers of history” (Felber). Their portraits taken in costume, which can be found in the National Portrait Gallery today, were a performance of wealth and privilege, and, with the identities personated, power.

Works Cited for This Section[edit | edit source]

  • “Ball at Devonshire House.” The Times Saturday 3 July 1897: 12, Cols. 1a–4c The Times Digital Archive. Web. 28 Nov. 2015.
  • “Ball at Devonshire House.” Evening Mail 05 July 1897 Monday: 8 [of 8], Col. 1a–4c [of 6]. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003187/18970705/070/0008.
  • Clarke, Meaghan. Fashionability, Exhibition Culture and Gender Politics: Fair Women. Routledge, 2020.
  • Davidoff, Leonore. The Best Circles: Society, Etiquette and the Season. Taylor & Francis, 1973.
  • “The Duchess’s Costume Ball.” Westminster Gazette 03 July 1897 Saturday: 5 [of 8], Cols. 1a–3b [of 3]. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002947/18970703/035/0005.
  • Felber, Lynette, ed. Clio's Daughters: British Women Making History, 1790-1899. Associated University Presses, 2007.

The Courts in Performance[edit | edit source]

We know almost nothing about how these processions or quadrilles were formed, except that the Duchess of Devonshire may have been encouraged a few of the leading women to form courts. We know that the groups doing quadrilles would have been expected to have rehearsed, and we know that the Elizabethan procession, at least, did do so at a dinner party the night before the ball.

The Western Gazette describes the quadrilles and processions in the introduction of its story on the ball:

The most sumptuous epochs of the most sumptuous Courts were represented, and that with a dazzling completeness which made the times live again all their glitter of precious stuffs, of gold brocades, and imposing arrays of jewels beyond price. There was a noble diversity, yet a satisfying consistency, for the main theory was to reproduce the Courts of princes famous for their love of sumptuary display, and notably the reign of Queen Elizabeth, as perhaps the richest in brave apparel, with the contemporaneous outlook of the French and Spanish Courts of the same era, and these afforded every opportunity for gorgeous display. It might be said that as a panorama of historical costume on these lines no such opportunity has ever occurred of seeing and realising the glories of dress, and the consistent reproduction of historical personages in all their traditional bravery to the fullest advantage.[9]:p. 2, Col. 7a

The Quadrilles[edit | edit source]

"[T]he quadrilles took place" after or as part of the procession.[1]:p. 7, Col. 4C A quadrille is a choreographed "square" dance. (The very specific kind of dance called a square dance in the U.S. is a quadrille, but not all quadrilles are that kind of dance.) Typically, quadrilles were made up of four couples. Apparently fancy-dress balls often included quadrilles, especially those with costumes of the past and bals poudres, typically balls with 18th-century costumes and powdered hair. The Western Gazette describes the quadrilles under "The Dancing":

The dancing was of the most desultory description. There was the Royal quadrille and there were the quadrilles danced by the Venetians, and the Russian quadrille. In the quadrilles the dancers did their best to vie with the old-fashioned courtliness and grace. Some of their courtesies were quite beautifully done. If all did not fall in with the spirit of their times it was excusable, as there were no rehearsals. Not until the chaperons and those who merely went to see had left or gone down to supper was there space for ordinary dancing, and even then so few of the dresses were fitted for the waltz and the gardens were so temptingly cool with all their coloured lights that the latter attracted the majority.[9]:p. 2, Col. 7c

This article suggests that there was a "Royal quadrille" and that the people did not rehearse their quadrilles.

The Royals On the Dias[edit | edit source]

No definitive list exists so far of who exactly was counted among the Royals who were on the dais, though it seems likely it would be the Prince of Wales's immediate family, including his siblings and children as well as the Princess of Wales, but a number of people who were — or had been — royals in other countries were also present.

The Prince and Princess of Wales's Children and Their Families[edit | edit source]

The Prince of Wales's siblings and Their Families[edit | edit source]

Many of these costumes are from the Elizabethan period, but the royals wearing them would not have been in the Elizabethan procession or quadrille. One newspaper report noticed this as well.

Other Royals Possibly on the Dais[edit | edit source]

These people were closely related but not of Victoria's immediate family and thus perhaps not eligible for the same obeisances? So perhaps they were not on the dais. Also, they are not listed as having marched in a procession or danced in a quadrille.

Also, it does not seem likely that Louisa, Duchess and Spencer Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire (at 19) took part in one of the courts or quadrilles. They welcomed the Prince and Princess of Wales to Devonshire House and would have been presented, if they were, at that time.

Processions[edit | edit source]

Speaking of the processions before the Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and Alexandra, Princess of Wales the Morning Post describes the scene:

One after the other they entered by one door, advanced up the middle of the ball room, made obeisance, and left by another door. Those who did not belong to any particular group lined the room and crowded the doorways. After this the quadrilles took place.[1]:7, Col. 4C

The Graphic published this drawing, by W. Hatherell and J. Gulich, of a member of one of the processions bowing before the Prince and Princess of Wales. Given the attendant train bearers, the woman might be who?

("Duchess of Devonshire's Costume Ball, The: The Procession of Guests Bowing to the Royal Group in the White and Gold Saloon. Drawn by W. Hatherell and J. Gulich." The Graphic 10 July 1897: 17–18 [of 34].)

It seems that the processions came in to the White and Gold Saloon and then formed in front of the Royals to do their quadrilles, so any group might be called a procession or a quadrille, depending on what exactly they did. According to the Morning Post, which in this list apparently mixes up "courts" and processions, "The following processions were formed shortly after the assembling of the guests, and passed through the ball-room":

  1. "Oriental" (their word for it, and repeated twice more later in the list)
  2. Goddesses and gods
  3. Duchess
  4. Venetians
  5. Austrian
  6. Russian, led by the "Trumpeters of the Imperial Guard"
  7. Louis XVI
  8. Elizabethan

The Morning Post story highlighted the "Oriental" procession, which was the first procession to dance before the Prince and Princess of Wales, as did the story in the Gentlewoman, by listing it first and describing it in detail. Also, the Morning Post article attempted to illustrated how people were arranged in the processions by the way their names were typeset.

"Oriental" Procession[edit | edit source]

What the newspapers called the "Oriental" procession was "the Oriental Queens of an era previous to Christianity, with their suites," who were permitted to assemble in a different place than everybody else before leading the rest of the processions and quadrilles.[10]:5, Col. 2c [2]:p. 32, Col. 2a This paragraph in the Westminster Gazette and the Gentlewoman suggests but does not say that the Duchess of Devonshire was part of this procession, which seems unlikely though possible. The newspaper accounts are clear that she was not the leader of the procession but that Lady Cynthia Graham and Daisy Cornwallis-West, Princess of Pless led the "Oriental" procession as Queens of Sheba.[3] [1]:p. 7, Col. 5b

This paragraph from the Daily Telegraph occurs at the end of the paragraph describing the Duchess of Devonshire's costume, suggesting but not saying that the "Oriental" queens got this special treatment because she was one of them. Some of the language repeats from other newspapers, like the Daily Telegraph.

Masters of the Ceremonies in Louis Seize military uniforms passed the guests through into inner rooms, only the Oriental Queens of an era previous to Christianity, with their suites, assembling in the white and gold saloon, with its fine pictures in the panels, and brilliantly-lighted by hundreds of wax candles in crystal chandeliers, as were all the rooms.[11]:9, Col. 6a

No evidence exists that the Duchess walked with these queens or, indeed, in any procession at all.

The Attendants for the Queens of the "Oriental" Procession[edit | edit source]

Some of the Duchess of Devonshire's attendants and hired staff for the ball were people of color, probably boys and men. Some of the people in attendance on some of the queens at the ball were people of color, again probably boys and men. While not all of these queens were in the "Oriental" procession, several were.

The Queens[edit | edit source]

Truth says that 3 women came dressed as Queen of Sheba but names only Lady Cynthia Graham and Daisy Cornwallis-West, the same 2 named by the Morning Post and Times: "There were three Queens of Sheba, and Paris himself could scarcely have decided to which the apple of beauty should have been awarded."[12]:42, Col. 1b

This procession included the following people:

  1. Lady Cynthia Graham, as the Queen of Sheba
  2. Daisy (Mary Theresa) Cornwallis-West, Princess Henry of Pless, as the Queen of Sheba
  3. The Suite of Ladies following Daisy, Princess of Pless (less likely both the two Queens of Sheba)
    1. Miss West: Miss Cornwallis West, Shelagh Cornwallis-West (#227), as her "Ethiopian attendant"[6]:p. 5, Col. 7c
    2. Miss Mary Goelet (#228)
    3. Lady C. Grosvenor (#229)
    4. Miss Rosalinda Oppenheim (#230)
  4. The Suite of Men following Daisy, Princess of Pless (less likely both the two Queens of Sheba)
    1. The Hon. George Keppel (#39), as King Solomon, in the Suite of Men following the two Queens of Sheba (Lady Cynthia Graham and Princess Henry of Pless)[3][1]:p. 7, Col. 5b
    2. Wilfred Wilson (#232)
    3. Arthur Portman (#233)
    4. Gordon Wood (#234)
    5. The Hon. A. Bourke: Hon. Algernon Bourke (#235)
    6. George Cornwallis-West (#706), not mentioned in any newspaper report
  5. Lady Alicia Duncombe (#453), as a Greek Slave
  6. Hon. Mrs. A. Bourke: Hon. Guendoline Bourke (#236), as Salambo
  7. Minnie Paget (#90), Mrs. Arthur Paget, as Cleopatra
  8. Gerald Paget Paget, likely Gerald Cecil Stewart Paget (#237), as Marc Antony
  9. Lady Randolph Churchill (#132), according to the London Evening Mail[5]:p. 8, Col. 1c, as Empress Theodora of Byzantium
  10. Lady Violet de Trafford (#238)
  11. Alexandra Harriet Paget, Lady Colebrooke (#246)
  12. Two women walking together for some reason
    1. Hon. Mrs. Julia Peel Maguire (#240; the Morning Post has her both in the Oriental and the Duchesses processions)
    2. Miss Muriel Wilson (#242), as Queen Vashti
  13. Miss Keith Fraser (#243)
  14. Mary Charteris, Lady Elcho (#224)
  15. Mrs. Hope-Vere (#245), as Medusa

The Morning Post typeset a visualization of the procession, more or less, like this:

  Lady Cynthia Graham .................. Queen of Sheba.
  Princess Pless ....................... Queen of Sheba.
          Miss West .................. )
          Miss Goelet ................ )
          Lady C. Grosvenor .......... ) Suite of Ladies.
          Miss Oppenheim ............. )
          The Hon. G. Keppel ......... )
          Wilfred Wilson  ............ )
          Arthur Portman ............. ) Suite of Men.
          Gordon Wood ................ )
          The Hon. A. Bourke ......... )
  Lady Alicia Duncombe ................  Greek Slave.
  Hon. Mrs. A. Bourke .................. Salambo.
  Mrs. Arthur Paget .................... Cleopatra.
  Gerald Paget Paget ................... Marc Antony.
  Lady De Trafford
  Hon. Mrs. Maguire ................   )
  Miss Muriel Wilson ................  )
  Miss Keith Fraser
  Lady Elcho
  Mrs. Hope-Vere

Goddesses[edit | edit source]

The women who walked in the procession of goddesses included these women listed in the Morning Post list:

The Gentlewoman says, "Among the gods and goddesses was Titania, the Queen of the Fairies; Lady Westmorland who made the prettiest Hebe; the Furies, Lady Lurgan and Lady Sophie Scott; and Lady Archibald Campbell, who elected to appear as Diana."[2]:p. 32, Col. 2c

Others dressed as goddesses — likely dressed as individuals and not part of an organized group — include the following:

The Morning Post typeset a visualization of the procession, more or less, like this[1]:p. 7, Col. 5B:

Goddesses were:
           Lady Gerard.
           Lady Westmorland.
           Lady Lurgan.
           Lady S. [Sophie?] Scott.
           Mrs. Talbot.
           Miss de Brienen.
           Mrs. Leslie.

