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A Portrait of a Duchess.
by David Taylor

The life of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806) has been the subject of renewed interest in recent years due to the excellent, award-winning biography of her by Amanda Foreman and the attraction afforded by the many similarities that exist between her life and that of her much-loved descendent Princess Diana.

Georgiana’s likeness was commissioned many times during her lifetime and executed by the leading portrait painters of the day, including Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, and Angelica Kauffman. The neo-classical images are universally flattering and show a very singular if not conventional beauty. Unfortunately for the Duchess there were also a large number of unofficial ‘portraits’ of her circulated in the form of satirical prints, over most of which she had no control. Many of these were deeply offensive to her in a most personal manner and their aim, uniquely for a woman at that time, was to destroy her as a political force.

In order to understand the significance of these prints it is necessary to know something of the circumstances Georgiana was born and later married into and the development and extent of her interest in politics. This essential background information relies heavily, although not exclusively on Amanda Foreman’s account.

As the eldest daughter of the Earl and Countess Spencer Georgiana grew up in a family with one of the largest fortunes in England. They entertained constantly, travelled widely, and associated with the leading families in the land. She married the 5th Duke of Devonshire on her seventeenth birthday. He was head of one of the richest and most respected families in England, which had been involved in politics at the highest level for three centuries. Unfortunately, the match was a poor one. He already had a mistress that he kept after the marriage and fundamentally, their temperaments were incompatible. Where he was cold and reserved she was open and agreeable. While he was incapable of showing emotion, she often over-reacted to situations.

Nevertheless, the marriage was reported as the wedding of the year and, on their arrival in London, they quickly became leaders of society’s most select group, the ‘Ton’. Georgiana possessed that rare quality of natural charm combined with an ability to attract notice and she soon became the talk of the town and the arbiter of fashion.
For example, it was Georgiana who was responsible for the outrageously lofty hairstyles of this period that were much caricatured in a good-natured way during 1776. Indeed the first satirical print identified in the British Museum Catalogue with reference to the Duchess is a Darly print of 1776 entitled THE VIS A VIS BISECTED OR THE LADIES CO-OP. It shows her having to sit on the floor of her carriage so that her monstrous mound of hair can be accommodated.

Another fashion innovation introduced by the Duchess at this time was not so well received by society at large. This was the introduction of long ostrich feathers into her hair decoration. Everyone was eager to follow her lead but only the extremely rich could afford the long plumes because they were in very short supply. Regarded as excessive and exclusive, this caused resentment among members of the wider populace. A second print of 1776, entitled PHAETONA OR MODERN FEMALE TASTE, shows her driving a high phaeton with her hair extravagantly dressed and with a hat perched on top trimmed with ribbons and enormous ostrich feathers. This symbol of extravagance was to stick with Georgiana in later prints of a political nature. However, in these two early satires identification of the Duchess relies more on deduction, through the presence of a ducal coronet in the design, than on any more natural or personal emblematic representation.

Her life following her unhappy marriage became a ‘roller-coaster’ ride of dissipation and excess. However, whilst establishing herself as one of the elite social and fashion celebrities of the day she also became a key figure in the social life of many of the Whig grandees. Filling the vacuum caused by a diffident husband, she began to establish herself as a political hostess of some significance and, after meeting Charles James Fox in 1777, she began to take a real interest in politics. He had only recently converted to the Whig opposition group and his zeal and eloquence lit a spark in Georgiana that was to change her life. She became a ‘Foxite’ with unquestioning loyalty to this brilliant but also deeply flawed politician.

Significantly, her next appearance in contemporary satirical prints contained elements of both social and political comment and marked a move away from the purely frivolous. The occasion was the threatened invasion by France in 1778 after they had joined the war on the side of the American colonists. The Duke organized a voluntary militia that was stationed at Coxheath in Kent for the defence of London. Georgiana accompanied her husband and, at the camp, she and her lady companions were indulged to a degree unusual in a military establishment. She organised her own female auxiliary force and designed smart uniforms for them. When her initiatives were reported in the press, they became a significant propaganda coup for her Whig friends who had suffered in the eyes of the public because of their opposition to the American war. For the first time her actions had a political significance and she had demonstrated her usefulness to the men of power. Two prints, entitled THE THREE GRACES OF COX-HEATH and THE COXHEATH RACE FOR £100, show Georgiana dressed in a quasi-military style and holding a riding switch while sporting elaborate headgear. This contradiction between feminine grace and masculine actions was, at this time, represented in a good-natured way.

