Born Mary Amelia Hill on 16th August 1750 at the Hill family home in Dublin, to parents Wills Hill, the 2nd Viscount of Hillsborough and Margaretta (nee) Fitzgerald, the Viscountess of Hillsborough, the daughter of Robert Fitzgerald, the 15th Earl of Kildare. Mary Amelia was the couple’s third child, with their son Marcus and daughter Mary-Anne dying in infancy. Despite being baptised Mary Amelia, she always signed her own name Emily Mary. In 1753 the couple had another child, a son called Arthur, who would go on to inherit the Hillsborough estates from his father and in 1754, a girl named Charlotte who would marry into the Talbot family.
Portrait of Countess of Hillsborough Margaretta Hill nee Fitzgerald by Charles Jervas (Mutual Art 2021)
Engraving of Wills Hill Count of Hillsborough by unknown artist (National Portrait Gallery 2021)
We do not know where Emily Mary would have spent most of her childhood as the family had homes in Dublin, Hillsborough, London and after 1771 in Kent but it is possible she spent the majority of her younger life in Ireland as later descriptions mention her strong Irish accent. Her father Wills Hill was a politician and held several offices throughout his career including Secretary for State for the Colonies. In 1772, he was created Earl of Hillsborough and in 1789, he was elevated to the Marquess of Downshire in the Irish Peerage.
Painting of Hill family including Emily Mary, Margaretta, Wills & Arthur (Artist & Source unknown)
In 1766, Emily Mary’s parents travelled to Naples. Unfortunately, her mother Margaretta, the Countess of Hillsborough, had been experiencing ill health. The hope was that the warmer climate would help alleviate her symptoms. Regrettably, Margaretta died in Naples when Emily Mary was only 15. It is understood that her father Wills Hill was devastated by the death of his wife but two years later he did remarry. His second wife was the widow, Baroness Mary Stawell.
Portrait of Wills Hill after his wife Margaretta’s death in Naples by Pompeo Batoni (Wikipedia 2021)
Newspapers during the 1770s connected Lady Emily with three other prospective husbands. In 1770 the first of these potential matches was the Right Hon. Lord Grenville, eldest son of the Earl of Warwick as mentioned in the Kentish Gazette, Saturday 31st March 1770. In 1771 the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette reported that there was a treaty of marriage between ‘John O’Neill esq. of Ireland…and Lady Mary Hill (Lord Hillsborough’s daughter)’. A year after this correspondence, the Salisbury and Winchester Journal indicated that a union between Lady Hill and the Earl of Nottingham was a match ‘very much talked of at the court end of town ‘. There is no evidence to suggest why the matches did not go ahead or indeed how truthful they were. In 1773, Lady Emily married James Cecil, Viscount Cranbourne on 2nd December at Lambeth palace, the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury at the age of 23. Lady Emily’s husband was 3 years her senior and the son and heir of James Cecil, the 6th Earl of Salisbury and his wife Elizabeth Keet. This to me, feels similar to the rumours spread by Lady Whistleton in Bridgerton, perhaps Lady Mary’s prospects were not as fruitful as they may have seemed, or it could be with her father’s increased standing that she was able to make a better match.
Engraving of James Cecil (Artist Unknown)
Copy of a miniature portrait of Emily Mary Salisbury by Benjamin Smith after Richard Crosse, 1790 © The Trustees of the British Museum
Lady Mary’s new husband had a prominent ancestor, William Cecil, Lord Burghley who was chief advisor to Elizabeth I, but the family had done little to match Burghley’s fame in the following centuries. It was in fact the marriage of Lady Mary which helped to catapult the Cecil family back into the political spotlight. James Cecil himself was described as ‘no way distinguished intellectually from his immediate predecessors’ (Cecil 1921). Lady Mary, however, was a strong character with a fierce intelligence who used her talents and energy to further her husband’s career and became a successful political hostess. The Cecil's had a grand ancestral residence known as Hatfield House. This location is still standing and is used in many films and television shows such as, The Favourite and 1989 Batman.