The Duchesses Procession[edit | edit source]

The members of this procession included the following:

  1. Katherine Osborne, the Duchess of Leeds (at 35), as the fictional Persian character Lalla Rookh. While the Morning Post says she walked in the Duchesses Procession, she might have walked in the "Oriental" one instead.
  2. Lady Dudley: Georgina, Dowager Countess of Dudley (at 198)
  3. Gwladys, Countess de Grey (at 136), possibly as Cleopatra (according to the Carlisle Patriot, she headed the "Oriental" procession, but the Morning Post visualization puts her with the Duchesses)[13]
  4. Lady Randolph Churchill (at 132), as Empress Theodora of Byzantium
  5. Mrs. Maguire (the Morning Post has her both in the Oriental and the Duchesses processions)
  6. Adele Grant Capell, Countess Essex (at 194)
  7. Margot Asquith (at 217), as a snake charmer
  8. Mrs. Leo (at 246)
  9. Louisa Acheson, Lady Gosford (at 140), as a lady in Charles V.'s Court(?)
  10. Edith Glyn, Baroness Wolverton (at 130), as Britannia
  11. Lady Alice Maude Olivia Montagu Stanley (at 157) (but she seems more likely to have walked in the Goddess procession)
  12. Mr. L. Brassey (at 252), as Apollo
  13. Lady A. Acheson — Lady Alexandra Louise Elizabeth Acheson — (at 254), in Hunting Costume, period of Louis XV
  14. Lord Acheson, Archibald Charles Montagu Brabazon Acheson (at 255), as Mignon Henri III. or Raoul di Nangis
  15. Lady J. Stanley (at 250)
  16. W. Stanley: Hon. Frederick William Stanley (at 473), in hunting dress (period of Louis XVI) or as Chasseur à Louis XV

The Morning Post typeset a visualization of the procession, more or less, like this, suggesting that everybody except Lady de Grey and Lady Wolverton was walking or perhaps dancing side by side in pairs.

              Duchess of Leeds.                 Lady Dudley.
                                 Lady de Grey.
              Lady Randolph Churchill.          Lady Colebrooke.
              Mrs. Maguire.                     Lady Essex.
              Mrs. Asquith.                     Mrs. Leo.
              Lady Gosford.                     E. Stanley.
                                Lady Wolverton.
              Lady A. Stanley.                  L. Brassey.
              Lady A. Acheson.                  Lord Acheson.
              Lady J. Stanley.                  W. Stanley.

Italian Procession[edit | edit source]

The Venetians Procession is variously called the Venetian or 17th-century or Italian Procession or Quadrille in the newspapers. This group is also made up of subgroups: the Italian Procession, the Venetians and the 17th Century, each smaller procession with its own leader.

The Westminster Gazette says, "The Venetian group might indeed have been called a 'dream of fair women,' as it numbered more decidedly beautiful women than any other at the ball."[14]:p. 5, Col. 1

The Gentlewoman says,

The Venetian Court was most picturesque, led by the Duchess of Portland, who looked magnificent in white brocade embroidered with silver, a diamond crown, and ropes of diamonds and pearl, round her neck. One of the most noticeable ladies of her Court was Lady Mar and Kellie, in white and green and silver, embroidered with gold.[2]:p. 32, Col. 3a

Truth says something quite similar:

The Venetian group was highly picturesque. Lord Lathom was Doge, and among the ladies and gentlemen of Venice were the Duchess of Portland, Countess of Mar and Kellie, Lady Alington, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Grenfell, and Lord and Lady St. Oswald.[12]:41, Col. 2c

These are the names in the visualization in the Morning Post story.

Italian Procession[edit | edit source]

  1. The Countess Mar and Kellie (at 160), as Beatrice
  2. Lloyd Tyrell-Kenyon, 4th Baron Kenyon (at 167) as Guido Cavalcanti
  3. Mabel Winn, Lady St. Oswald (at 284), as Duchessa di Caluria in the Italian procession or a Venetian lady of the 14th century
  4. Mr. George Wyndham (at 221), as Signor di Samare
  5. Miss Blanche Forbes (at 285), as Donna Lucrezia Arcella
  6. Mr. Schreiber (at 286), as Duca d'Iripolda
  7. Mrs. Higgins (at 287), as Donna Valeria Bodessa
  8. Mr. William Henry Grenfell (at 222), as Signor di Argentina or as Mercutio
  9. Mrs. Mary Von André (at 289), as Desdemona
  10. Mr. Murray Guthrie (at 290), as Otello
  11. Lady Alice Montagu (at 292), as Laura and escorted by Giles Fox-Strangways
  12. Giles Fox-Strangways (at 78), Lord Stavordale, as Petrarch
  13. Miss Enid Wilson (at 293), as Giulietta
  14. Lord Hyde: George Herbert Hyde Villiers (at 294), as Romeo

Venetians[edit | edit source]

  1. The Earl of Lathom (at 125), as Il Doge, Giovannino de Medici
  2. Mr. Hwfa Williams (was unable to attend), as Cardinale Giovanni Bembo
  3. Mrs. Hwfa Williams (was unable to attend), as Caterina Cornaro (Regina di Cipri)
  4. Hon. Ivor Guest (at 295), as Marco (Re di Cipri)
  5. Mildred Cadogan, Viscountess Chelsea (at 162), Venditrice di Fiori, a Veronese lady
  6. Mr. Clarence Wilson (at 300), as Buffone
  7. Hon. Seymour Fortescue (at 296), as Avocato
  8. Hon. S. Greville (at 297), as Cipriano
  9. The Hon. Mrs. George (Mary) Curzon (at 301), as Marchesa Malaspina
  10. Hon. George Peel (at 302), as Luigi Giorgi
  11. Ettie (Mrs. W.) Grenfell (at 200), as Contessa Maria Cicogna or Maria de Medici
  12. The Hon. Evan Charteris (at 303), as Cavaliere Vittorio
  13. Lady Lettice Grosvenor (at 304), as Bianca Capelli
  14. Lord Alexander Thynne (at 305), as Marino Grimani
  15. Mrs. Cavendish Bentinck (at 264), as Grandezza degli Antenati
  16. Hon. Cecil Brownlow (at 305), as Nicolo Danabi
  17. Mrs. Olive Guthrie (at 291), as Marguerita Grimani
  18. Mr. Herbert Wilson (at 307), as Antonio Priali (misspelled as Briali)

17th-Century Procession[edit | edit source]

  1. Louise (Mrs. Arthur) Sassoon (at 202), as La Dogaressa, led the 17th-century procession, with two nephews as attendants:
    1. Evelyn Achille de Rothschild (at 669), as a page to the Doge's Wife
    2. Anthony Gustav de Rothschild (at 670), as a page to the Doge's Wife
  2. Arthur Wellesley Peel, 1st Viscount Peel (at 74), as Il Doge
  3. Winifred, Duchess of Portland (at 29), as Duchessa di Savoia
  4. William, Duke of Portland (at 28), as Duca Filiberto di Savoia (or possibly the Duke of Buckingham)
  5. Lady Helen Vincent (at 215), as Contessa Valentina Gateago
  6. Sir Edgar Vincent (at 226), as II Conte Oravio or Orayio
  7. Mrs. Gerard Leigh (at 308), as Lucrezia de Rossi
  8. Mr. Higgins (at 288), as Sanchio di Sedilla
  9. Mrs. Katherine Mary Drummond (at 309), as Donna Caranado
  10. Mr. Henry White (at 310), as Giovanni Felici (or possibly Henri de Lorraine, Duc de Guise)
  11. Miss Mildred Grenfell (at 30), as Bianca di Piacoma, accompanying Winifred, Duchess of Portland
  12. Mr. Norton (at ), as Guyman di Silva (the Times and hence the Evening Mail says Morton)
  13. Captain Fraser (at 244), as Duca di Tarsis

Visitors to the Court of Savoia

  1. Windham, Earl of Dunraven (at 199), as Cardinal Mazzarin
  2. Consuelo, Duchess of Manchester (at 175), as Anne d'Autriche [this isn't right: she's in the Russian Procession with the Duke of Marlborough, as the French Ambassador to the Court of Catherine II and his wife.]
  3. Mr. Jean Béraud (at 312), as Cinq Mars

Not Listed in the Morning Post story, But Still[edit | edit source]

... said somewhere to have been in the Italian Procession or might logically have processed with them.

  1. Lady Edward Cecil, probably Violet Georgina Maxse Gascoyne-Cecil (at 102)

The Morning Post Visualization[edit | edit source]

In the Morning Post visualization of the procession, Beatrice, the Countess of Mar and Kellie led the procession. The typeset visualization looks, more or less, like this:

                                 ITALIAN PROCESSION
                 Beatrice,                            Guido Cavalcanti,
    The Countess of Mar and Kellie.                      Lord Kenyon.
            Duchessa di Caluria,                      Signor di Samare,
              Lady St. Oswald.                       Mr. George Wyndham.
          Donna Lucrezia Arcella,                      Duca d'Iripolda,
           Miss Blanche Forbes.                         Mr. Schreiber.
          Donna Valeria Bodessa,                     Signor di Argentina,
              Mrs. Higgins.                            Mr. W. Grenfell.
                Desdemona,                                 Otello,
             Mrs. Von André.                         Mr. Murray Guthrie.
                 Laura,                                  Petrarch,
          Lady Alice Montagu.                         Lord Stavordale.
               Giulietta,                                 Romeo,
           Miss Enid Wilson.                             Lord Hyde.

                                    Venetians
       Il Doge (Giovannino de Medici),                Marco (Redi Cipri),
            The Earl of Lathom.                        Hon. Ivor Guest.
        Avocato,                Venditrice di Fiori,             Cipriano,
 Hon. Seymour Fortescue         Viscountess Chelsea.        Hon. S. Greville.
                                    Buffone,
                              Mr. Clarence Wilson.
            Marchesa Malaspina,                         Luigi Giorgi,
         Hon. Mrs. George Curzon.                     Hon. George Peel.
           Contessa Maria Cicogna,                        Cavaliere Vittorio,
             Mrs. W. Grenfell.                           Hon. Evan Charteris.
              Bianca Capelli,                              Marino Grimani,
         Lady Lettice Grosvenor.                       Lord Alexander Thynne. 
        Grandezza degli Autenati,                          Nicolo Danabi,
         Mrs. Cavendish Bentinck.                       Hon. Cecil Brownlow.
           Marguerita Grimani.                             Antonio Priali,
              Mrs. Guthrie.                              Mr. Herbert Wilson.

                                  17th CENTURY
              La Dogaressa,                                  Il Doge,
           Mrs. Arthur Sassoon.                           Viscount Peel.
            Duchessa di Savoia,                      Duca Filiberto di Savoia,
         The Duchess of Partland.                       The Duke of Portland.
        Contessa Valentina Gateago,                        II Conte Oravio,
            Lady Helen Vincent.                           Sir Edgar Vincent.
             Lucrezia de Rossi,                          Sanchio di Sedilla,
             Mrs. Gerard Leigh.                              Mr. Higgins.
               Donna Caranado,                             Giovanni Felici,
               Mrs. Drummond.                                Mr. H. White.
             Bianci di Piacoma,                            Guyman di Silva,
           Miss Mildred Grenfell.                             Mr. Norton.
                                  Duca di Tarsis,
                                  Captain Fraser.
                          Visitors to the Court of Savoia.
      Cardinal Mazzarin,         Anne d'Autriche,                Cinq Mars,
    The Earl of Dunraven.    The Duchess of Manchester.       Mr. Jean Bérand.

