Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.
Sarah Villiers Countess of Jersey, Patroness of Almacks
4 March 1785 – 26 January 1867
Sarah Sophia Child Villiers
Sarah Villiers Countess of Jersey was an English noblewoman, the eldest daughter of John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland, and Sarah Anne Child. Her mother was the only child of Robert Child, the principal shareholder in the banking firm Child & Co. Under the terms of his will, the Countess of Jersey was the primary legatee, and she not only inherited Osterley Park but became senior partner of the bank. Her husband, George Villiers, added the surname Child by royal licence.
Lady Jersey married George Child Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey, on 23 May 1804, in the drawing room of her house in Berkeley Square. Her husband’s mother, Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey (also Lady Jersey), was one of the more notorious mistresses of King George IV when he was Prince of Wales. Her sister Maria married John Ponsonby, Viscount Duncannon, later the 4th Earl of Bessborough, a brother of Lady Caroline Lamb. Her own affairs, though conducted discreetly, were said to be numerous: Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, was thought to be one of her lovers. When asked why he had never fought a duel to preserve his wife’s reputation, Lord Jersey dryly replied that this would require him to fight every man in London.
Lady Jersey was one of the patronesses of Almack’s and a leader of the ton during the Regency era. She was immortalized as Zenobia in Disraeli’s novel Endymion. Caroline Lamb ridiculed her in Glenarvon: in revenge Lady Jersey had her barred from Almack’s, the ultimate social disgrace. This, however, was unusual since she was notable for acts of kindness and generosity; and she was eventually persuaded to remove the ban.
In politics she was a Tory, although she lacked the passion for politics shown by her cousin Harriet Arbuthnot. On hearing that the Duke of Wellington had fallen from power in 1830, she burst into tears in public. She reportedly “moved heaven and earth” against the Reform Act 1832.
Lady Jersey was known by the nickname Silence; the nickname was ironic since, famously, she almost never stopped talking.
She is a recurring character in the Regency novels of Georgette Heyer, where she is presented as eccentric and unpredictable, but highly intelligent and observant, and capable of kindness and generosity.
She died at No. 38, Berkeley Square, Middlesex now London.
Lady Jersey had seven children by George Child Villiers:
- George Child Villiers, 6th Earl of Jersey (1808–59)
- The Honourable Augustus John Villiers (1810–47), married Georgiana Elphinstone, daughter of George Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith.
- The Honourable Frederick William Child Villiers (1815–71), married Elizabeth Maria van Reede, daughter of the 7th or 8th Earl of Athlone.
- The Honourable Francis John Robert Child Villiers (1819–62).
- Lady Sarah Frederica Caroline Child Villiers (1822–1853), married Nicholas Paul (Miklós Pál), 9th Prince Esterházy (1817–94).
- Lady Clementina Augusta Wellington Child Villiers (1824–58).
- Lady Adela Corisande Maria Child Villiers (1828–60), married Lt.-Col. Charles Parke Ibbetson, and had one daughter Adele.
She outlived not only her husband, but six of her seven children.
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