South East View of Hatfield House, 1812 (Yale Centre for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection)
The Cecil’s home on Arlington Street, London, became a hub for political society and Lady Emily was viewed as being witty, irreverent, and ambitious. She was a prominent figure during both the North and Pitt administration. Another political hostess of this period is Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire who was a Whig supporter. You may have seen the Hollywood blockbuster ‘The Duchess’ portrayed by period drama star Kiera Knightley which showcases the story of this better researched woman. The Duchess would have been a political rival of Lady Salisbury as she was a Tory and firm supporter of the monarchy. Among other things, Lady Emily was noted as being eccentric, speaking with strong Irish accent and paying little heed to the conventional norms choosing to design her own unusual clothing. In 1784 during the Westminster Election, Lady Emily was one of the highest-ranking ladies to canvass. The pervious year Pitt had made her husband, the 7th Earl of Salisbury, Lord Chamberlain and then in 1789 he was raised in the peerage to the Marquess of Salisbury. Despite these titles being bestowed on her husband, it is thought Pitt did these things in order to thank Lady Emily. Much like Georgiana, Lady Emily was a fashion icon who influenced trends in clothing, makeup, and hairstyles.
Portrait of Emily Mary, 1st Marchioness of Salisbury by Joshua Reynolds c. 1780-1789 (Wikiart 2021)
After 13 years of marriage the Earl and Countess of Salisbury welcomed their first child. Their daughter, Georgiana Charlotte Augusta was named after the king, George III and the Queen, Charlotte, who both attended the christening on the 29th of April 1786.
The following account of the christening was given in the Caledonian Mercury on Wednesday 3rd May.
“Lady Salisbury sat up in bed to receive the Royal sponsors at the late christening. The bed was of green damask, with flowers in festoons, and lined with orange-coloured silk. The counterpane was white satin.
The Queen was dressed in dark green, covered with silver gauze, but ornamented with the greatest profusion of diamonds perhaps ever since at one time. Her head covered in diamonds, diamond stomacher, diamond sleeve bows, diamond bouquet &c.
The King was dressed in scarlet superbly embroidered with gold diamond George, diamond hat-buckle &c.
The Princess Royal was in light green covered with silver gauze.
The company present were:
Earl of Hillsborough
Lord Fairford
Earl Talbort
Countess Talbort
Lady Fairford
….
His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury performed the service.
…
Their Majesties stayed about an hour and half during which time none of the company sat down. About ten o’ clock their Majesties and the Princess Royal returned to the Queen’s house.
The present which his Majesty gives on this occasion is a piece of plate of one hundred and twenty ounces weight, which is inscribed with the name of the child, the sponsors &c.”
Having their Majesties as the child’s sponsors was a high honour and reflects the position of both the Cecil and Hill families in society. Lady Salisbury went on to have another three children over a period of seven years, Emily was born in 1789, James Brownlow William later the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury in 1791 and Caroline in 1793 who tragically died at the age of four.
Portraits of Queen Charlotte & King George III attributed to Sir Allan Ramsay (Royal Collection Trust 2021)
While studying correspondence at The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) it became clear that Lady Salisbury maintained close connections to her Hill family. An inventory of Hillsborough Lodge from 1777 show two rooms at the house named Lady & Lord Cranborne’s bedrooms indicating that the couple had stayed here when married. Correspondence between Lady Salisbury and her father Wills Hill, the Marquess of Downshire show a mutual respect and strong relationship. It appears Wills Hill appreciated his daughter’s viewpoint on politics and local matters including a quarrel the Marquess had with a local Bishop. The Marquess had ensured that his daughters were both remembered in his Will with both Lady Salisbury and her sister Lady Talbot being bequeathed £10,000. The documents also reveal a close relationship between Lady Emily and her brother Arthur, the 2nd Marquess of Downshire and his sons, the 3rd Marquess of Downshire and the 3rd Baron Sandys. Lady Salisbury’s male relatives treated her with great respect and truly valued her opinion about political matters, asking her to intervene in a feud between the Downshire and the Londonderry families. It is nice to think that this extended family continued to remain close. Lady Salisbury’s nephew Marcus even lived with her in her London townhouse and visited Hatfield House regularly where he did at one time learn some Spanish style dancing. It is clear that her male relatives respected her and sought her political knowledge during their own careers and lives continuing to channel her ferocious spirit long after she was gone.