Austrian[edit | edit source]

The Gentlewoman says, "The Austrian Court was a wonderful procession, headed by the Marchioness of Londonderry as the Empress Marie Thérèse. She wore the famous Londonderry diamonds, which included a diamond crown copied exactly from one worn by the Empress Marie Thérèse on her powdered hair. She was followed by four young Archduchesses, in white and silver and pale blue ribbons."[2]:p. 32, Col. 2c–3a

The Austrian procession and quadrille were headed up by Theresa Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry as Marie Thèrése of Austria. Most accounts say it had 4 archduchesses in attendance, even though the Guernsey Star reported 5 and the Belfast News-Letter adds Miss Seymour (at 406):

  • "four beautiful young Archduchesses in white and silver with pale blue ribbons, and wearing white plumes in their powdered hair"[6]:p. 5, Col. 7A
  • "four young Archduchesses, in white and silver and pale blue ribbons. These ladies were impersonated by Lady Helen Stewart, Lady Beatrice Butler, Lady Beatrix FitzMaurice, and Lady Alexandra Hamilton."[2]:p. 32, Col. 2c–3a
  • "five Archduchesses and five Archdukes. The former, all attired exactly alike in white and silver brocade, were Lady Helen Stewart, Lady Beatrice Butler, Lady Beatrix FitzMaurice, Lady Alexandra Hamilton, and Miss Stirling."[15]

Possibly this quite-large group had subsections: the Morning Post and the Times mention for example "the Archduchess Marie-Karoline and Emperor Joseph II section of the Austrian Court of Maria Theresa Quadrille."[1]:p. 7, Col. 6b [3]

  1. Section 1
    1. Theresa Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry (at 42), as Marie Thérèse of Austria
    2. Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, Marquis of Lansdowne (at 52), as Prince Kaunitz
    3. Maud Hamilton Petty-Fitzmaurice, Marchioness of Lansdowne (at 51), as Lady Keith, wife of the British Ambassador at the Court of Marie Thérèse
    4. Augustus, Marquis of Winchester, as a Coldstream Guard at Vienna
  2. Section 2: Archduchess Marie-Karoline and Emperor Joseph II section of the Austrian Court of Maria Theresa Quadrille
    1. Archduchesses
      1. Lady Beatrice Butler (at 45), Archduchess Marie-Karoline
      2. Lady Alexandra Hamilton (at 46), Archduchess Marie-Josepha
      3. Lady Beatrix Petty-FitzMaurice (at 44), as Archduchess Marie Anna
      4. Lady Helen Stewart (Vane-Tempest-Stewart) (at 43), as the Archduchess Marie Christine of Austria
    2. Charles Stewart Henry Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh (at 73), attended as Maria Thérèse's son Emperor Joseph II (Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, was the Marchioness of Londonderry's son.)
    3. Mr. Gathorne-Hardy (at 352), as Archduke Leopold
    4. Charles William Reginald Duncombe, Viscount Helmsley (at 353), as Archduke Charles
    5. Lord William Lurgan (at 165), as Duke Albert von Sachsen-Texhen or Sachsentexhen
  3. Small Group of 4
    1. Lady Magheramorne (at 355), as Maria-Amelia, Princess of Lorraine
    2. Lady Aline Beaumont (at 356), as as Marie Josephe of Austria or Queen of Sardinia
    3. Lord Ava: Archibald Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Earl of Ava (at 357), as Archduke Maximilian
    4. Mr. C. Willoughby (at 358), as Grand Duke Charles of Tuscany
  4. Small Group of 4
    1. Mrs. Mabel (G. Gervase) Beckett (at 359), as Princess Elenora of Lichtenstein
    2. Siegfried, Count Clary (at 205), as General Count Nadasdy
    3. Mrs. Muriel Beckett [sic Mrs. R. Beckeet] (at 482), as Princess Isabella of Parma
    4. Count Hadik (at 361), as Field-Marshal Hadik
  5. Small Group of 4
    1. Cicely Gascoyne-Cecil, Viscountess Cranborne (at 196), as Princess Josepha of Bavaria
    2. Schomberg McDonnell, Mr. Schomberg M'Donnell (at 104), as Duke Ferdinand of Modena
    3. Lady Hilda Charteris Brodrick (at 362, Lady H. Brodrick), as Princess Marie Künigunde of Saxony
    4. Mr. Jack Graham Menzies (at 362), as Freiherr von Bartenstein
  6. Small Group of 4
    1. Mrs. Evelyn James (at 364), as Archduchess Elizabeth
    2. Lady C. FitzMaurice (at 365), as Secretary to Kaunitz, personated as listed above by Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, Marquis of Lansdowne (at 558)
    3. Muriel Duncombe, Viscountess Helmsley (at 354), as Princess Charlotte of Lorraine
    4. Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, Earl of Kerry (at 72), as Count Mercy d'Argentau
  7. Small Group of 4
    1. Lady E. Cavendish (probably Lady Evelyn Cavendish, at 164), as Countess Trautmannsdorf
    2. Mr. F. B. Mildmay (at 95), as "Field-Marshal Count Charles of Batthyany"
    3. (Lady M.) Lady Moyra Cavendish (at 366)
    4. James Somerville, Lord Athlumney (at 367), as Prince Metternich
  8. Small Group of 2? (or they belong above, her with the Archduchesses?)
    1. Miss Stirling (at 47), as Countess Kinskey in the Austrian Court of Maria Theresa Quadrille
    2. Mr. St. John Brodrick (at 368), as Count Kinskey
  9. People not in the Morning Post visualization but elsewhere said to have been in this procession:
    1. Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, the Marquess of Londonderry (at 511), in the procession according to the Morning Post story
    2. Edmond Fitzmaurice (at 627), a Courtier of the Empress Marie Thérèse
    3. Miss Alexandra Ellis (at 655), in a Thérèse costume

The Morning Post typeset a visualization of the procession, more or less, like this[1]:p. 7, Col. 6b:

Lady Londonderry . . . . . Empress Maria Theresa.
Lord Lansdowne . . . . . . Prince Kaunitz.
Lady Lansdowne . . . . . . Lady Keith.
Lord Winchester  . . . . . A Coldstream Guard at Vienna.

Lady B. Butler . . . . . . Archduchess Marie-Karoline.
Lord Castlereagh . . . . . Emperor Joseph II.
Lady A. Hamilton . . . . . Archduchess Marie-Josepha.
Mr. Gathorne-Hardy . . . . Archduke Leopold.
Lady B. FitzMaurice  . . . Archduchess Marie Anna.
Lord Helmsley  . . . . . . Archduke Charles.
Lady Helen Stewart . . . . Archduchess Marie Christine. 
Lord Lurgan  . . . . . . . Duke Albert von Sachsen-Texhen. 

Lady Magheramorne . . . . . Maria-Amelia, Princess of Lorraine. 
Lady Aline Beaumont . . . . Queen of Sardinia. 
Lord Ava  . . . . . . . . . Archduke Maximilian. 
Mr. C. Willoughby . . . . . Grand Duke Charles of Tuscany. 

Mrs. G. Beckett . . . . . . Princess Elenora of Lichtenstein. 
Count Clary . . . . . . . . General Count Nadasdy. 
Mrs. R. Beckeet [sic] . . . Princess Isabella of Parma. 
Count Hadik . . . . . . . . Field-Marshal Hadik. 

Lady Cranborne  . . . . . . Princess Josepha of Bavaria. 
Mr. M'Donnel  . . . . . . . Duke Ferdinand of Modena. 
Lady H. Brodrick  . . . . . Princess Marie Künigunde of Saxony. 
Mr. Menzies . . . . . . . . Freiherr von Bartenstein.

Mrs. James  . . . . . . . . Archduchess Elizabeth. 
Lady C. FitzMaurice . . . . Secretary to Kaunitz. 
Lady Helmsley . . . . . . . Princess Charlotte of Lorraine. 
Lord Kerry  . . . . . . . . Count Mercy d'Argentau. 

Lady E. Cavendish . . . . . Countess Trautmannsdorf. 
Mr. Mildmay . . . . . . . . Field-Marshal Count Charles of Batthyany. 
Lady M. Cavendish . . . . . Countess Lützau (A Lady-in-Waiting to Maria Theresa). 
Lord Athlumney  . . . . . . Prince Metternich. 

Miss Stirling . . . . . . . Countess Kinskey. 
Mr. Brodrick  . . . . . . . Count Philip Kinsky.

Russian[edit | edit source]

According to the Gentlewoman,

The Russian Court formed a dazzling procession, headed by Lady Raincliffe, as the Empress Catherine; her gown of white satin was studded with rubies, emeralds, and turquoises, and across her bodice she wore a blue ribbon with the Orders of the Star and Eagle, and upon her head a Russian crown of diamonds. Beside her was Prince Orloff, represented by Prince Henry Pless, in a costume of red cloth with heavy gold embroideries; he also wore the Order of St. Catherine. There were eight officers of the Imperial Court accompanying the Empress, whilst Lady Henry Bentinck and Lady Yarborough impersonated ladies of her suite, amongst which one of the most striking figures was Mr. Cresswell, as her Chamberlain, in a costume of cerise velvet, covered with the double-headed eagle of Russia in gold, which embroidery was repeated on his pink satin vest, his white satin breeches, and his silk stockings.[2]:p. 32, 3b

Truth says,

Lady Raincliffe as Catherine of Russia was a marvel of millinery in yellow / and gold, ermine and rubies. Her lords and ladies emulated her splendour, and among the most successful were the Duchesses of Marlborough and Newcastle, Lady Yarborough, Lady Henry Bentinck, Lord Raincliffe, and Mr. Cresswall.[12]:41, Col 2c – 42, Col. 1a

  1. The "Trumpeters of the Imperial Guard" led the procession
  2. The first group, if they did break into subgroups
    1. Lord Henry Bentinck (probably Lord Henry Cavendish Bentinck) (at 262), as Count Poneatowski (afterwards King of Poland)
    2. Grace Denison, Viscountess Raincliffe (at 75), as Catherine II of Russia (after the picture by Lambi)
    3. Count Heeren (at 265), as Duc de Ligne
    4. Addison Francis Baker-Cresswell (Mr. A. F. B. Cresswell) (at 103), as Count Lausköi, Chamberlain of the Empress Catherine II of Russia
  3. The second group
    1. Prince Henry of Pless (at 40), as Count Orloff
    2. Mrs. H. T. Barclay (at 266), Princess Shakofsky
    3. Mr. Biddulph (at 268), as Count Soltykoff
  4. The third group, with the 8 "Imperial Guard" walking along the outside (or at least typeset that way) of the "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Court"
    1. Imperial Guards: left side
      1. William Denison, Viscount Raincliffe (at 76)
      2. Captain E. B. Cook (at 269)
      3. Hon. Gerald Ward (at 271)
      4. James Stewart Forbes (at 273)[6]:p. 5, Col. 7a
    2. Imperial Guards: right side
      1. Lord Romilly (at 269)
      2. Mr. H. T. Barclay (at 267)
      3. The Hon. Cecil Campbell (at 272)
      4. Mr. C. Wellesley Wilson (at 274)
    3. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Court
      1. Consuelo Vanderbilt Spencer-Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough (at 174)
      2. Sunny (Charles Richard John) Spencer-Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough (at 142), one of the Gentlemen of the Court of Catherine II of Russia
      3. Kathleen Florence May Candy Pelham-Clinton, Duchess of Newcastle (at 150)
      4. Charles Anderson-Pelham, Earl of Yarborough (at 61), with Lady Yarborough, was among Ladies and Gentlemen of the Court
      5. Marcia Anderson-Pelham, Countess of Yarborough (at 54)
      6. Lord Shipley Cardross (at 275)
      7. Lady Rosalie Cardross (at 276)
      8. Herbert Marmaduke Joseph Stourton (at 277)
      9. the Hon. M. (Muriel) Erskine (at 278), as La Marquise de Vintimille du Luc
      10. Mr. Elliot: Sir Henry George Elliot (at 279)
      11. Lady Henry Bentinck (Lady Henry Cavendish Bentinck) (at 263)
      12. N. Boulatzell (at 280), as Prince of Mingrelia, one of the Gentlemen of the Court in the procession of the Empress Catherine II of Russia
      13. Lady Margaret Spicer (at 281), as Countess Soltykoff
      14. M. Nicholas Gourko (at 108)
      15. Lady Mildred Denison (at 283)
      16. Charles Henry John Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury (at 101), as a member of the Court of Catherine II of Russia
      17. "Black Attendants"