When the French invasion failed to materialise Georgiana returned to London. She began to immerse herself in the details of politics and Devonshire House became the centre for the opposition Whig meetings. She now became more than a mere political hostess and by 1780, her value was widely recognised as shown by the demands made on her during the 1780 general election. She canvassed for the Cavendish family in Derby, successfully arranged a parliamentary seat for Sheridan, and appeared for a short time on the hustings at Covent Garden with Charles Fox. She also became a close friend and confidante to the Prince of Wales who had joined the Whig opposition to the King. Later, when the Rockingham Whigs came to power after the fall of Lord North and Fox was made ‘foreign secretary’, she helped secure his re-election for Westminster by staging an appearance with a group of her female friends on the hustings. They caused a sensation.

The two years between the fall of North in 1782 and the ascendancy of Pitt in 1784 saw the hopes of the Foxite Whigs rise and fall dramatically. The King’s hatred of Fox, Rockingham’s untimely death, the inability of Fox and Shelburne to tolerate each other, the uproar caused by the Fox-North coalition, Fox’s East India Bill and the meteoric rise of William Pitt all set the scene for the major political showdown in 1784.This period of constitutional crises was the occasion for a huge expansion of political satire, including large numbers of innovative caricatures. Artists such as Sayers, Gillray, Boyne, and Rowlandson transformed the satirical print during these years and heralded in the ‘classic age of caricature’.

Yet between 1779 and the early months of 1784 the British Museum Catalogue lists only two political prints that have connections with the Duchess. The first of these, entitled THE LADIES CHURCH YARD, attacks the amorous attachments of the Prince of Wales and unfortunately, Georgiana was featured prominently. The second is of more significance and is titled PROTEUS YE 2D IN SEVRAL AMONG HIS MANY PUBLICK CHARACTERS. In it, Fox is attacked for his duplicity and hypocrisy associated with his coalition with Lord North. Crudely drawn by an artist unknown and a publication line deliberately left incomplete so that successive publishers could pen in their details, the print nevertheless conveys a powerful message. In the first scene, Fox is shown declaiming from the hustings vigorously. Watching and supporting him is a woman on horseback, identified as Georgiana by the words ‘Chatsworth’ scribed across the horse’s rump. The label was necessary because it was the first real image of her in a truly political role.

That she does not appear in more prints between 1779 and 1783 is because her political work took place out of the public eye and the fact that she was absent from London for long periods of time, particularly in 1782. She was frequently in a weakened emotional state due to her ‘domestic arrangements’, gambling debts, miscarriages, and damaging rumours about her. However, it is known that she was extremely influential with the Prince of Wales in getting Fox out of a very difficult situation that could have brought the Coalition down in June 1783. However, this was not public knowledge. Also the birth of her first child in 1783 meant that she was absent from the centre of the decision making process during her confinement. However, she was determined to pursue her political activities at every available opportunity and rumours began to be spread about her relationship with Charles Fox.

In November 1783, the political world was in uproar over Fox’s India Bill and the subsequent dismissal of his administration by the King. Pitt’s ‘mince pie’ administration that followed was ridiculed by the Whigs and was thought too weak to survive Christmas. However, when George the third strategically dissolved Parliament in February 1784 and called a General Election he dealt a deathblow to the Foxite Whigs.

The political stakes were so high that the election created a frenzy of activity from the printmakers in the constituency of Westminster, the seat that Fox was fighting to hold onto, the like of which had never been seen before or since. Incredibly, of the 109 Westminster Election prints recorded in the British Museum Catalogue, 74 have some reference to Georgiana, a staggering 68%. This figure reflects the crucial role she played on behalf of Fox.

There were in fact two parliamentary seats for Westminster and three candidates in this election. The Court Party sponsored both Admiral Hood and Sir Cecil Wray. Charles Fox was supported by the Cavendish family and the other Whig grandees. Admiral Hood was a war hero and expected to gain his seat easily. The real contest was for the second seat between Fox and Wray. The King told Pitt to do whatever was necessary to stop the re-election of Fox and large sums of money were available for this purpose both from the King and from the City.

