Social Victorians/People/Chamberlain

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Also Known As[edit | edit source]

  • Family name: Chamberlain

Acquaintances, Friends and Enemies[edit | edit source]

Organizations[edit | edit source]

  • House of Commons, 1875–

Timeline[edit | edit source]

1861 July, Joseph Chamberlain and Harriet Kenrick married.[1]

1868, Joseph Chamberlain and Florence Kenrick married.[2]

1888 November, Joseph Chamberlain and Mary Endicott married in Washington, D.C.[3]

1897 July 2, Friday, Joseph Chamberlain attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball at Devonshire House, as did Mary Chamberlain and a Miss Chamberlain, possibly Beatrice. (Joseph Chamberlain is #93 on the list of people who were present; Mary Chamberlain is #491; Miss Chamberlain is #492.)

1900, Hilda Chamberlain and Whitmore Lionel Richards married.[3]

Costume at the Duchess of Devonshire's 2 July 1897 Fancy-dress Ball[edit | edit source]

Mr. Joseph Chamberlain[edit | edit source]

At the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball, Joseph Chamberlain

  • wore a "Louis Seize costume in two shades of rose-coloured corded silk."[4]:p. 8, Col. 1b [5]:p. 3, Col. 4b (The description is almost identical in the Times[6] and Carlisle Patriot[7].)
  • was "a gentleman of the Louis XVI. period, in two shades of rose-coloured silk."[8]:p. 5, Col. 7c
  • "The Right. Hon Joseph Chamberlain, M.P. (Louis XVI. period), two shades of rose-corded silk."[9]:36, Col. 3b
  • "Mr. Joseph Chamberlain wore a Louis XVI. costume in two shades of rose-coloured corded silk."[10]
  • "Mr. Chamberlain appeared as a Courtier of Louis XVI. in a suit of vieux-rose velvet and satin."[11]
  • "... and you wondered if that gentleman constantly applying his eye-glass, in rose-coloured silk, was Mr. Chamberlain."[12]:p. 5, Col. 2

A story in the Sheffield Independent tells this humorous story about Chamberlain: "Mr. Chamberlain is made the subject of a good joke. Some one asked him what character he should like at the Devonshire fancy dress ball, and he is reported to have said 'William Pitt, of course.'"[13]

Black-and-white photograph of a standing woman richly dressed in an historical costume with a staff and very large hat
Mary Endicott Chamberlain in costume as Madame d'Epinay. ©National Portrait Gallery, London.
Old painting of a woman holding a book open with her thumb
Louise d'Epinay by Jean-Étienne Liotard, c. 1759
Photograph of a puffy dessert
Tarte Conversation

Mrs. Mary Chamberlain[edit | edit source]

Mary Endicott Chamberlain, Mrs. Chamberlain, was Joseph Chamberlain's third wife.

Henry Bullingham's portrait of "Mary Endicott Carnegie (née Endicott) (formerly Chamberlain) as Madame d'Epinay" in costume is photogravure #119 in the album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire and now in the National Portrait Gallery.[14] The printing on the portrait says, "Mrs. Chamberlain as Madame d'Epinay."[15]

Madame d'Épinay — Louise Florence Pétronille Tardieu d'Esclavelles d'Épinay (11 March 1726 – 17 April 1783) — was a saloniste who had relationships with men like Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot, and other intellectual men of the time.[16] A puff-pastry dessert called a tarte conversation was created in honor of les Conversations d'Émilie[17] (published in 1774, caused her to be awarded the Prix Monyon in 1783[16]). The tarte conversation is made of puff pastry and frangipane (almond custard).

Miss Chamberlain[edit | edit source]

Miss Chamberlain is possibly Beatrice Chamberlain.

