Social Victorians/People/Coventry

Also Known As

• Family name: Coventry
• Earl of Coventry (Peerage of England)
  • George William Coventry, 9th Earl of Coventry (15 May 1843 – 13 March 1930)
• Viscount Deerhurst
  • George William Coventry, Viscount Deerhurst (15 November 1865 – 8 August 1927)
  • George William Reginald Victor Coventry, Viscount Deerhurst [10th Earl] (8 August 1927 – 13 March 1930)

Organizations

George William Coventry, 9th Earl of Coventry

• Eton
• Christ Church, Oxford
• Conservative party
• House of Lords
• Grand Nationals (horse racing)
• Royal Agricultural Society (President, 1899)

Timeline

1865 January 25, George William Coventry, Viscount Deerhurst, and Lady Blanche Craven married.

1891 July 9, the Earl and Countess of Coventry and the Ladies Coventry were invited to the Garden Party at Marlborough House.

1897 July 2, Friday, Blanche, Countess of Coventry, and two of her daughters, Lady Anne Coventry and Lady Dorothy Coventry, attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball at Devonshire House.

1898 January 4, Lady Anne Blanche Alice Coventry and Prince Victor Duleep Singh married.

1890 September, the "Royal Baccarat Scandal," which began at the home of Arthur Stanley Wilson. Sir William Gordon Cumming was accused of cheating at baccarat at Sir Arthur Wilson’s country house, Tranby Croft. Daisy, Countess Warwick was implicated as the source when word got out about the illegal baccarat game and Sir Cummings’ cheating, earning her the nickname “Babbling Brooks." Owen Williams was croupier and also, with George Coventry, 9th Earl of Coventry, intermediary between the scandal and the Prince of Wales.

Blanche, Countess of Coventry in costume, after Liotard. ©National Portrait Gallery, London.

Portrait of the artist’s wife, Marie Fargues, in Turkish dress, by Jean-Étienne Liotard, c. 1756–1758.

Costume at the Duchess of Devonshire's 2 July 1897 Fancy-dress Ball

Blanche, Countess of Coventry as well as her daughters Lady Anne Coventry and Lady Dorothy Coventry attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball. George, Earl of Coventry was still alive at this point; did he attend the ball?

Blanche, Countess of Coventry

Blanche, Countess of Coventry (at 559) attended as an earlier Countess of Coventry. Elliott & Fry's portrait of "Blanche (née Craven), Countess of Coventry as Barbara St John, Countess of Coventry, after Liotard" in costume is photogravure #132 in the album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire and now in the National Portrait Gallery. The printing on the portrait says, "The Countess of Coventry as Barbara St John, Countess of Coventry, after Liotard," with a Long S in Countess.

The Jean-Étienne Liotard portrait closest to this costume is not of Barbara St. John, Countess of Coventry but of Liotard's wife, Maria Fargues (c. 1718-1784), in Turkish costume. Liotard was an 18th-century French Orientalist who preferred to work in pastels.

Serena, The Triumphs of Temper

Serena, by Romney

The George Romney painting that Anne and Dorothy used for the inspiration for their costumes is Serena (painted in the 1780s). The portrait to the right is one example of several similar paintings and prints done of this subject, now owned by the Victoria and Albert Museum. Serena was the heroine of William Hayley's 1781 narrative poem The Triumphs of Temper, which was so popular it ran to at least 13 editions, some of the later ones illustrated with engravings done by William Blake. Hayley's didactic poem warns against the negative effects of reading romance tales, especially on your women. Serena's emotions are stirred by the romances she has enthusiasm for:

Possest by Sympathy's enchanting sway,
She read, unconscious of the dawning day.
The Modern Anecdote was next convey'd
Beneath her pillow by her faithful maid.
The nymph, attentive as the brooding dove,
Pored o'er the tender scenes of Franzel's love:
The sinking taper now grew weak and pale;
SERENA sigh'd, and dropt th' unfinish'd tale;
But, as warm clouds in vernal aether roll,
The soft ideas floated in her soul:
Free from ambitious pride, and envious care,
To love, and to be lov'd, was all her prayer .... (Canto I, ll. 71–82)

Lady Anne Coventry in costume as Serena, after Romney. ©National Portrait Gallery, London.

Lady Dorothy Coventry in costume as Serena after Romney. ©National Portrait Gallery, London.

Lady Anne Coventry

Lady Anne Coventry (at 560) went as Serena. Elliott & Fry's portrait of "Princess Anne Blanche Alice Singh (née Coventry) as Serena, after Romney" in costume is photogravure #133 in the album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire and now in the National Portrait Gallery. The printing on the portrait says, "Lady Anne Coventry as Serena, after Romney."

Lady Dorothy Coventry

Lady Dorothy Coventry (at 561) also went as Serena, apparently. Elliott & Fry's portrait of "Lady Dorothy Fraser (née Coventry) as Serena after Romney" in costume is photogravure #134 in the album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire and now in the National Portrait Gallery. The printing on the portrait says, "Lady Dorothy Coventry as Serena after Romney."

Neither was mentioned in any press reports, but their portraits were in the commemorative album of portraits.

Demographics

• Nationality: British

Family

• George William Coventry, 9th Earl of Coventry (9 May 1838 – 13 March 1930)
• Lady Blanche Craven (24 December 1842 – 16 March 1930)

1. George William Coventry, Viscount Deerhurst (15 November 1865 – 8 August 1927)
2. Colonel Hon. Charles John Coventry (26 February 1867 – 2 June 1929)
3. Hon. Henry Thomas Coventry (3 May 1868 – 2 August 1934)
4. Hon. Sir Reginald William Coventry (29 August 1869 – 3 December 1940)
5. Lady Barbara Elizabeth Coventry (27 October 1870 – 29 November 1946)
6. Lady Dorothy Coventry (6 February 1872 – 2 December 1965)
7. Lady Anne Blanche Alice Coventry (27 January 1874 – 2 July 1956)
8. Hon. William Francis Coventry (6 August 1875 – 11 December 1937)
9. Hon. Thomas George Coventry (25 August 1885 – 9 December 1972)

• Lady Anne Blanche Alice Coventry (27 January 1874 – 2 July 1956)
• Prince Victor Duleep Singh (10 January 1866– 7 June 1918)

Questions and Notes

1. Lady Anne Coventry married Prince Victor Duleep Singh about 6 months after the ball.
2. George, Earl of Coventry was still alive at this point; did he attend the ball?