Throughout her life Lady Salisbury was keen sportswoman who enjoyed hunting and continued riding enthusiastically with the hounds well into her late 70s. She took over ownership of the Hertfordshire hounds from her husband, who had to resign his mastership due to ill health in 1793. She decided to move the kennels to Hatfield House, and they subsequently became known as the Hatfield Hounds. Lady Salisbury is described as being slight physically but with boundless energy with an unusual strength. As she grew older, she continued hunting and had to be tied to the saddle and led by a groom as her eyesight began to fail. Lady Salisbury seems to have remained fiercely independent and social. The Whig politician Thomas Creevey referred to her ‘Old Sally’, this description by Creevey of a visit she paid to the Earl & Countess of Sefton when she was 76 years old in his journals sums up Lady Salisbury’s character.
“She drove the twenty miles from London by herself (apart from two dogs) in a stylish phaeton pulled by four excellent betassled horses…Sall being the only one who mounted her horse like an arrow from the hand of her groom, the horse too being an uncommonly high one” She was still an active society hostess and her ‘Sunday soirees having been the resort of the elite of the London society’. Creevey noted that she did not go to bed until 1:30am.
Coursers at Hatfield Park, Hertfordshire By James Pollard 1824, the Marchioness is depicted in the blue livery of the hunt at the forefront of the scene aged 73
The Marchioness of Salisbury (Diana return’d from the Chace) by James Gillray © National Portrait Gallery, London
Satirical Print of the Marchioness of Salisbury in masculine dress lacing her boots by Richard Newton, 1792 © The Trustees of the British Museum
It will be unsurprising to learn that Lady Salisbury’s death was just as unconventional as her life. After her husband’s death in June 1823, Lady Salisbury remained living with her son, James Brownlow William Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury, his wife Francis Mary, 2nd Marchioness of Salisbury along with her grandchildren at Hatfield House and maintained her own property in London. Within Hatfield she had her own rooms in a separate apartment in the West Wing of Hatfield House and was styled as the Dowager Marchioness. On the 27th of November 1835, a fire broke out in Lady Salisbury’s private rooms which tragically ended her life. It is thought that while Lady Salisbury was preparing some letters, she had a light to seal them and during this process her dress caught on fire. Unfortunately, nobody discovered the fire until her Ladyship’s maid came to dress her for dinner at six o’clock. When she opened the door of her sitting room door was greeted by flames and smoke which rushed from the room, one servant attempted to enter the room in order to save Lady Salisbury but had to be rescued himself after succumbing to the smoke and her son the Marquess of Salisbury had to be restrained to stop him entering the flames to save his mother. It was difficult to fight the flames without access to fire engines and all assistance was required to bring the fire under control, but a lack of water ensured that the fire progressed through the rooms and ultimately the West Wing of Hatfield was destroyed and remained smoking for days afterwards. According to contemporary newspaper accounts Lady Salisbury’s body was discovered with only partial burns meaning she must have died from suffocation, this differs for later accounts of only her bones being discovered but the report of the coroner explains bones were found that certainly belonged to Lady Salisbury, furthermore the jury at the inquest were said to examine the bones and returned the verdict of “accidentally burned to death”,
Newspaper Clipping describing The Marchioness of Salisbury’s funeral Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
The Downshire, Salisbury and Talbot families were plunged into mourning. Lady Salisbury’s daughter Georgiana Cowley had previously been convinced her mother would meet her demise by fire as she had on three previous occasions had been endangered by fire, once having sustained severe burns on her arm and was devastated her prediction came true. Lady Salisbury had been unwilling to accept the side effects of growing older and seldom permitted her maid to be present in the room with her unless actually wanted. When studying Lady Salisbury’s correspondence I could see how her writing had changed with age, once a confident feminine handwriting style eventually began to show signs of her older age with a shakier but no less intelligent correspondence.
The Marchioness of Salisbury’s calling card listed along with her daughters in her own handwriting (Source Unknown)
After her death it was discovered that Lady Salisbury was in a significant amount of debt and was in fact on the brink of ruin. Despite her son succeeding to his father’s titles and land, Lady Salisbury had refused to part with the family jewels instead insisting on wearing the pieces all at once, upon her death it was realised that the Lady had in fact been selling the jewels and replacing them with paste replicas to feed her gambling habit and extravagant lifestyle.