The Guernsey Star suggests that the Hon. Mrs. Erskine's daughter was in this procession, but the Morning Post does not list her.[15] The Hon. Cecil Lambton (at 628) was also there, apparently, and sold his costume to theatre director Arthur Collins, who directed The White Heather.[16]

The Morning Post's visualization of the procession looks more or less like this[1]:p. 7, Col. 5b:

                             Trumpeters of the Imperial Guard.
Count Poneatowski            Empress Catherine II. of Russia           Duc de Ligne,
(afterwards King of Poland),  (after the picture by Lambi),            Count Heeren.           
Lord Henry Bentinck.                 Lady Raincliffe.                  Count Lausköi,
                                                                       Mr. Cresswell.
Count Orloff,                     Princess Shakofsky,                Count Soltykoff,
Prince Henry of Pless.            Mrs. H. T. Barclay.                   Mr. Biddulph.

["Imperial Guard." — typeset vertically up the left and down the right side of the column, with 2 vertical rules separating the two columns of names.]

                 Lord Raincliffe.   |           |   Lord Romilly.
                    Captain Cook.   |           |   Mr. H. T. Barclay.
                Hon. Gerald Ward.   |           |   Hon. Cecil Campbell.
                   Mr. J. Forbes.   |           |   Mr. T. W. Wilson.
                            Ladies and Gentlemen of the Court.
                 Duchess of Marlborough.      Duke of Marlborough.
                 Duchess of Newcastle.        Earl of Yarborough.
                 Countess of Yarborough.      Lord Cardross.
                 Lady Cardross.               Mr. Stourton.
                 Hon. M. Erskine.             Mr. Elliot.
                 Lady Henry Bentinck.         M. Botalzell.
                 Lady Margaret Spicer.        M. Gourko.
                 Lady Mildred Denison.        Earl of Shrewsbury.
                                   Black Attendants.

Louis XV and XVI Period[edit | edit source]

Louis XV was King of France 1715–1774, although his reign began when he reached maturity in 1724. Louis XVI reigned 1774–1792.

Daisy, Countess Warwick, as Marie Antoinette, was widely regarded as the center of this group rather than any of the Louis. Truth says,

The Countess of Warwick, as Marie Antoinette, in white and blue, with golden fleur-de-lys upon her velvet train, was the centre of a picturesque group, among whom was the Earl of Essex, dressed as his ancestor of that period, and the Earl of Mar and Kellie as Sir Walter Raleigh.[12]:42, Col 1a

The Morning Post calls this one a quadrille rather than a procession, the quadrille of the Louis XV and XVI Period,[1]:7, Col. 6B This procession or quadrille was organized and led by Daisy, Countess of Warwick[17]:p. 5, Col. 9c.

  1. Headed by Daisy, Countess Warwick (at 53) as Marie Antoinette[15], as La Reine Marie Antoinette[1]
    1. Plus 4 boys dressed as pages[18]
  2. Georgiana Elizabeth Spencer-Churchill Curzon, Viscountess Curzon (at 168), as La Reine Marie Leszuiska in the quadrille of the period of Louis XV and XVI
  3. Nellie, Countess Kilmorey (at 207), as Madame du Barry
  4. Lady Algernon Gordon-Lennox (at 333), as Princesse de Lamballe
  5. Lady Harriet Burton (at 334), as Madame de Tençin
  6. Florence Canning, Lady Garvagh (at 336), as Comtesse d'Artois
  7. The Hon. Mrs. Greville (at 299), as Madame Elizabeth de France
  8. Alice (the Hon. Mrs. George) Keppel (at 231), as Madame de Polignac
  9. Lady Rose Leigh (at 337), as Duchesse de Villars
  10. Mrs. Farquharson (at 338), as L'Archiduchesse Louise
  11. Miss Mary Naylor (at 339), as Comtesse de Charny
  12. The Hon. Mrs. Sackville West (at 340), as Duchess of Dorset
  13. Henry Arthur Cadogan, Viscount Chelsea (at 163), as Le Roi Louis XV in the quadrille of the Louis XV. and Louis XVI. Period
  14. Lord Camden: John Pratt, 4th Marquess Camden (at 341), as Duc de Richelieu
  15. The Hon. Humphrey Sturt, M.P. (at 120), as an Abbé de l'Epoque
  16. Lord Michael Burton (at 335), as Cardinal Dubois
  17. Mousquetaires et Militaires de l'Epoque
    1. Luke White, Lord Annaly (at 342)
    2. Lord Tullibardine: John George Stewart-Murray, Marquess of Tullibardine (at 343)
    3. Lord George Stewart-Murray (at 344)
    4. Frederick Edward Guest, the Hon. F. Guest (at 345), as one of the Mousquetaires et Militaires de l'Epoque in the Quadrille of the Louis XV. and Louis XVI.
    5. Sir Samuel Scott, Bart., (at 99) one of the Mousquetaires et Militaires de l'Epoque in the Quadrille of the Louis XV. and Louis XVI
    6. Captain Gordon Wilson (at 96), one of the Mousquetaires et Militaires de l'Epoque in the Quadrille of the Louis XV. and Louis XVI
    7. Captain the Hon. W. Lambton (at 346), likely Hon. Sir William Lambton, one of the Mousquetaires et Militaires de l'Epoque in the Quadrille of the Louis XV. and Louis XVI.
    8. Captain Gilbert Elliot (at 347)
    9. Mr. Frank Dugdale (at 348)
    10. Carlo Ermes Visconti, Marchese di San Vito (at 691), as one of the Mousquetaires
  18. Mr. Clive Wilson (at 349) as Le Comte de Ferson in the Quadrille of the Louis XV. and Louis XVI
  19. Mr. W. M. Lowe (at 350), as Gentilhomme de la Cour Louis XVI
  20. Rt. Hon. Arnold Morley (at 351), was dressed as a Gentilhomme de la Cour Louis XV in the Quadrille of the Louis XV. and Louis XVI. or Duc de Choiseul.

Not listed in the visualization in the Morning Post and probably not a member of the quadrille but mentioned elsewhere as having been dressed in a costume of this period:

  1. Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland (at 33), "belonged to the Louis Seize group of the Countess of Warwick"[15]
  2. The Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain (at 93), as a gentleman of the Louis XVI period
  3. Lady Sarah Wilson (at 392), as Madame de Pompadour
  4. Mr. Gerald Loder, M.P. (at 100), as a Gentleman of the Court of Louis XVI
  5. Sir George Frederick Stanley (at 249), as Maro (period of Louis XVI)
  6. Lady Isobel Stanley (at 645), in hunting costume, period of Louis XVI
  7. Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart y Falcó, Lord Alva (at 405), as as a courtier of Louis XV
  8. Charles Carington, the Earl Carington (at 69), as Louis Seize
  9. Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury (at 101), either a Gentleman of the Court of Lois XV. or a Gentleman of the Court of the Empress Catherine II of Russia

The Morning Post typeset a visualization of the procession, more or less, like this:

Louis XV. and Louis XVI. Period. 
Lady Warwick . . . . . . . . . . La Reine Marie Antoinette. 
Lady Curzon  . . . . . . . . . . La Reine Marie Leszuiska. 
Lady Kilmorey  . . . . . . . . . Madame du Barry. 
Lady Algernon Gordon-Lennox  . . Princesse de Lamballe. 
Lady Burton  . . . . . . . . . . Madame de Tençin. 
Lady Garvagh . . . . . . . . . . Comtesse d'Artois. 
The Hon. Mrs. Greville . . . . . Madame Elizabeth de France. 
The Hon. Mrs. George Keppell . . Madame de Polignac. 
Lady Rose Leigh  . . . . . . . . Duchesse de Villars. 
Mrs. Farquharson . . . . . . . . L'Archiduchesse Louise. 
Miss Naylor  . . . . . . . . . . Comtesse de Charny. 
The Hon. Mrs. Sackville West . . Duchess of Dorset. 
Lord Chelsea . . . . . . . . . . Le Roi Louis XV. 
Lord Camden  . . . . . . . . . . Duc de Richelieu. 
The Hon. Humphrey Sturt  . . . . Abbé de l'Epoque. 
Lord Burton  . . . . . . . . . . Cardinal Dubois. 
Lord Annaly  . . . . . . . . . . )
Lord Tullibardine  . . . . . . . )
Lord George Murray . . . . . . . )
The Hon. F. Guest  . . . . . . . )
Sir Samel Scott  . . . . . . . . ) Mousquetaires et Mili- 
Captain Gordon Wilson  . . . . . ) taires de l'Epoque. 
Captain the Hon. W. Lambton  . . )
Captain Gilbert Elliot . . . . . )
Mr. Dugdale  . . . . . . . . . . )
Mr. Clive Wilson . . . . . . . . Le Comte de Ferson. 
Mr. W. M. Lowe . . . . . . . . . Gentilhomme de la Cour Louis XVI. 
Mr. Arnold Morley  . . . . . . . Gentilhomme de la Cour Louis XV.[1]:p. 7, Col. 6B

Elizabethan[edit | edit source]

Elizabethan costumes seem to have been very popular, even outside the Elizabethan procession, in part because the Royals were costumed in Renaissance styles as well. In this description the Gentlewoman includes Anne of Austria and the Electress of Luneberg and Hanover, not to mention Napoleon, who would not have been in Elizabeth's court. They could conceivably have walked in the Elizabeth procession, although Anne of Austria, while Renaissance, might have walked with the French procession if it included Louis XIII. The Duchess of Connaught and the Duchess of Teck were very closely related to Queen Victoria's immediate family and thus might be grouped here because many of the Royals wore Elizabethan dress.

A Court, the details of which were perfectly carried out, was that of Elizabeth of England. Lady Tweedmouth took the part of Her Majesty, and her costume was an exact reproduction of Queen Elizabeth's portrait in the National Portrait Gallery. Her skirt of rich old white and gold brocade was held in place by the old-fashioned hoops, the bodice and front of gold tissue embroidered in old jewels were finished by stiffened cuffs and large wired collar of old lace wrought with gold. Four yeomen held a canopy over Her Majesty's head. Their uniforms were exactly copied from the picture of the Field of the Cloth of Gold at Hampton Court. These were the Duke of Roxburghe, the Hon. Dudley Marjoribanks, Captain Maunde Thompson, and Mr. Rose attired in scarlet and black. The two heralds who preceded the Queen were Mr. Harold Brassey and Mr. E. Villiers, while Lord Rothschild, in a splendid costume of the time, walked between them.