Irrespective of its unique geographical position, both sides in the contest acknowledged the political importance of the Westminster constituency, albeit in different ways. For the King and Pitt’s supporters its importance lay in the fact that the leader of the opposition, Charles Fox, was a candidate. For the Whigs it was convenient for them to view Westminster, with its uniquely large householder franchise, as truly representing public opinion, (at a time before the reform of the House of Commons). They had used it as a national platform to expound Foxite views since 1780 and Fox’s title as ‘Man of the People’ derived from his careful cultivation of this stance in Westminster. For his part, the King considered the County constituencies with their large, more dispersed franchise, as being more truly representative of the wishes of his people. However, what both sides could agree on was that Westminster was one of a select handful of large constituencies where public opinion mattered and where influence could be brought to bear to successfully influence it.

Prior to the election, itself the political issues had been exhaustively dealt with in the press and the print trade. Both Sayers and Gillray had made important contributions to the propaganda battles since the formation of the Fox-North Coalition in early 1783. Therefore, it is not surprising that during the forty days of the election itself the propaganda concentrated on personalities rather than issues. Each side sought to discredit the other candidate and, because during the election it was Georgiana and not Fox who was considered to be the most effective in securing votes, many of the attacks centred on the Duchess.

Although she did not operate alone, and, as in previous elections, both sides used women to canvass for votes, Georgiana was unique in the way she took the initiative in both drawing attention to herself and involving herself directly with the common people. No sitting in carriages to distribute trinkets for Georgiana. She walked amongst the crowds, visited voter’s homes, tolerated the abuse heaped on her by the hired gangs employed to follow her and actively participated in the politics of the street. She was highly effective, being both glamorous and also having the common touch. Her charm offensive alarmed the Court party and the attacks from the press and from the print trade came early and were sustained throughout and beyond the forty days of polling and came close, on occasion, to character assassination.

The agents of Pitt and the King attacked Georgiana in a multitude of ways and commissioned prints in which she was accused of betraying her rank and sex in a most undignified way, of selling her body for votes, of being Fox’s mistress, of using bribes in a shameless way, of securing unqualified votes from the most disreputable of the Westminster citizenry and of neglecting her husband and baby in order to pursue a political life.

Contemporary reaction to the prints was as heated as the political issues driving the election. While those who called her ‘Doll Common’ or ‘the Whore of Babylon’ thought she was getting what she deserved, others, more sympathetic to the Whigs, described the prints as scurrilous, abusive and, worst of all, destitute of wit and humour.

The artists who produced these caricature images of Georgiana were diverse and largely unknown. Of the seventy- four election prints referring to the Duchess in the British Museum Catalogue, only the prints of Rowlandson and Dent are identifiable with certainty. Rowlandson produced fourteen images and Dent six. Four prints each are also attributed to Collings, Barrow, and Carey. Two prints are attributed to Isaac Cruikshank, Phillips, and Kingsbury. One has the initials J M W and one is signed Veritas Fecit. The remaining thirty-four prints are by totally anonymous artists.

The absences of Sayers and Gillray are most noticeable from this list. Although both made major contributions to the propaganda attacking the Fox-North Coalition, at the time of the election both were inactive as political cartoonists. Gillray was pursuing a career as a stipple engraver and Sayers was absent from London. This left a vacuum, which Rowlandson more than adequately filled.

Rowlandson’s contemporaries recognised his prodigious talent and, as an artist, he produced his best work in the period 1784 to 1787. He was primarily a water colourist and social satirist with his own unique style. However, for a short time in 1784, he became a very active political cartoonist. He was living at the time in Soho and would have experienced the frenzy of the Election on a daily basis. Indeed his images show us intimate views of the canvass with a sketched-from-life quality about them.

Being politically neutral, he worked for both parties during the election. What he often lacked in political bite he more than made up for in the artistic interpretation of the satire and the gentle, good-natured way in which he presented it. For example, in his print THE TWO PATRIOTIC DUCHESS’S ON THEIR CANVASS, Georgiana is depicted as a handsome young woman embracing an equally handsome young butcher.
However, Rowlandson’s inclination to contrast beauty and ugliness together meant that, in a slightly later print THE DEVONSHIRE, OR MOST APPROVED METHOD OF SECURING VOTES, while Georgiana is still relatively attractive the butcher is now made to look repulsive. Again, in KINGS PLACE, OR A VIEW OF M (FOX) BEST FRIENDS, the ugliness of the prostitutes is contrasted with the relatively kind treatment of Georgiana, (although the print implies she is little different from them).