Lady Salisbury is rarely included in documentaries or research about Georgian Britain and Ireland and is certainly an under researched character, but it is clear she led a full life which sought to move beyond the constrictive roles assigned to women during this period. She used feminine spaces or interests such as clothing to promote her political viewpoints and exerted her influence through the men in her lives who could participate freely in politics. Her husband James held many political roles during his lifetimes including serving in the House of Lords, as Treasurer of the Household and Lord Chamberlain of the Household. Lord Salisbury was also made a Knight of the Garter in 1793 and served as Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire between 1771 and 1823. Lady Emily’s son also had a rich political career and his son (her grandson), Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times.
Satirical Cartoon ‘Hints towards a change of ministry’ featuring Lady Salisbury as the ‘Mistress of the Buck Hounds’ by Isaac Cruikshank 1797. © The Trustees of the British Museum
Photograph of the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Robert Cascoyne-Cecil c. 1886 (Wikipedia 2021)
In the course of my research I discovered more about Lady Emily’s daughter also called Emily. She married George Nuguent, 1st Marquess of Westmeath in May 1812 and had two children. Despite the couple purporting to be very much in love, they in fact had a difficult marriage. Lord Westmeath kept a mistress and the couple eventually separated after the death of their son in 1819, reconciled, separated again and then divorced in 1827 on the grounds of adultery and cruelty, including documented instances of physical violence. Lady Emily Nugent made unsuccessful attempts to gain custody of her daughter which was common among divorced women of this time. This led her to campaign for reform of the law with the prominent writer and feminist Caroline Norton which led to the passing of the Custody of Infants Act 1839 which increased the rights of mothers, unfortunately Lord Nugent seemed to succeed in alienating their daughter Rosa from Emily.
Despite their fraught relationship, Lady Nugent fought for her daughter to receive a percentage of her father’s inheritance. Emily still enjoyed some standing in society becoming the Lady of the Bedchamber to Adelaide Saxe-Meiningen, the consort of King William IV, who then became his second wife. Unfortunately Emily Nugent had been ostracized by her family including our Lady Salisbury who, despite her unconventional demeanor, did take issue to her daughter’s separation and divorce. I found it terribly disappointing to learn Lady Salisbury had in fact acted as a witness of Lord Westmeath but had granted permission for her other daughter Georgiana to marry Henry Wellesley (brother of the Duke of Wellington) who was indeed divorced himself after his wife abandoned him but maybe these circumstances made it easier to accept.
Lord and Lady Westmeath’s divorce proceedings dragged out over two decades which included many petitions for monies not paid in alimony to Lady Nugent. Lady Nugent carved out an independent life of her own by, fighting for her money, using her connections and investments. Lady Nugent’s story shows how difficult it was before the passing of the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857 and the 1870 and 1882 Married Women’s Property Acts which allowed married women the same rights a single woman to keep their own wealth separate from their husbands. Personally, I find it interesting that the Marquess of Westmeath went onto marry again, divorcing for a second time in 1862 after only four years of marriage to his second wife Maria Jervis but married a third time in 1864 to Charlotte Verner until his death in 1871 and with no heirs the marquessate became extinct.
Portrait of Caroline Norton, by Sir George Hayter, 1832
The fierce determination found throughout the female line in the Downshire/Hill family is fascinating and while these women held privileged positions in their societies they are still underrepresented in our historical narrative. I have enjoyed discovering more about the women in this family from the 15th century right through to the 21st century through their charitable works, political influencing and forging their own careers. The new wave of historians who promote and share HERstory are doing an incredible job in showing us that women have always been fighting for change to forge better standards for the next generation. By sharing their extraordinary histories, we can build a fuller picture of what life was truly like in the past. Tragically, so many amazing women’s stories have been lost to the past, with a lack of documentary evidence to experience their own accounts of what happened to them. I hope as I move through my own career in museums and history that we will continue to uncover amazing stories like Lady Salisbury’s to share with future generations and thus encourage more people to enter this field and be inspired by the women of the past.
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