Among her Majesty's Court were Sir Walter Raleigh (Mr. Ernest Beckett), Sir Philip Sidney (Mr. H. Warrender), Sir Francis Drake (Sir Charles Hall), the Lord Chief Justice (Sir Francis Jeune), the Lord of Burleigh (the Earl of Sandwich), while Lord Lonsdale, who carried a hooded falcon on his wrist, represented Sir Richard Lowther. The Duchess of Roxburghe, and the Countess of Powis, as the Countess of Shrewsbury and Lady Herbert of Cherbury, looked very effective. Countess Spencer, Mrs. Habington, Lady de Ramsay, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, represented by Lord Rowton, made up the Court. Then followed Mary Queen of Scots, in the person of Lady Edmonstone, wonderfully attired in turquoise-blue velvet with pearls and white satin; Mary Hamilton, in white satin and gold, and Mary Seaton, in white, followed in her wake as did the Countess of Lonsdale (Lady Hunsdon), Lord Glenesk, and many others.

H.R.H. the Duchess of Connaught, as Anne of Austria, and H.R.H. the Duchess of Teck, as Electress of Luneberg and Hanover, looked their characters very well, and a very effective trio was formed by the Countess Clary d'Aldringen, Countess Isabel Deym, and Countess Kinsky, as the three sisters of Napoleon. The Duchess of Somerset as Lady Jane Seymour, after a picture by Holbein, was dressed in gold brocade with a wonderful headdress; superbly jewelled, white gloves and Holbein ornaments embroidered on her gown. Margaret of Orleans, impersonated by the Duchess of Manchester, in white satin and silver, was a great success. Josephine, the wife of Napoleon, copied from the picture of her coronation, was impersonated by the Marchioness of Tweeddale, who wore white satin wrought with gold, and a train of geranium-red velvet, trimmed with ermine. Lady Lathom as Catherine of Arragon was splendidly dressed in bronze-green velvet worked in gold designs.[2]:p. 32, Col. 3c – 34, Col. 1a

Truth describes the procession like this:

Lady Tweedmouth was gorgeously arrayed as Queen Elizabeth, and was surrounded by a numerous Court, including Lord Tweedmouth, Lord Battersea, the Earl of Sandwich, and Lord Frederick Hamilton, to say nothing of six stalwart halberdiers, one of whom was the Duke of Roxburghe, whose Duchess was also bravely attired as an Elizabethan lady of high degree.[12]:41, Col 2c

The Elizabethan procession was "led" by Fanny Marjoribanks, Lady Tweedmouth (at 85) as Queen Elizabeth, but she did not come first in the procession.

  1. Heralds
  2. Row of 3 men
    • Mr. E. (Ernest) Beckett (at 313), as Sir Walter Raleigh
    • Mr. H. (Hugh) Warrender (at 314), as Sir Philip Sydney
    • Sir Charles Hall, Q.C., M.P. (at 127), as Sir Francis Drake at the head of the Queen Elizabeth procession
  3. Row of 3 men
  4. Row of 3 women
  5. Row of 2 women
  6. Colonel John Leslie (at 261) was dressed as "Lord Darnley (carrying Sword of State)" in the Queen Elizabeth procession[19]
  7. Row of 2 men
    • Edward Marjoribanks, Lord Tweedmouth (at 109) as the Earl of Leicester
    • George Capell, 7th Earl Essex (at 64), as his ancestor, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
  • Yeomen
    • The Duke of Roxburghe (at 49), a halberdier attending on Queen Elizabeth
    • Dudley Marjoribanks (at 319), son of Lord and Lady Tweedmouth, as a Yeoman bearing the canopy, possibly, with the Duke of Roxburghe and two "brother officers in the Royal Horse Guards"
  • Row before the queen, with canopy
  • Fanny Marjoribanks, Lady Tweedmouth (at 85), as Queen Elizabeth
  • More Yeomen (possibly the two "brother officers in the Royal Horse Guards" of Dudley Marjoribanks (at 319)
  • Row behind the queen
    • Sir A. Edmonstone (at 323), as Duc d'Alencon
    • Henry Holden (at 325), as Will Somers (Court Jester)
    • John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer (at 145), as Sir A. Brown, First Viscount Montagu (None of the sources agree on who he personated; this is the Morning Post)
  • More Yeomen (possibly the two "brother officers in the Royal Horse Guards" of Dudley Marjoribanks (at 319)
  • Row behind the yeomen
    • Arthur Earl of Arran (at 327), as Cardinal Loraine
    • Nathan Mayer de Rothschild, Lord Rothschild (at 216), as Swiss Burgher
    • Montagu Lowry-Corry, 1st Baron Rowton (at 189), as Archbishop Parker, the Archbishop of Canterbury
  • Row of 3 women

The royals were mostly dressed in Elizabethan dress but are properly considered their own group. Besides them, these people were in Elizabethan dress at the ball but not listed as being in the Elizabeth procession or quadrille:

  • Lady Katharine Montagu-Douglas-Scott (at 25), as Mary Queen of Scots; perhaps she walked in this procession.
  • Algernon St. Maur, Duke of Somerset (at 27), as Somerset the Protector, older brother of Jane Seymour. (The Gentlewoman lists the Duchess of Somerset as a member of the Queen Elizabeth procession, but the Morning Post and the Times do not double check this.)

Georgiana, Baroness Hindlip was supposed to be part of the Elizabethan procession, but she and Samuel, Baron Hindlip did not attend, as he was quite ill and in fact died less than two weeks later.

The Morning Post typeset a visualization of the procession, more or less, like this:

                               QUEEN ELIZABETH PROCESSION.
                                      Heralds. 
Sir Walter Raleigh,                 Sir P. Sydney,                Sir F. Drake,
Mr. E. Beckett.                    Mr. H. Warrender.               Sir C. Hall.
Lord Chief Justice,                 Lord Burleigh,           Sir Richard Lowther
Sir F. Jeune.                     Earl of Sandwich.         (Lord High Falconer),
                                                                Earl of Lonsdale.
                                                         
Lady Herbert of Cherbury,       Countess of Shrewsbury,       Countess of Lennox,
Countess of Powis.               Duchess of Roxburghe.          Countess Spencer.
     Countess of Essex,                                      Elisabeth Cavendish.
    Countess of Lonsdale.                                       Mrs. A. James. [p. 7, Col. 5–6]

                                Lord Darnley
                          (carrying Sword of State),
                                Colonel Leslie.

Lord Leicester,                                                    Earl of Essex,
Lord Tweedmouth.                                                   Earl of Essex.
             Yeoman,                                    Yeoman,
       Duke of Roxburghe.                        Hon. D. Marjoribanks.

      Spanish Envoy,               | CANOPY. |                  French Ambassador,
      Mr. Ephrussi.                                           H. E. M. de Courcel.
                                 Queen Elizabeth,
                                 Lady Tweedmouth.
             Yeoman,                                    Yeoman,
       Captain Mann Thomson.                            Mr. Rose.
Duc d'Alençon,                     Will Somers                 Sir A. Brown, First
Sir A. Edmonstone.                (Court Jester).                 Viscount Montagu.
                                   Mr. Holden.                      Earl Spencer.

             Yeoman,                                    Yeoman,
         Mr. E. Villiers.                          Mr. Harold Brassey.
Cardinal Loraine,                 Swiss Burgher,          Archbishop of Canterbury.
  Earl of Arran.                 Lord Rothschild.                      Lord Rowton.

 Mary Seaton,                   Mary Queen of Scots,                  Mary Hamilton,
Hon. Mrs. Greville.                 Lady Edmonstone.            Duchess of Hamilton.
          Lady Hunsdon,                                 Lady Burleigh,
         Lady Battersea.                               Lady de Ramsey.
Casimir Count Patatine of Bavaria  Lord Herbert of Cherbury,            Lord Hunsdon,
Baron F. de Rothschild.                Earl of Powis.                 Lord Battersea.
Martin Frobisher,               Lord James Murray,                Sir Thomas Gresham,
Mr. Godfrey Webb.                   Lord Glenesk.                  Hon. S. Lyttelton.
                             C. Maguire (Lord of Fermanagh),
                                   Mr. R. Maguire.[1]:7, Col. 5C–6B

Other Groups[edit | edit source]

Other processions or quadrilles existed, not captured fully by the Morning Post but mentioned in, for example, the London Daily News story about the ball.The Morning Post is not complete in other ways as well, judging by other newspaper accounts or even descriptions from later in the big Morning Post story. Both the Knights of the Round Table of King Arthur procession and the Cosway Quadrille are examples of processions or quadrilles not detailed in the Morning Post.

The Court of Marguerite de Valois[edit | edit source]

Theoretically, the court of Marguerite de Valois could have been included among the Elizabeth procession, but some of the people in this court, which was led by the Alexandra, Princess of Wales, might have been on the dais with her, so perhaps it could be imagined as a court but not a procession.

Queen Guinevere and the Knights of the Round Table of King Arthur procession[edit | edit source]

A procession represented King Arthur's Round Table. This court is mentioned in the story in the Times as well as the Evening Mail, which seems to have reprinted the story from the Times.[3][5]:p. 9, Col. 1c The ladies included Lady Ormonde, Lady Constance Butler, Lady Ashburton and Miss Chaplin.

According to the Morning Post and the Gentlewoman, the Knights of the Round Table were George, Baron Rodney; Hon. R. Grosvenor; Seymour Henry Bathurst, 7th Earl Bathurst; and Hon. Grosvenor Hood.[1]:p. 8, Col. 1b [2]:p. 40, Col. 1c According to the Daily News, the Knights of the Table Round were "Lord Ashburton, Lord Rodney, Lord Bathurst, Lord Ampthill, and Lord Beauchamp";[6]:p. 5, Col. 7a the newspaper accounts disagree on Lord Beauchamp in particular. George, Baron Rodney was 40 years old at the time of the ball; Seymour Henry Bathurst, 7th Earl Bathurst was nearly 33; Hon. Grosvenor Hood was 29;  Lord Francis Ashburton was nearly 31; Lord Ampthill was 28; Lord Beauchamp was 25. We can see what they wore because some of them had their portraits taken in their costume.

  1. Elizabeth Butler, the Marchioness of Ormonde (at 373), was dressed as Guinevere
  2. Lord Gerald Grosvenor (at 618), as Sir Launcelot (listed in the Times and the Evening Mail, not in the Morning Post)
  3. Lord Arthur Grosvenor (at 619), Arthur Hugh Grosvenor, as King Arthur (listed in the Times, not in the Morning Post)
  4. Corisande, Baroness Rodney (at 472) was also dressed as Queen Guinevere, according to her portrait in the Album in the National Portrait Gallery,[21] but she may not have been in this procession, although George, Baron Rodney was, as a Knight of the Round Table.
  5. Lady Constance Butler (Elizabeth Butler's daughter, at 374) was Lynette or Elaine
  6. Mabel, Lady Ashburton (at 375), as Enid
  7. Miss Chaplin (probably Hon. Edith Helen Chaplin, at 407), as Elaine
  8. Mr. Eric Chaplin (at 616), as Sir Gareth
  9. John Lister Kaye (at 97), as Sir Kay
  10. Mr. Tilney (at 615), as Sir Galahad
  11. Captain R. Peel (at 614), as Sir Bedivere
  12. Margaret Russell, Lady Ampthill (at 419), as a Lady in Waiting at the Court of King Arthur
  13. Mr. J. B. (John Blundell) Leigh (at 602), as Sir Tristram
  14. Captain George Francis Milner (at 617), as Sir Percevale [sic]
  15. Knights of the Round Table (first four, Morning Post; first two plus last three are London Daily News)
    1. Lord Rodney: George, Baron Rodney (at 80)
    2. Earl Bathurst (at 82)
    3. Hon. R. Grosvenor (at 81)
    4. Hon. G. Hood (at 83). The printing on the portrait that was in the Album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire says, "The Hon. Grosvenor Hood as Sir Galahad."[22]
    5. Francis, Lord Ashburton (at 376)
    6. Oliver Russell, Baron Ampthill (at 77)
    7. William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp (at 60)

The Cosway Quadrille[edit | edit source]

The "Cosway quadrille," with the Ladies Innes-Ker and the Ladies Villiers, is not mentioned in the Morning Post article. This description from the London Daily News suggests that there were two Ladies Ker and two Ladies Villiers: "Very artistic was the "Cosway" quadrille, in which the Ladies Ker and the Ladies Villiers took part. The long clinging gowns of Oriental cream satin were veiled in pink muslin, and had very short waists and coloured silk sashes — two of blue and two of pink."[6]:6, Col. 1a These costumes seem to have been based on portraits by Richard rather than Maria Cosway. The Ladies Innes-Ker had the blue and the Ladies Villiers had the pink sashes.