He also depicted the contest between Georgiana and Mrs Hobart in a similar way. (Mrs Hobart’s’ canvassing on behalf of Hood and Wray was the subject of several prints by various artists). Being enormously fat, she was an easy target for Rowlandson and he could not resist. In THE POLL, the contrast between the fat Mrs Hobart and fair Georgiana is made abundantly clear!

Despite his relatively gentle artistic approach, Rowlandson did in fact use sexual innuendo in his attacks against the Duchess. For example, in his print THE DEPARTURE, she holds a fox brush strategically placed to represent Fox’s phallus and she says “Farewell my Charley-let no fears assail. For sure no Fox had e’er so fine a tail”.

Georgiana was also depicted by Rowlandson as an important source of bribes for the Foxite cause and in WITS’ LAST STAKE OR THE COBLING VOTERS AND ABJECT CANVASSERS; she is handing over a large amount of money to a cobbler’s wife for unnecessary repair work on her shoes. Again, in a wonderful image of Georgiana carrying Fox on her back whilst approaching a low alehouse, she holds a full purse in her hand and says, “For the good of the Constitution give me a Glass of Gin”.

Rowlandson was also responsible for producing some of the prints that showed Georgiana in the best light. Whether or not it was intentional in REYNARD PUT TO HIS SHIFTS, the Duchess is almost a heroic figure protecting Fox from the opposition hounds-even if it is under her petticoats! In an image that may have been specially commissioned as a frontispiece for a History of the Westminster Election in 1784, LIBERTY AND FAME INTRODUCING FEMALE PATRIOTISM TO BRITANIA, a beautiful and serene Duchess is the focus of the print.

Several other artists were obviously influenced by Rowlandson’s style of depicting Georgiana. Notable among these are the prints attributed in the British Museum Catalogue to Kingsbury. In the print entitled THE POLITICAL SHAVER, a large eyed and wistful Duchess is being shaved by Fox. The etching style is very similar to Rowlandson but the print still manages to keep a personality of its own. His other print, WISDOM LED BY VIRTUE AND PRUDENCE TO THE TEMPLE OF FAME, is a pro-Fox satire showing Fox being led by the Duchess and her sister into the arms of Britannia.

In stark contrast to Rowlandson, William Dent was politically partisan in his support of the King and Pitt and, at least in 1784, an artist whose style was as yet undeveloped. His attacks on Georgiana were as crude as his drawing style. And yet his prints were very popular at the time with some sections of the community. M. Dorothy George has described him as having a gift for burlesque portraiture, uninhibited personalities, and ribald comment. Whether his prints of Georgiana were interpreted as ribald comment or simply deeply offensive depended on the political persuasion of the viewer. He was not capable of portraying the duchess in a realistic way. He did not have the etching skills of Rowlandson but he did have the capacity to attack ruthlessly and he concentrated on images of Georgiana depicting her exchanging sexual favours for votes. For example, he uses the term ‘member’ to represent a bodily organ in his first attack on the Duchess THE DUTCHESS CANVASSING FOR HER FAVOURITE MEMBER. She is shown with her hand under the apron of a short, fat butcher while kissing him. Sexual innuendo was the main weapon of attack in his prints and they proved to be deeply hurtful to Georgiana personally.

A characteristic of all the 1784 election prints is that they repeat the same limited number of themes over and over again but in a wide variety of artistic style and interpretation. The example of the ridiculing of the Duchess for canvassing votes from butchers is a typical example. It was Collings who provided the first satire on this theme. His print, FEMALE INFLUENCE; OR THE DEVONS----E CANVAS, was published on April 3rd, only two days after polling started. It cleverly illustrates and exploits the gender issues involved. The Duchess maintains a masculine stance whereas the butcher looks coy. A courting ritual in reverse!

The large number of election prints by unknown artists that feature Georgiana show a wide range of artistic ability and style. Some are appealing because of their naivety others because of the liveliness of their style. Yet all seem to share a set of common conventions in their representation of her. She is never heavily caricatured and is universally represented as a tall, young, and attractive woman. (It is difficult to attack beauty per se and so other ways of discrediting her visually had to be found.)

These artists commonly identified Georgiana through her headgear, typically a large hat or elaborate hair in which Fox favours, fox brushes and ostrich plumes were placed. In fact Georgiana adopted these emblems herself whenever she went out canvassing and, in this sense, the satirists were merely representing a reality. She is also shown frequently wearing riding clothes to emphasize the masculine nature of her activities or wearing a dress that exposes her bare breasts or legs to illustrate her as a ‘woman of the people’ or a woman of loose morals. (Fox was known as the ‘Man of the People’ with quite a different interpretation on the phrase). Prints that either take a neutral position, or support her, show her more elegantly dressed in a dignified way. She is also frequently shown with her sister Harriet, Viscountess Duncannon, who also canvassed vigorously, although Georgiana is always the main focus of the compositions. They are usually shown unaccompanied by any male escort.

