Social Victorians/People/Henry Chaplin

Also Known As

• Family name: Chaplin
• The Right Hon. H. Chaplin, M.P.
• Viscount Chaplin
  • Henry Chaplin, 1st Viscount Chaplin (20 June 1916 – 29 May 1923)

Overview

David Cannadine says, "Henry Chaplin overspent so much that he was bankrupt by 1897 and his estates passed to the mortgagees."

Organizations

Henry Chaplin

• Harrow School (1854–1856)
• Christ Church, Oxford University (1859–1860)
• Member of Parliament, Conservative, for Mid-Lincolnshire (1868–1885)
• Member, Royal Commission on Agriculture (1881)
• Chancellor, Duchy of Lancaster (1885–1886)
• Member of Parliament, Conservative, for Lincolnshire, Kesteven Division (1885–1906)
• Privy Counsellor (appointed 24 June 1885)
• President, Board of Agriculture (1886–1892)
• Member, Royal Commission on Agriculture (1893)
• President, Local Government Board (1895–1900)
• Member, Royal Commission on the Supply of Food and Raw Materials in time of war (1903)
• Member, Tariff Commission (1904)
• Member of Parliament, Unionist, for Surrey, Wimbledon Division (1907–1916)

Timeline

1864, Henry Chaplin and Lady Florence Paget (August 1842 – 3 February 1907) were engaged in 1864, but she eloped with the Marquess of Hastings.

1876 November 15, Henry Chaplin and Lady Florence Sutherland-Leveson-Gower married.

1881 October 10, Lady Florence Chaplin died, two days after giving birth to her third child, daughter Florence.

1897, "Henry Chaplin overspent so much that he was bankrupt by 1897 and his estates passed to the mortgagees."

1897 July 2, Henry Chaplin, daughter Miss Chaplin, and son Eric Chaplin attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball at Devonshire House. (Henry Chaplin is #379 on the list of people who were present; Miss Chaplin — Hon. Edith Helen Chaplin — is #407; Eric Chaplin is #616.)

Henry Chaplin in costume as Marshal Lefevre. ©National Portrait Gallery, London.

François-Joseph Lefebvre

Nils Personne, rollporträtt - SMV - H6 202

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

Henry Chaplin

At the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball, Henry Chaplin was dressed as General Lefebvre.

Lafayette's portrait (top right) of "Henry Chaplin, 1st Viscount Chaplin as Marshal Lefevre" in costume is photogravure #284 in the album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire and now in the National Portrait Gallery. The printing on the portrait says, "The Right Hon. H. Chaplin, M.P. as Marshal Lefevre."

Newspaper Reports of His Costume

• Henry Chaplin "personated ... General Lefebvre."
• Henry Chaplin was dressed "as General Lefebvre, First Empire."
• "Mr. Chaplin, M.P., appeared as General Lefevre, a Senator and Marshal of the First Empire. He wore a coat, open in the front and reaching to the knees, of royal blue velvet, heavily embroidered at the front, back, and sleeves with gold oak-leaf embroidery. A crimson sash, worn over the right shoulder, was tied in a bow with the Cross of the Legion of Honour attached. The head-dress was a black velvet cocked hat with gold braiding and feathering, and tricoloured cockade."
• Henry Chaplin "chose an Empire dress."
• "Mr. Henry Chaplin was General Lefebvre, in blue and gold."
• "The Right Hon. Henry Chaplin, M.P. (General Lefevre, First Empire), coat, open in front and reaching to knees, royal blue velvet, heavily embroidered front and back and sleeves with gold oak-leaf embroidery; white kerseymere vest and breeches embroidered with gold; crimson sash worn over right shoulder, tied in a bow, with the cross of the Legion of Honour; black velvet cocked hat, with tricolour cockade."

Marshal or General Lefebvre

It seems likely that the "Marshal Lefevre" or "General Lefebvre" that Henry Chaplin is thinking of is François Joseph Lefebvre (25 October 1755 – 14 September 1820), who was a Marshal of the First Empire under Napoleon. The portrait of Marshal Lefebvre (middle right), painted by Césarine Davin-Mirvault in 1807, when Lefebvre was 52, seems to have been in the Maréchaux room at Tuileries from 1852 to 1970. However, perhaps more pertinent to Chaplin's costume, Lefevre is a character in Victorien Sardou and Émile Moreau's play Madame Sans-Gêne, which premiered in Paris in October 1893 and performed in French and in translation in Europe and North America shortly thereafter. The portrait of Levebre (bottom right) shows Nils Personne in costume for the role for an 1895 Swedish production. Madame Sans-Gêne influenced the costumes of others who attended the ball.

Miss Chaplin

Miss Chaplin (probably Hon. Edith Helen Chaplin) was dressed as Elaine in the Queen Guinevere and the Knights of the Round Table of King Arthur procession.

• "Lady Constance Butler and Miss Chaplin were pretty as 'Elaine.'"
• "Lady Constance Butler and Miss Chaplin were both charming 'Elaines' — ... Miss Chaplin in white art silk under chiffon embroidered in gold, and with a gold girdle."

Eric Chaplin

Eric Chaplin was dressed as Sir Gareth in the Queen Guinevere and the Knights of the Round Table of King Arthur procession.

Demographics

• Nationality: British

Family

• Henry Chaplin, 1st Viscount Chaplin (22 December 1840 – 29 May 1923)
• Lady Florence Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (17 April 1855 – 10 October 1881)

1. Eric Chaplin, 2nd Viscount Chaplin (27 September 1877 – 12 September 1949)
2. Hon. Edith Helen Chaplin (3 December 1879 – 23 April 1959)
3. Hon. Florence Chaplin (8 October 1881 – 5 November 1949)

Notes and Questions

1. Because Florence Chaplin would have been only 16 years old, Hon. Edith Helen Chaplin — who would have been 18 — is more likely to have attended the ball.