Lady Margaret Innes-Ker (at 23) and Lady Victoria Innes-Ker (at 383) are in the album given to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire by some of the people attending the ball.[20] Lady Edith Villiers (at 282) was dressed after Cosway and may have been in the Quadrille. The other Lady Villiers is not likely to be Lady Margaret Childs-Villiers (at 433), called Lady M. Villiers. We know Lady Margaret Villiers was already at the ball: her portrait as Madame Henriette Duchess d'Orleans is in the Album. She is not part of the same family Lady Edith came from, which was that of the Earl of Clarendon; Lady Margaret Childs-Villiers is part of the family of the Earl of Jersey. Another young woman from that family was Lady May Julia Child-Villiers, who may in fact be the second of the Ladies Villiers in the Quadrille.

Since a quadrille is usually a dance for four couples, this list would make up the Cosway quadrille if indeed four women took part:

  1. Lady Margaret Innes-Ker (at 23)
  2. Lady Victoria Innes-Ker (at 383)
  3. Lady Edith Villiers (at 282)
  4. Lady May Julia Childs-Villiers (at 372)

Two other women were dressed after Cosway, neither from any of the Villiers families. Both Miss Madeline Stanley (at 552) and Violet Manners, Marchioness of Granby (at 448) were in the Album. Miss Stanley was dressed as Lady Eliza Hopeton, "after a miniature by Cosway," and Lady Violet was dressed "after Cosway" as well.

People Whose Costumes Were "After Cosway"[edit | edit source]

Courts of Charles I (and Henrietta Maria, Queen) and Charles II[edit | edit source]

A number of people were identified as being a member of the courts of Charles I or Charles II, even though no such group is directly discussed in the major stories. This is Charles II of England; the Duke of Devonshire was dressed as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor of Germany, so this was not a group forming around him. Relevant people would be Cromwell, the Roundheads, and so on.

  1. Lilian, Marchioness of Zetland (at 48), Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, after Van Dyck
  2. Lord Charles Montagu (at 161), as Charles I, after Van Dyck
  3. Lady Elizabeth Harcourt (at 94), as a Lady of the Court of Henrietta Maria
  4. Lord Edward Cecil (Edward Herbert Gascoyne-Cecil) (at 411), as a courtier of Charles I
  5. Colonel William Chaine (at 98), as a Gentleman of the Court of Charles II
  6. Mr. Cavendish-Bentinck (at 113), as a Gentleman of the Court of Charles II
  7. Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace (at 114), as a Gentleman of the Court of Charles II
  8. Sir Henry Meysey-Thompson (at 116), in the Costume of a gentleman of the period of Charles II
  9. Herbert Gardner, Lord Burghclere (at 129) as a Puritan
  10. William, Duke of Portland (at 28), as "Steenie" Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, according to the London Daily News[6] and the Pall Mall Gazette[23]; the Morning Post[1] and the Times[3] say he went as Duca Filiberto di Savoia in the 17th-century section of the Venetians procession, where he is listed as well.
  11. George (William George) Cavendish-Bentinck (at 666), as William, Baron Bentinck, A.D. 1643
  12. Lawrence Dundas, Marquis of Zetland (at 59), as the Duke of Buckingham (probably at the time of Charles I or II)

People Not Listed as Part of a Procession or Quadrille[edit | edit source]

Subnetworks[edit | edit source]

Probably more than half the people who came in costume were not part of an organized procession or quadrille. Made up largely of courts of monarchs, and particularly women who were monarchs or leaders, the processions have a kind of internal coherence as people attending this ball were able to find people from those courts whom they were willing and able appear as. Because it would have taken communication and negotiation for people to determine and claim their place in the courts, the processions and quadrilles suggest that they make up subnetworks of people within the larger network of those who attended. The quadrilles would have been expected to rehearse, and we know that at least the Queen Elizabeth court met the night before the ball for dinner.

Newspaper articles about the ball, the people who attended, and the costumes they wore reveal how this social world was dominated and organized by women's identities and practices. Most obviously, the party is called the Duchess of Devonshire's ball by everyone, then and now. The highest-status women present were queens or princesses in history, biblical stories, and legends, from Louisa, the Duchess of Devonshire's Zenobia to Queen Elizabeth, Empress Marie-Thérèse, and Catherine II of Russia. The courts were organized around these women. Leonore Davidoff discusses some of the implications of women's roles as gatekeepers in this social world at this time in her The Best Circles: Society Etiquette and the Season.[24]

The fact that the courts were led by women is made clear in the newspaper reportage, sometimes in spite of overt language to the contrary. For example, what the newspapers call the courts of Louis XIV??? are in fact the court of Marie Antoinette, led by Daisy, Countess of Warwick.

Outside of this kind of organized coherence, of whatever degree, small groups of people decided to dress to reflect relationships, most often husbands and wives.

Inevitably, working independently from each other, more than one person went to the ball dressed as the same person from history or even the same character from a novel, opera, or play. A few were men, but most were women, or at least most of those reported were women. There were multiple

  • Titania, Queen of the Fairies
    • Mademoiselle de Alealo Galiano
    • Susannah Graham Menzies
  • Night
    • Agnes, Lady Herschell
    • Marie, Baroness de Courcel
  • Napoleons

Men are not absent from the reportage, of course, and sometimes, as with the Prince of Wales or men mentioned as part of a couple or when their wives were not. Certainly with the Prince of Wales, a principle other than gender is at work: he is the monarch of this social world of women, in some ways the way his mother was monarch of the political world of men.

Individuals and Their Costumes[edit | edit source]

The Royals, obviously, would not have been part of any procession or quadrille because they were on the dais instead. Others, whose costumes are described in enough detail for us to know how they were dressed are listed here.