During the election, the press and the print trade worked hand in hand. Prints were produced which echoed newspaper editorials and vice-versa. The Morning Post was particularly vicious in its attacks on Georgiana. However, unlike the press, the satirical print trade was much more widely dispersed amongst different publishers. Twenty-six named publishers and up to six anonymous ones produced election satires referring to Georgiana. It must have been a very lucrative trade for a short time not only because the prints were in popular demand in alehouses, barbers shops and other public places but also because the prints were often bought up in order to destroy them and take them out of circulation. The more libellous the prints the more reason to buy them up to get them out of the public eye. (Alternatively, some of Fox’s supporters took it upon themselves to break the windows of print shops that sold the more scurrilous prints of Georgiana!)

There is strong evidence that the demand for prints was so high in the spring and early summer of 1784, that many publishers who did not normally deal in satire were commissioned to produce prints. Seven publishers can be identified from the British Museum catalogue that produced only one satirical print of Georgiana and that one print represented their entire output of caricatures. Some of these one-off prints are of high quality and make an important contribution to the diversification of the images we have of the Duchess. For example, Jn Hanyer Strand published a Rowlandson print entitled POLITICAL AFFECTION. This striking satire shows Fox as a fox suckling at Georgiana’s bare breast while her own infant cries neglected on the floor. T Bun, St Martins Lane published a gross satire by Dent entitled HER [GRACE] CARRYING A PLUMPER FOR CHARLY, (A plumper was slang for a single, prized vote), in which a crudely drawn Duchess lifts up a fat butcher in a sexually explicit embrace.

Other publishers who only produced a very few satirical prints also contributed some striking images. J Clarkson No 73 St Paul’s Church Yard only printed two satires, both referring to Georgiana. The first of these, entitled A D---E ROUT OR REYNARD IN HIS ELEMENT, is a lively image of Georgiana and Fox in relation to the proposed scrutiny of some of the votes cast in his favour. Only here we see Burke and two tradesmen scrutinising the top of Georgiana’s legs as a gust of wind from Boreas (Lord North) lifts her petticoats. The scene is set in Henrietta St. a famous street in Westminster for prostitutes and the viewer is left in no doubt about the implied relationship between the Duchess and Fox.

Another publisher who had a tiny output of satirical prints but who has left us an enduring image is A Aitken No 2 Orange Court Drury Lane. In the print entitled THE TIPLING DUTCHESS RETURNING FROM CANVASSING, the figure of Fox is skilfully represented in an original way and the Duchess’s vacant, intoxicated expression is caught beautifully as she says “My Eyes and Limbs I shall Spew on the Duke to night”. Georgiana frequently had to accept offers of alcohol whilst canvassing.

For collectors it is pertinent to note that many of the popular plates from these small publishers were often sold on to other larger publishers of satirical prints. Plates could change hands only a few days after their original publication, others after a few weeks. Some, particularly Rowlandson’s images, were still being printed in the early nineteenth century. Rowlandson’s prints of Georgiana that exchanged publishers very quickly after their original publication include THE DEPARTURE and FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE CHAMPION. Both were originally published by J. Hedges, Royal Exchange and quickly sold on to Wm. Humphrey who was buying up election plates during the election period itself.

Existing prints that could be used to represent a new development were reissued. For example, [THE CHAIRING OF FOX], which was originally published by W Wall on April 12th, was reissued one month later as a victory print by W. Holland No 66 Drury Lane.

Individual publishers bought up plates to mount exhibitions and there is evidence that J. Wallis, No 16 Ludgate St was acquiring plates of the election in June of 1784 for this purpose. THE RIVAL CANVASSERS and THE DEVONSHIRE AMUSEMENT were both originally published by H. Mc Phail on 16th June and 5th May respectively and both re-issued by Wallis on 24th June. Similarly, THE POLITICAL SHAVER, although originally published by J. Moore No 19 Hallon [Hatton] Street on 10th May, was re-issued by Wallis on June 21st.