Demographics[edit | edit source]

Nationality[edit | edit source]

  • Joseph Chamberlain: British[1]
  • Mary Crowninshield Endicott: American

Family[edit | edit source]

  • Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914)[18]
  • Harriet Kenrick Chamberlain (1838 – 16 October 1863)[19]
  1. Beatrice Mary Chamberlain (May 1862 – 19 November 1918)[1]
  2. Joseph Austen (16 October 1863 – 17 March 1937)[20]
  • Florence Kenrick Chamberlain (1847 – 13 February 1875)[2]
  1. Rt. Hon. Arthur Neville Chamberlain (18 March 1869 – 9 November 1940)[21]
  2. Ida (Florence Ida) Chamberlain (1870 – 1 April 1943)
  3. Hilda (Caroline Hilda) Chamberlain (1872 – 28 December 1967)
  4. Ethel (1873 – 15 January 1905)
  5. Fifth child (13 February 1875 – )
  • Mary Crowninshield Endicott Chamberlain (1864–1957)


  • Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Chamberlain
  1. Miss Josephine Chamberlain

Relations[edit | edit source]

  • Harriet Kenrick and Florence Kenrick were cousins, daughters of fathers who were brothers.

Notes and Questions[edit | edit source]

  1. Chamberlain does not seem to have been liked by very many.
  2. Mary Crowninshield Endicott was an American, daughter of U.S. Secretary of War, William Crowninshield Endicott.
  3. Beatrice Chamberlain organized Chamberlain's "local political and social engagements [in Highbury], as well as at his London residence, in Princes Gardens" until his marriage to Mary Endicott in 1888 (Chamberlain 3). So she might have gone to the Duchess of Devonshire's ball with him and Mary; she would have been 35. Beatrice died in the Influenza Epidemic in 1918.[3] (3).
  4. Beatrice, Ida and Hilda were in London in the 1890s: "She and Hilda both undertook voluntary work organising activities for members of the London Pupil Teachers Association in the 1890s."[3] (5). "Hilda assisted Beatrice Chamberlain in her work for the Children’s Country Holidays Fund in London in the 1890s."[3] (6).

Footnotes[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Joseph Chamberlain". Wikipedia. 2020-09-27. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joseph_Chamberlain&oldid=980610718. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Florence Kenrick." "Person Page". www.thepeerage.com. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "Chamberlain Family Guide." Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections. University of Birmingham. July 2016. https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/facilities/cadbury/documents/chamberlain-family-guide.pdf.
  4. "Fancy Dress Ball at Devonshire House." Morning Post Saturday 3 July 1897: 7 [of 12], Col. 4a–8 Col. 2b. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000174/18970703/054/0007.
  5. “The Ball at Devonshire House. Magnificent Spectacle. Description of the Dresses.” London Evening Standard 3 July 1897 Saturday: 3 [of 12], Cols. 1a–5b [of 7]. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000183/18970703/015/0004.
  6. "Ball at Devonshire House." The Times Saturday 3 July 1897: 12, Cols. 1a–4c The Times Digital Archive. Web. 28 Nov. 2015.
  7. "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.
  8. "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 https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000051/18970703/024/0005 and https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000051/18970703/024/0006.
  9. “The Duchess of Devonshire’s Ball.” The Gentlewoman 10 July 1897 Saturday: 32–42 [of 76], Cols. 1a–3c [of 3]. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003340/18970710/155/0032.
  10. “The Devonshire House Ball. A Brilliant Gathering.” The Pall Mall Gazette 3 July 1897, Saturday: 7 [of 10], Col. 2a–3a. British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000098/18970703/019/0007.
  11. "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 https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000184/18970706/003/0001.
  12. “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.
  13. "Our London Letter." Sheffield Independent 02 July 1897, Friday: 4 [of 8], Col. 7b [of 8]. British Newspaper Archivehttps://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000181/18970702/127/0004.
  14. "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.
  15. "Mary Endicott Carnegie." Diamond Jubilee Fancy Dress Ball. National Portrait Gallery https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw158481/Mary-Endicott-Carnegie-ne-Endicott-formerly-Chamberlain-as-Madame-dEpinay.
  16. 16.0 16.1 "Louise d'Épinay". Wikipedia. 2021-04-02. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Louise_d%27%C3%89pinay&oldid=1015681129.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_d%27Épinay.
  17. "Conversation tart". Wikipedia. 2021-01-21. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conversation_tart&oldid=1001912243.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversation_tart.
  18. "Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain." "Person Page". www.thepeerage.com. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  19. "Harriet Kenrick." "Person Page". www.thepeerage.com. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  20. "Austen Chamberlain". Wikipedia. 2020-10-15. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Austen_Chamberlain&oldid=983719789. 
  21. "Neville Chamberlain". Wikipedia. 2020-10-04. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Neville_Chamberlain&oldid=981876367.