  1. Hon. Oliver Borthwick (at 89), dressed as Marshal Turenne (reign of Louis XIV) or an officer d'Infanterie
  2. Colonel Arthur Paget (at 91), dressed as Edward the Black Prince
  3. Arthur Balfour (at 86), the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, in a Dutch costume of 1660
  4. Sir William Harcourt (at 128) as Sir Simon Harcourt, the first Lord Harcourt, in 1712, as Lord Chamberlain
  5. Lady Gwendolen Cecil (at 404), as Portia
  6. Lady Edward Cavendish (at 393), as Madame de Maintenon
  7. Alfred Rothschild (at 605), as a French noble of the 16th century
  8. Sir Charles Hartopp (at 111), as Napoleon I
  9. Lady Millicent Hartopp (at 488), as the Empress Josephine
  10. Mr. Montague Guest (at 115), as Montague Bertie, second Earl of Lindsey
  11. Mr. Arthur Wilson (at 118), in a costume from a portrait by Velasquez
  12. Mary (Mrs. Arthur) Wilson (at 395) wore a dress in the Georgian period
  13. Lady Edith Wilbraham (at 119), as Peg Woffington
  14. Lord James of Hereford (at 122), as Sir Thomas More
  15. Miss James (at 396), as Eugénie Hortense de Beauharnais, Louis Bonaparte's wife
  16. Lord Edmund Talbot (at 123), as a Gentleman of the Spanish Court of the early 17th Century
  17. Colonel Sir Charles Wyndham Murray, "Mr. C. Wyndham, M.P.," (at 124), as the Emperor John Polaeologus II on his State visit to Venice in 1438.
  18. Lilian Maud Spencer-Churchill (at 571), as a Watteau shepherdess
  19. Norah Beatrice Henriette Spencer-Churchill (at 572), also as a Watteau shepherdess
  20. John Lambton, 3rd Earl of Durham (at 141), as the Duc de Nemours, period Henri III
  21. Isabella, Countess Howe (at 489), as Lady Howe of 1758
  22. Richard George Penn Curzon, Viscount Curzon (at 197), as Admiral Lord Howe, husband of the 1758 Lady Howe, accompanied his mother
  23. Captain George Holford (at 385), as Philip IV of Spain
  24. Francis Gathorne-Hardy (at 352), as in either the Archduchess Marie-Karoline and Emperor Joseph II section of the Austrian Court of Maria Theresa Quadrille or as a gentleman of the Court of Louis XV
  25. The Grand Duke Michael of Russia (at 8), as Henri IV of Navarre and France, first married to Marguerite de Valois but father to the children of Gabrielle d'Estrées, personated by Sophia, Countess de Torby (at 184), his morganatic wife.
  26. Louisa Jane, Duchess of Buccleuch (at 24), as Elizabeth, Duchess of Buccleuch, after a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds
  27. William, Duke of Buccleuch (at 20), as either William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle or Charles I
  28. Lady Constance Montagu-Douglas-Scott (at 26), as a Watteau shepherdess
  29. William, Earl of Dudley (at 63), as Prince Rupert, so he could have been in the Charles I or Charles II procession but is not listed in any of the newspaper reports as being in a procession or quadrille; his wife, Rachel, Countess of Dudley (at 31) is not the Lady Dudley in the Duchesses procession; that's probably his mother, Georgina, Dowager Countess Dudley.
  30. Carlos, 16th Duke of Alba (at 32), as his ancestor at the Court of Philip II of Spain
  31. Constance Stanley, Countess of Derby (at 36), as Duchess of Orleans. (Members of her family, the Stanleys, are in the Duchesses and the Louis XV and Louis XVI court processions.
  32. Lady Angela St. Clair-Erskine Forbes (at 37), as Queen of Naples
  33. Lawrence Dundas, Earl of Ronaldshay (at 529), as Sir Peter Teazle
  34. Lady Eva Greville Dugdale (at 409), as great-aunt Lady Anne Bingham
  35. Francis Egerton, 3rd Earl of Ellesmere (at 68), as James I
  36. Count Franz Deym (at 66), as General Wallenstein
  37. Countess Isabel Deym (at 67), as the Princesse de Lamballe, one of Napoleon's sisters
  38. Thérèse, Countess Clary and Aldringen (at 191), as one of Napoleon's sisters
  39. Josephine, Countess Kinsky (at 394), as one of Napoleon's sisters, though other Princesses de Lamballe, Lady Blanche Gordon-Lennox (at 333) appeared in the Louis XV and XVI procession and Emily, Lady Ampthill (at 420), also another Princess de Lamballe
  40. Emily, Lady Ampthill (at 420), also as the Princess de Lamballe
  41. Miss Constance Russell (at 418), as a flower seller or bouquetière, period Louis XV
  42. Beatrix Palmer, Countess Selborne (at 557), as Lady Percy, after a picture by Vandyk
  43. William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne (at 70), as an officer of the Duke of Marlborough's Army
  44. John Seymour Wynne-Finch (at 680), as Cosmo, Grand Duke of Tuscany
  45. Lady Muriel Fox Strangways (at 403), as one of Queen Charlotte's bridesmaids
  46. Frederick, Baron Wolverton (at 79), as King Richard, Coeur de Lion
  47. Lewis Harcourt (at 669), as 1st Viscount Nuneham, c. 1750
  48. Lady Natica Lister-Kaye (at 499), as Duchesse de Guise in the time of Henri III
  49. Maria Chaine (at 490) as Madame Sans Gêne, from Victorien Sardou and Émile Moreau's 1893 play Madame Sans Gêne
  50. Margaret Jane Stuart-Wortley Chetwynd-Talbot, Lady Talbot (at 485), as a Valkyrie
  51. Lady Robert Cecil — Eleanor Lambton Gascoyne-Cecil — (at 450), as Valentina Visconti (XV Century)
  52. Hon. Victor Cavendish (at 121), as a Tudor or an Elizabethan ambassador, from a Holbein in the National Gallery
  53. Mr. S. Cavendish (at 700), as Count Chotak
  54. Louisa Montefiore, Lady de Rothschild (at 674), as Lady Vaux, after a picture by Holbein
  55. Mr. Leopold de Rothschild (at 527), as Duc de Sully
  56. Mrs. Leopold (Marie Perugia) Rothschild (at 528), as Zobeida
  57. Alfred Rothschild (at 605), as King Henry III
  58. The Right Hon. W. H. Long, M.P., (at 117), as a cavalier from the time of Charles II, after a picture by Sir Peter Lely.
  59. Mrs. Doreen Long (at 484) as Urania, Goddess of Astronomy or an astronomer
  60. Lady Elspeth Angela Campbell (at 621), in white with gold wings
  61. Madame Marie-Elisabeth Chodron de Courcel (at 182), as Night
  62. Mademoiselle Henriette Chodron de Courcel (at 371), as a Valkyrie
  63. Mademoiselle Chodron de Courcel (at 498), as a Valkyrie
  64. M. Luis de Soveral (at 135), as Count d'Almada, A.D. 1640
  65. Frederick Oliver Robinson, Earl de Grey (at 656), as Admiral Coligny
  66. Archibald, Earl of Rosebery (at 139), as Horace Walpole
  67. Archibald Acheson, 4th Earl of Gosford (at 143), as Robert de la Marck (the rest of his family was in the Duchesses procession)
  68. Beatrix Herbert, Countess Pembroke (at 146), as Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, after the picture by Marcus Gheeraedts
  69. Sidney Herbert, Earl Pembroke (at 181), as William, 1st Earl of Pembroke after Holbein
  70. Lady Beatrix Frances Gertrude Herbert (at 648), as Signora Bacelli after Gainsborough
  71. Ana, Countess Casa de Valencia (at 148), as Nuit d'Espagne
  72. Daisy (Mrs. Henry) White (at 151), as Morosina Morosini Dogaressa of Venice
  73. Anne (Alice Anne), Duchess of Buckingham (at 155), as Caterina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus
  74. Lord Wilbraham Egerton of Tatton (at 591), as the Doge Morosini
  75. Rt. Hon. Sir Edward Walter Hamilton (at 683), as John of Gaunt
  76. Kathleen, Viscountess Falmouth (at 471), as Madame Recamier
  77. Albert Count von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein (at 180), as Henri III, King of France
  78. Thomas Lister, 4th Baron Ribblesdale (at 185), as Lord Ribblesdale, after the Lawrence picture of his grandfather
  79. Charlotte, Lady Ribblesdale (at 206), as Duchess of Parma
  80. Rachel, Countess of Dudley (at 31), as Queen Esther
  81. Lady Aileen May Wyndham-Quin (at 661), as Queen Hortense
  82. Arthur Sassoon (at 553), as Chief of the Janissaries
  83. Mr. R. Sassoon, probably Reuben David Sassoon (at 533), as a Persian Prince
  84. Miss Sassoon, probably Mozelle or Louise Judith Sassoon (at 534), as a "Japanese Lady"
  85. Mary, Countess of Suffolk (at 538), as a Countess of Suffolk in 1766
  86. Miss Daisy Leiter (at 684), in what looks to be an 18th-century dress and headdress
  87. H. H. Asquith (at 381), as a roundhead
  88. Lord St. Oswald, Rowland Winn, 2nd Baron St. Oswald, (at 641) was dressed as an officer of the Regiment de Pondichery, 1772
  89. The Hon. Maud Winn (at 642), as Madame La Motte
  90. Herr Von André (at 386), as Benvenuto Cellini
  91. Lady Ethel Maud Warrender (at 520) as "Duchesse de Lauzun, La Grande Mademoiselle"
  92. Clara (Mrs. John) Hay (at 153), as one of the Princesses de Lamballe
  93. Candida Hay, Marchioness of Tweeddale (at 399), as Josephine, wife of Napoleon, with her sons Lord Arthur Vincent Hay and Lord William George Montagu Hay bearing her train (also at 399)
  94. William Montagu Hay, the Marquis of Tweeddale (at 400), as Saint Bris from Les Huguenots
  95. Lady Clementine Hay (at 629), as Valentina from Les Huguenots
  96. Mr. Reginald Balioll Brett (at 603), as a gentleman of France
  97. Mrs. Eleanor Frances Brett (at 604), as Manon Lescaut
  98. Lady Emily Hart Dyke (at 556), as an Elizabethan lady
  99. Violet Dunville (at 650), as Edith Plantagenet
  100. John Dunville (at 649), as the Emperor Yuan of China
  101. Lucy Charlewood Cole-Hamilton (at 652), as Amy Robsart
  102. Claud George Cole-Hamilton (at 653), as Edmund Tressilian
  103. Hon. Mrs. Cadogan (at 668), in Elizabethan costume
  104. Henry, Lord Belper (at 512), as Gentleman at Arms, time of Charles II
  105. Hon. Maurice Baring (at 678), as Marlborough
  106. Mr. R. (Charles Robert) Spencer (at 493), in Elizabethan dress
  107. Hon. Alexander McDonnell (at 676), as Mercutio
  108. Mr. Ian Malcolm (at 692), as a Courtier, time of Henry VIII
  109. Lord Churchill (at 611), as Columbus
  110. Captain Gerard Leigh (at 570), as a member of the Life Guard, time of Charles II
  111. James Hamilton, Marquis of Hamilton (at 657), in the period of Charles II
  112. Albertha Frances Anne Hamilton Spencer-Churchill, Marchioness of Blandford (at 601), as a 16th-century Abbess
  113. Mrs. Edith Lyttelton (at 580), as a parson's daughter, after a picture by Romney
  114. Georgina Cavendish Coke, Countess of Leicester (at 516), as a Venetian lady
  115. Lady Clementine Walsh (at 523) wore an Empire costume
  116. Lady Violet Brassey (at 531), as Juliet
  117. Mr. Leonard Brassey (at 530), as Apollo
  118. Lord Alwyne Frederick Compton (at 434), as Sir William Compton, time of Charles I
  119. Lady Mary Compton (at 435), as Mme. de Chevreuse, time of Louis XIII
  120. The Hon. Mrs. Gwendoline Lowther (at 672), as Madame de Tallion (Incroyable)
  121. Mr. J. E. Baillie (at 666), in a military costume of the early part of the 19th century
  122. The Hon. William Erskine (at 696), as an Incroyable
  123. Mr. William Wyndham Portal (at 549) in Court dress, period Marie Thérèse, or Comte de Candale from Un Mariage sous Louis XV
  124. Florence, Lady Portal (at 550), as Comtesse de Candale from Un Mariage sous Louis XV
  125. Mr. Ernest Cassel (at 462), as Velasquez
  126. Mr. Alfred Beit (at 384), as Frederick of Nassau, period 1630
  127. Stephen Frederick Wombwell (at 671), as George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham
  128. The Hon. K. Campbell (at 695), as Charles Edward, the Pretender
  129. Mr. W. R. Chaine (at 694), as a gentleman of the Court of Queen Elizabeth
  130. Mr. R. Cavendish, probably Rt. Hon. Lord Richard Cavendish, (at 107), in a costume of the period of Marie Thérèse
  131. The Hon. W. G. Peel (at 679), in a 15th-century Venetian costume
  132. Lady Mabel Coke (at 644), as a woodland nymph
  133. The Hon. Bridget Harbord (at 398), as the Bride of Abydos
  134. Lady Florence Blackwood (at 637), as Flora, Goddess of Flowers
  135. Lord Terence Blackwood (at 638), as Captain Blackwood, Royal Navy
  136. Hon. John Baring (at 675), as Henry IV
  137. Captain Hedworth Lambton (at 660), as a Roman
  138. Major Laurence Drummond (at 507), as a soldier
  139. Hon. George Curzon (at 495), as a Spanish Admiral
  140. Sir Charles Cust (at 152), in a soldier's uniform
  141. Douglas Dawson (at 673), as Raoul de Nangis, Les Huguenots
  142. Major Vesey Dawson (at 521), as a soldier
  143. Pierre, Marquis d'Hautpoul (at 387), in a Vandyck dress
  144. Julia Caroline Stonor, Marquis d'Hautpoul (at 388), as Elsa, in Lohengrin
  145. Hon. Harry Julian Stonor (at 389), as Lohengrin
  146. Mrs. Adair (at 390), as Egyptian Queen Nitocris
  147. Edward Cecil Guiness, Lord Iveagh (at 382), as a Cavalier, Louis XIII. period
  148. Mr. Arthur James (at 480), as an English gentleman of the fifteenth century
  149. Mr. Louis Flower (at 506), as a French Commissary General, First Empire
  150. Mr. William Dodge James (at 686), as d'Artagnan
  151. Lady Emilie Farquhar (at 639), as Duchess de Mailly, Lady in Waiting to Queen Marie Antoinette
  152. Sir Horace Brand Farquhar (at 380), as Count Egmont or a Dutch burgher after Rembrandt
  153. Colonel Charles Edward Swaine (at 415), as an officer, 11th Dragoons, 1742
  154. The Right Hon. Henry Chaplin, M.P. (at 379), as General Lefevre, First Empire
  155. Jesusa Murrieta, Marquisa de Santurce (at 633), as the Infanta of Spain
  156. Mr. F. de Murrieta, possibly Don José Murrieta del Campo Mello y Urritio, Marques de Santurce (at 634), as Philip I. of Spain
  157. Miss Geraldine Magniac (at 640), as Dawn or the Sun
  158. Mrs. Charles (Florence) Wilson (at 413), as Guinevere
  159. Miss Jane Thornewill (at 712), in a costume of the Georgian era
  160. Mr. W. Boyle (at 504), in an Elizabethan costume
  161. Hon. Violet Mills (at 596), in the period of Charles II
  162. Mrs. Hartmann (at 505), as Madame Sans-Gêne
  163. Mr. W. W. Ashley (at 658), as a soldier
  164. Mr. Herbert Creighton (at 647), as Charles I
  165. Mary Graham Murray (at 687), as Titania
  166. Mr. Harry (Marcus Henry) Milner (at 612), as a Chasseur of the Louis XV period
  167. Mr. Arthur Strong (at 613), as Voltaire at the age of 25
  168. Mr. A. P. Longhurst (at 689), as an Egyptian runner
  169. Emilia Yznaga (at 360), as Cydalise of the Comedie Italienne from the time of Louis XV
  170. Laura, Princess Victor of Hohenlohe Langenburg (at 16), in a Louis Quinze costume
  171. Countess Helena Gleichen (at 17), as Joan of Arc
  172. Lady Hilda Southampton (at 402), as Beatrice
  173. Henry Irving (at 414), as Cardinal Wolsey
  174. Mrs. Clarissa Bischoffsheim (at 429), as Anne of Austria
  175. Violet Manners, Marchioness of Granby (at 448), as Isabella Marchioness of Granby
  176. Ludwig Neumann (at 452), as Le Duc de Joyeuse
  177. Margaret Montagu-Douglas-Scott, Countess of Dalkeith (at 460), as Helen, Countess of Dalkeith
  178. Lord Farrer Herschell (at 496), as Lord Chief Justice Sir Edward Coke
  179. Lady Agnes Herschell (at 497), as Night
  180. The Hon. Edith Wentworth Fitzwilliam (at 635), in a costume based on a painting by Romney
  181. The Hon. Reginald Fitzwilliam (at 636), as Nelson
  182. Maud Fitzwilliam, Viscountess Milton (at 501), as Madame Le Brun
  183. Catherine (the Hon. Mrs. Algernon) Grosvenor (at 510), as Marie Louise
  184. Hardinge Stanley Giffard, Lord Halsbury (at 147), as George III
  185. Sir Edward Poynter (at 546), as Titian
  186. Hon. Marie Hay-Drummond (at 682), as Mademoiselle Andrée de Taverney, A.D. 1775
  187. Mrs. Sophie Walker (at 584), as Vivien
  188. Mr. Hall Walker (at 583), as Merlin
  189. Sir Ralph Blois (at 593), as Jerome Buonaparte, King of Westphalia
  190. Amelia, Lady FitzGerald (at 599), as Marie Joséphe, Queen of Poland, A.D. 1737
  191. Prince Victor Duleep Singh (at 558), as Akbar
  192. Sydney, Countess Kintore (at 608), as Jane, Duchess of Gordon
  193. Lady Hilda Keith-Falconer (at 677), as Lady Susan Gordon
  194. Madame Baudon de Mony (at 568), as Princess of Navarre
  195. Monsieur Baudon de Mony (at 567), as a Louis-XIII Musketeer
  196. Mademoiselle de Alealo Galiano (at 631), as the Queen of the Fairies
  197. Mademoiselle Consuelo de Alealo Galiano (at 632), as Veure de Pierrot
  198. Blanche, Countess of Coventry (at 559), as an earlier Countess of Coventry
  199. Lady Anne Coventry (at 560, as Serena
  200. Lady Dorothy Coventry (at 561), also as Serena
  201. Rose Towneley-Bertie, Lady Norreys (at 680), as a Paysanne Galante from the time of Louis XVI
  202. Joseph Harry Lukach (at 685), as Henri de Rohan
  203. Alice Emily White Coke, Viscountess Coke (at 643), in 18th-century dress
  204. Hon. F. C. (Ferdinand Charles) Stanley (at 251), as a Grenadier Guard officer, 1660
  205. Lord Edward Stanley (at 187), as a Grenadier Guard officer, 1660
  206. Madeline Cecilia Carlyle Stanley (at 552), accompanying Sir Francis Jeune and Lady Jeune, as Lady Hopeton, after a miniature by Cosway
  207. Henry William Crichton, Viscount Crichton (at 646), in a costume of the Empire period
  208. General Ellis (at 654), as an Elizabethan noble
  209. Lady Anne Lambton (at 659), as Mme. de Longueville, Louis XIII period
  210. Mrs. Nellie Lisa Baillie (at 667), from the family group by Gainsborough
  211. Mrs. Hamar (Louisa) Bass (at 439), from picture at Chesterfield House
  212. Miss Jane Thornewill (at 664), in a costume of the Georgian era
  213. Mrs. Mary Evelyn Ellis Sneyd (at 667), as a Venetian
  214. Mr. Foley (at 690), as a Hussar of the Napoleonic era
  215. Mr. E. Crawley (at 692), as a gentleman of the period of Charles I
  216. Mr. J. Carter (at 697), as a Courtier of Elizabeth
  217. Lady Louisa Wolseley (at 541), in an 18th-century dress (?)
  218. Edward Villiers, 5th Earl Clarendon (at 65), as Villiers, Viscount Grandison, after portrait by Vandyke
  219. M. de Souza Correa (at 178), as a Knight Templar, XIV Century
  220. Margaret Child-Villiers, Countess of Jersey (at 432), as Anne of Austria
  221. Mary, Countess Minto (at 544) was Princess Andrillon
  222. Lady Beatrix Herbert (at 648), as Signora Bacelli after Gainsborough
  223. Mrs. Mary Chamberlain (at 491), as Madame d'Epinay
  224. Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin, 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl (at 199), as Cardinal Mazarin
  225. Lady Evelyn Ewart (at 401), as the Duchess of Ancaster, Mistress of the Robes to Queen Charlotte, 1757, after a picture by Hudson
  226. Lady Rosalie Cardross (at 276), as La Duchesse de Lavis
  227. Lady Florence Duncombe (at 456), as a Lady of the Court of Marie Stuart
  228. Lord Algernon Gordon Lennox (at 623), as a Grenadier Guard officer
  229. Lady Florence Cole (at 239), as Hortense Beauharnais
  230. Mr. Algernon Myddleton Biddulph (at 268), as Count Soltykoff or Saltykov