This exchange of plates, and the incompleteness of the British Museum’s collection, makes it difficult to say with absolute certainty where some of the images of Georgiana originated. However, a general picture emerges of W. Humphrey, 227 Strand commissioning work from Rowlandson, J. Brown, Rathbone Place printing the images produced by Dent, W. Holland, No 66 Drury Lane publishing the work of Carey, E. Rich, No 55 Fleet St. publishing what is thought to be the artwork of J. Barrow and Wells, No 132 Fleet St publishing what is thought to be the work of Collings.

W. Humphrey, 227 Strand published by far the most prints of Georgiana and, as many of these are by Rowlandson and also include an important image by Isaac Cruikshank, this publisher could be said to be the most important publisher of election prints of the Duchess. Their importance is enhanced by the fact that it was W. Humphrey who published the most important pro-Georgiana images. Images supporting her and the Whig cause are relatively rare and THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE DUTCHESS and Cruikshanks print VOX POPULI, VOX DEI are exceptional in their defence of the Duchess and their attack on the Morning Post. Other than W. Humphrey, only J Wallis published material that supported Georgiana’s work during the Westminster Election. The vast majority of the publishers produced prints that were highly critical of her.

On the 17th May 1784, polling ceased. Forty days had elapsed since the first votes were cast and the law would allow no more. Hood had polled 6694 votes, Fox 6234 and Wray 5998. Georgiana’s efforts on behalf of Fox had paid off. Despite all the efforts of Pitt’s propaganda machine Georgiana had secured enough votes for Fox to enable him to take the second parliamentary seat for Westminster. This was a major personal triumph for the Duchess, especially because there were times during the poll when Fox became despondent and ceased to actively canvass. Wray was in a strong lead after ten days of polling and, with only a short break for a few days in St Albans with her mother, Georgiana campaigned ceaselessly to turn the tide.

It would appear that in the end her personal charm, together with her understanding of the power of money, was stronger than the influence of the press editorials and the satirical print ridicule. That she was left exposed and undefended for a considerable time by the Whigs is beyond doubt. It was only in the later stages of the poll, when the tide had already turned, that the Whig’s own propaganda machine swung into action with any effect and prints such as THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE DUTCHESS were commissioned. For the whole of April Georgiana had to withstand the onslaught undefended and it may be that she gained some sympathy from being in such an exposed position.

Fox’s victory was soured by the scrutiny of votes demanded by Pitt before Fox could take his seat for Westminster and because, throughout the country as a whole, the Foxite Whigs had lost 89 seats. Consequently, there was still a role for Georgiana to play.

Prints implying that Fox was securing ineligible votes began to appear towards the end of April and continued throughout May. Dent produced several satires in May on this theme including THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP OR, THE ELECTION MAN-TRAP RETURNING FROM SPITTALFIELDS. Scrutiny prints featuring Georgiana as Fox’s supporter continued into June, long after polling had ceased. In a satire entitled A NEW WAY TO DESIDE THE SCRUTINY, Georgiana is Fox’s second as he fights Wray. She wears her usual electioneering hat and men’s clothing and says, “Take Courage I'll support the cause while I can ware the Breaches”.

The Duchess is also exposed supporting Fox financially regarding his petition to the High Bailiff. In a clever reworking of an earlier satire ‘Sawney in the Bog-House’ (1745), THE POLITICAL BOGHOUSE shows Fox in a predicament. He had a place in Parliament representing the Orkney boroughs but he needed the Westminster seat to maintain any credibility as ‘the Man of the People’ and leader of the opposition. Georgiana is shown coming to the rescue with a purse full of money.

On the 4th March 1785, the High Bailiff eventually made his return. The scrutiny had cost all the candidates a great deal of money and a few lost votes. However, it left the original result unaffected. Fox polled 231 votes more than Wray and so took up his seat for Westminster.

The savage, personal attacks on Georgiana during the election took their toll. After 1784, she was much more reticent in promoting a cult of her own celebrity and her own husband was livid at his portrayal as a cuckold. She never again openly canvassed on the streets during an election.

However, her passion for politics was undiminished. Her work during the election established her importance to the party and she achieved political status in her own right. In the aftermath of this disastrous election for the Whigs, she continued to work hard as a political hostess fulfilling the vitally important role of cementing the party together again. Consequently, in late December she organised a publicity stunt by sponsoring Jean-Pierre Blanchard’s second balloon ascent in England. It was orchestrated as a celebration of Whig politics. Even the ropes holding the balloon were decorated with blue and buff motifs. As a publicity stunt it was a huge success and attracted large crowds. It also attracted the attention of William Dent who used the spectacle to attack the Whigs on a wide front, including insinuating a sexual relationship between the Duchess and the Prince of Wales. In his BRITISH BALLOON, AND D----- AERIAL YACHT, the balloon carries the Prince and the Duchess aloft. He says, "It rises majestically", She answers, "Yes, I feel it".

