Frederica by Georgette Heyer - and the Gunning Sisters

The Gunning sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, are mentioned prominently in Frederica, and their brilliant marriages from an impoverished background were an inspiration to various heroines and their mothers – and certainly to many Regency authors.   Frederica tells Lord Alverstoke:

“You see, at Graynard she had as well be buried alive! There isn’t even a watering-place within our reach, so how can she form an eligible connection?  She – she is quite wasted, Lord Alverstoke!  You will understand when you see her, why I felt it to be my duty to bring her out in London!  She is the loveliest girl! She has the sweetest disposition imaginable, too, never cross or crochety, and she deserves to make a splendid marriage!”  

“I have it on the authority of my secretary that she is a diamond of the first water,” said his lordship dryly. “But splendid marriages, Miss Merriville, in general depend on splendid dowries.”  

“Not always,” she countered swiftly.   “Only think of the Gunning sisters!  Why, one of them married two Dukes, and I know she wasn’t a great heiress because Papa told me about them, saying Charis beat them both to flinders!” 

Frederica has to be candid with Alverstoke to secure his help but it is not usually very good form to scheme obviously.  You may recall that in Devil’s Cub Mrs. Challoner, who we know was not out of the top drawer, greatly embarrassed Mary with her comments and attitude:

Mrs. Challoner had only the two daughters, and since Mary’s sixteenth birthday her main object in life had been to marry them both suitably as soon as possible.  The signal success once achieved by a certain Irish widow put ideas into her head which her brother thought absurd, but though she admitted that Mary, in spite of her grand education, could scarcely hope to achieve more than a respectable alliance, she could not find that either Maria or Elizabeth Gunning in their prime had outshone her own Sophia.  It was more than twenty years since the Gunning sisters had taken the town by storm, and Mrs. Challoner could not remember ever to have set eyes on either, but she knew several reliable persons who had, and they all assured her that Sophia far transcended the famous beauties.  If Mrs. Gunning, who hadn’t a penny, and was dreadfully Irish as well, could catch an earl and a duke in her matrimonial net, there seemed to be very little reason why Mrs. Challoner, with a respectable jointure, and no common Irish accent, should not do quite as well.  Or if not quite, at least half – for she was not besotted about her daughters, and had made up her mind a long time ago that nothing great could be hoped for Mary. 

The Gunning sisters were born about 1733 and 1734 in England but moved to Ireland with their parents, John Gunning and his wife, the Honorable Bridget Bourke (daughter of the 6^th Viscount Mayo).   Some sources state that as young girls they worked in the Dublin theatres to generate much needed income, somehow without losing their reputations.   In 1748, Maria and Elizabeth were invited to a ball at Dublin Castle, an event that changed their fortunes.   Although very young, they were attractive and vivacious, and made such a good impression on the Earl of Harrington, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, that he granted their mother a pension.  Ambitious for her daughters, she used the funds to return to Huntingdonshire (I see lost its county status in 1974 which may be why I am unfamiliar with it), introduced them at local assemblies, and then moved them all to London where the sisters were a huge success, written about in newspapers (in a positive way), presented at court, and widely admired.   In 1752, Elizabeth, the younger sister, had captivated the Duke of Hamilton and they were married (apparently in an irregular but binding ceremony).  

Elizabeth Gunning

Her sister Maria soon married the 6th Earl of Coventry.  This marriage was not happy as her husband was both critical and flagrantly unfaithful.   She remained popular but died tragically at just 27 of lead poisoning, caused by the excessive makeup she used.   Elizabeth was somewhat luckier: her marriage prospered and she had three children but after six years the Duke of Hamilton died.   She remarried quite soon; her second husband inherited his father’s title to become the Duke of Argyll in 1770, and she bore him five children.   She died in 1790, and four of her sons became dukes.

Maria Gunning

I recommend Elizabeth Mahon’s Scandalous Women blog for those who are curious:

http://scandalouswoman.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-glamorous-gunning-sisters-part-1.html

http://scandalouswoman.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-glamorous-gunning-sisters-part-two.html

See also http://historytimeshistory.blogspot.com/2011/10/gunning-sisters-georgian-cinderella.html

The Gunnings died before Frederica was born so she learned of them from her father.  However, Devil’s Cub is set in 1780 so Mrs. Challoner would have been slightly younger than the sisters and doubtless heard stories about them her whole life, which gave her ideas:

“You choose to be hoodwinked, ma’am, but if you will believe he means honestly by my sister, will you not at least consider how far apart are their fortunes?” [posits Mary] “As to that,” replied Mrs. Challoner, preening herself, “I am sure the Challoners are good enough for anyone.  Not that it signifies in the least, for we all know how the Gunnings, who were nobody, married into the nobility.” “They did us a great disservice thereby,” sighed Mary.

 Does Heyer mention the Gunnings in other books besides these two?