Notes and Questions[edit | edit source]

  1. Work this info in:

There is intense excitement (says a lady correspondent) about the Duchess of Devonshire's historical and fancy dress ball to take place to-night. One of the prettiest of Princesses, daughter of a lovely Irish mother, goes as Queen of Sheba, her sister representing an Ethiopian attendant. An illustrious personage is to head the list of old-world knights, and a beautiful Marchioness is to represent Guinevere, her fair young daughter going as Elaine. A most lovely lady is to personate Queen Marie Thérèse, surrounded by her Court. There is to be a procession of young girls dressed after Cosway's miniatures, and an Elizabethan quadrille is to be danced, in which the Virgin Queen herself is to appear, as well as Essex, Raleigh, Shakespeare, and other well-known characters. Another quadrille will be made up of ladies and gentlemen costumed after the style of Catherine II.'s Russian Court, but none will be more pictorially effective than that in which Catherine de Medici will appear, some of the gentlemen representing Henri II., Francis II., Charles IX., Henri III., Gaspard de Collini, Comte de la Marck, and the Duc de Guise.[25]

Bibliography for Courts[edit | edit source]

Footnotes[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 "Fancy Dress Ball at Devonshire House." Morning Post Saturday 3 July 1897: 7 [of 12], Col. 4A–8 Col. 2B. British Newspaper Archive http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000174/18970703/054/0007.
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 “The Duchess of Devonshire’s Ball.” The Gentlewoman Saturday 10 July 1897: 32–42 [of 76], Cols. 1a–3c [of 3]. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003340/18970710/155/0032.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 "Ball at Devonshire House." Times Saturday 3 July 1897: 12, Cols. 1a–4c The Times Digital Archive. Web. 28 Nov. 2015.
  4. “The Duchess’s Costume Ball.” Westminster Gazette 03 July 1897 Saturday: 5 [of 8], Cols. 1a–3b [of 3]. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002947/18970703/035/0005.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 “Ball at Devonshire House.” Evening Mail 05 July 1897 Monday: 8 [of 8], Col. 1a–4c [of 6]. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003187/18970705/070/0008.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 "Duchess of Devonshire's Fancy Ball. A Brilliant Spectacle. Some of the Dresses." London Daily News Saturday 3 July 1897: 5 [of 10], Col. 6a–6, Col. 1b. British Newspaper Archive http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000051/18970703/024/0005 and http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000051/18970703/024/0006.
  7. Wilson, Verity. Dressing Up: A History of Fancy Dress in Britain. Reaktion, 2022: 62.
  8. Thrush, Nanette. "Clio's Dressmakers: Women and the Uses of Historical Costume." In Meaghan Clarke, ed. Fashionability, Exhibition Culture and Gender Politics: Fair Women. Routledge, 2020: 258-277.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 "The Duchess of Devonshire's Great Ball. Remarkable Social Function. Crowds of Mimic Kings & Queens. Panorama of Historical Costume. An Array of Priceless Jewels." Western Gazette 9 July 1897: 2 [of 8], Col. 7A–C. British Newspaper Archive http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000407/18970709/009/0002.
  10. “The Duchess’s Costume Ball.” Westminster Gazette 03 July 1897 Saturday: 5 [of 8], Cols. 1a–3b [of 3]. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002947/18970703/035/0005.
  11. “Historic Ball at Devonshire House. Brilliant Scene.” The Daily Telegraph 3 July 1897, Saturday: 9 [of 14], Col. 6a–7c [of 7]. British Newspaper Archive  https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001112/18970703/094/0009.
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 “Girls’ Gossip.” Truth 8 July 1897, Thursday: 41 [of 70], Col. 1b – 42, Col. 2c. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0002961/18970708/089/0041.
  13. "Fancy Dress Ball: Unparalleled Splendour." Carlisle Patriot Friday 9 July 1897: 7 [of 8], Col. 4a–b. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000365/18970709/084/0007.
  14. “The Duchess’s Costume Ball.” Westminster Gazette 03 July 1897 Saturday: 5 [of 8], Cols. 1a–3b [of 3]. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002947/18970703/035/0005.
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 "Duchess of Devonshire's Fancy-Dress Ball. Brilliant Spectacle." The [Guernsey] Star 6 July 1897, Tuesday: 1 [of 4], Col. 1–2. British Newspaper Archive http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000184/18970706/003/0001.
  16. "The Morning’s News." London Daily News 18 September 1897, Saturday: 5 [of 8], Col. 2b. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000051/18970918/027/0005.
  17. "Duchess of Devonshire's Fancy Ball. A Brilliant Spectacle. Some of the Dresses." London Daily News Saturday 3 July 1897: 5 [of 10], Col. 6a–6, Col. 1b. British Newspaper Archive http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000051/18970703/024/0005 and http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000051/18970703/024/0006.
  18. “The Duchess of Devonshire’s Ball.” Chelmsford Chronicle9 July 1897, Friday: 2 of 8. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000322/18970709/008/0002.
  19. "Leslie as Earl Darnley." Diamond Jubilee Fancy Dress Ball. National Portrait Gallery https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw158503/Sir-John-Leslie-2nd-Bt-as-Earl-Darnley.
  20. 20.0 20.1 "Devonshire House Fancy Dress Ball (1897): photogravures by Walker & Boutall after various photographers." 1899. National Portrait Gallery https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait-list.php?set=515.
  21. "Corisande Evelyn Vere." Diamond Jubilee Fancy Dress Ball. National Portrait Gallery https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw158471/Corisande-Evelyn-Vere-ne-Guest-Lady-Rodney-as-Queen-Guinevere.
  22. "Grosvenor Hood as Sir Galahad." Diamond Jubilee Fancy Dress Ball. National Portrait Gallery https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw158513/Grosvenor-Arthur-Alexander-Hood-5th-Viscount-Hood-as-Sir-Galahad.
  23. “The Devonshire House Ball. A Brilliant Gathering.” The Pall Mall Gazette 3 July 1897, Saturday: 7 [of 10], Col. 2a–3a. British Newspaper Archive http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000098/18970703/019/0007.
  24. Davidoff, Leonore. The Best Circles: Society Etiquette and the Season. Intro., Victoria Glendinning. The Cressett Library (Century Hutchinson), 1986 (orig ed. 1973).
  25. "This Morning's News." London Daily News 2 July 1897, Friday: 5 [of 10], Col. 3B. British Newspaper Archive http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000051/18970702/026/0005.