After 1784, the number of satirical prints featuring the Duchess diminish dramatically. The Foxite Whigs were an ineffective political force and references to the Duchess in the prints of 1785 and 1786 concentrate on her close association with the Prince of Wales, THE COCK OF THE WALK, DISTRIBUTING HIS FAVOURS, for example. The claim that they were lovers is untrue but the actions of the Prince in using Georgiana as a confidante in his pursuit of Mrs Fitzherbert gave some credence to the lie. He was a frequent visitor to Devonshire House at all hours of the day or night to seek advice or pour his heart out.

During the 1788 by-election in Westminster, she worked extremely hard to support Charles Fox and Lord John Cavendish. However, unlike in 1784, now all her work was behind the scenes. Lady Duncannon, her sister, actively canvassed on the streets along with other Whig family ladies but Georgiana restricted her contribution to advising at strategy meetings, raising election funds, and writing to large numbers of people. In this respect the satirical print entitled HARRY JENKINS, THE MASCULINE & FEMININE BELLOWS MEMBER, attributed to Gillray, is incorrect. In the satire a named Duchess of D------e is shown leading a dwarfish man to the polls after giving him a considerable bribe.
In Dighton’s famous watercolour of the 1788 Westminster election, The humours of Covent Garden realistically depicted, Lord John Cavendish stands centre foreground with two ladies one of which is thought to be Georgiana. However, although the Devonshire’s state carriage took part in a victory parade, the Duchess herself did not make a personal appearance.

The most telling caricature of the 1788 election featuring Georgiana is an attack by Dent entitled THE MISCARRIAGE OR HIS GRACE STOPPING THE SUPPLIES. Georgiana is depicted having an unnatural miscarriage as coins fall from between her open legs. The Duke holds up an enormous pair of trousers and says, "I’ll not be drained of my last Farthing, therefore, my Lady, henceforth I will wear the Breeches". Certainly, the cost of the victory was ruinously expensive and, in 1790, Fox and Hood compromised to avoid a contest.

During the Regency Crises of 1788, the lack of discipline amongst the leaders of the Whigs proved to be disastrous. The squabbling over the places that would become available when the Prince of Wales took control, the speech by Fox which completely undermined his party’s position as the defender of parliamentary rights, and the way Pitt had learned to copy and effectively use Georgiana’s own tactics of propaganda, negated the Duchess’s efforts to keep the party together.
Pitt used the Duchess of Gordon to compete against Georgiana and she was a considerable help to him. As she became the leading political hostess of the day the satirical print trade turned their attention away from Georgiana and the spotlight fell on her.

Georgiana had of necessity to take a back seat for almost the remainder of her life because her Foxite cause, that the power of the monarchy must be balanced by Parliament, had been undermined by Fox himself. In addition, the ongoing developments in France were making the issue irrelevant. Georgiana was also personally bankrupt by 1789 due to her addiction to gambling, a fact that she hid from her husband. This alone severely restricted her options and she had of necessity to visit the continent to escape her creditors. While there, she saw at first hand the early stages of the French Revolution in Paris. On her return to England, she once more saw her party being split apart. Fox allowed the opposing views of Sheridan and Burke towards the French Revolution to fundamentally divide the party.

In 1791, a personal disaster struck Georgiana. She became pregnant as a result of her affair with Charles Grey. When her husband found out she was banished to the continent to have the child in secret and she was not allowed to return until September 1793. On her return, she was quiet and subdued and she no longer sought to be a leader of the ton. She wore more sober clothes and developed an interest in science that had begun whilst in exile. Politically the Whigs were in the doldrums, being distrusted by the people because of their views about the French, and because of their lack of effective leadership and direction. Georgiana initially kept a low profile and, for a while, toyed with the idea of giving up politics because there was so little to be done.

In 1793 she was one of the ladies who made flannel shirts for the troops fighting in Flanders, an activity which brought forth much ribald comment as in Gillray’s print FLANNEL-ARMOUR; FEMALE PATRIOTISM, -OR-MODERN HEROES ACCOUTRED FOR THE WARS).
Otherwise, she kept out of the political limelight for most of the 1790’s. Although not altogether politically inactive, the lack of any satirical prints about her during this decade reflects her abdication of the role of leading political hostess to the Duchess of Gordon.

The years 1796 to 1799 were occupied by illness and bouts of depression. An infection in her right eye had left her partially sighted and slightly disfigured. She contented herself with confining her political activities to advising George Spencer, her brother and a member of Pitt’s cabinet, particularly on Irish issues. Because Fox no longer attended Parliament at this time, she learned to lead a political life, however slight, without Fox.

However, by 1799 she had regained her self-assurance and began to take a more active role in the affairs of the fragmented Whig party once more. In February of 1801, when Pitt resigned, a huge vacuum was created that destroyed the existing party alliances and created a new fragmentation of party politics. Fox returned to the House and the Prince of Wales began to consult Georgiana almost daily. Devonshire House once more became the ‘party headquarters’ of the Foxite Whigs.

That Georgiana still wanted to deeply concern herself with the politics of power is evident but now it was on a different basis to 1784. Her right to interfere in what was essentially a man’s world now stemmed more from her duty as a patriot than a need to curb the powers of the King. And she was appalled when a newspaper claimed that she had been out on the street canvassing during the election of 1802. She wrote a strong denial and stated that the last time she had done any canvassing was in 1784.
Once more, she did essential work behind the scenes not only cementing the various old Whig factions together but also encouraging other groups to join in a national government. The formation of a coalition government headed by Charles Fox became a real possibility due to her efforts. Although her health was beginning to let her down, by 1804 she had emerged as a popular political figure with an important position in a rejuvenated Whig party.

It was left to Gillray to create the last important political image of Georgiana in June of 1804. In L’ASSEMBLEE NATIONAL:-OR-GRAND CO-OPERATION MEETING AT ST ANN’S HILL, Mr. and Mrs. Fox greet the various opposition groups. Their positions on the print indicate their relative importance. Georgiana and other members of her family are placed right behind Fox in a central position. She holds a fan inscribed 'The Devonshire Delight or the new Coalition Reel'. It affirmed the importance of her efforts to the Whigs and she had become, in effect, one of Fox’s chief whips.

It is ironic that it was not until 1806, when the ‘Ministry of all the Talents’ was formed after the sudden death of Pitt in January, that Georgiana’s efforts came to fruition. For the first time in her life, she was associated with an administration. Her joy was profound but also literally very short lived. For she fell ill due to an abscess on her liver and she died on the 30th March 1806. Thousands of Londoners flocked to Piccadilly to pay their respect and a devastated Prince of Wales declared that, “The best natured and the best bred woman in England is gone”.

In order to put the finishing touches to this portrait of Georgiana, it is important to remember that throughout her life she was a member of the social elite and that social satires might reasonably regularly feature her. In fact, there were virtually no personal social caricatures of her sold in the print shops and she escaped Gillray’s distaste for the beau monde. It is only in the masterful pen and watercolour images of Rowlandson that we find her.

In 1784, Rowlandson exhibited his most famous narrative watercolour VAUXHALL GARDENS. In the later version, two young-looking ladies occupy centre stage in the social panorama. Georgiana and her sister are shown to be the most prominent members of the company. They are unaccompanied by any male escort and Georgiana wears a riding outfit. Her independent position at the very centre of polite society is there for all to see.

Later in his career, Rowlandson turned to informal portraiture of the celebrated beauties of the day. In 1790, his brilliant pen work delicately delineated Georgiana and her sister reclining together while a musician behind plays a guitar. The two women are shown in a natural likeness that is highly complimentary. Behind the musician has much coarser features and is more heavily caricatured.
However, it is in Rowlandson’s slightly later pen and watercolour image known as A GAMING TABLE AT DEVONSHIRE HOUSE, 1791 that the vivacity and reckless character of the Duchess is so cleverly illustrated. In an image, that catches the movement and excitement of gambling for large stakes, Georgiana’s beauty, and wildness is conveyed through fluid pen work and subtle washes of colour. Her image is idealised somewhat in order to present a contrast with the grosser, more caricatured characters around the table.

Hart, Georgiana’s son, was adamant that no artist had ever caught a true likeness of his mother. Her character was too complex and full of contradiction. Perhaps, given the political controversy that surrounded her, and the prejudice that it spawned, it is too much to expect that the cartoonists succeeded where Gainsborough and Reynolds failed.