Iphigenia's late procession from Kingston to Bristol [graphic]

Description

Creator

Mortimer, John Hamilton, 1740-1779, printmaker

Published / Created

Apl. 15, 1776 [not before 16 May 1776]

Publication Place

Published at Westminster according to law

Publisher

publisher not identified

Abstract

Elizabeth Chudleigh, Duchess of Kingston, attending her trial for bigamy. The maids of honour hold a bottle marked "cordial". They are followed by a fat chaplain, a physician with a bigwig and sword, and a lean apothecary with a big enema syringe

"Seven figures walk from left to right. First is the (so-called) Duchess of Kingston, short and stout. She is saying "By God and", and holds out her hands with a gesture of affirmation. Behind her walk three young women, her 'maids of honour', who are tall and slim in contrast with their mistress. One carries a large square bottle inscribed "cordial". All four ladies are dressed alike in the fashion of the day with low bodices and high coiffures decorated with feathers and flowers. Next comes a fat clergyman, his mouth open as of shouting. He is followed by the physician wearing a big-wig and sword. Last walks the apothecary, lean and bent, also wearing a sword, and carrying an enormous and ornately decorated syringe which rests on his right shoulder."--British Museum online catalogue

Description

Elizabeth Chudleigh married the Hon. Augustus John Hervey secretly in 1744; the marriage was not registered until 1759. In 1769 a consistory court declared her unmarried, after which she married Evelyn Pierrepoint, 2nd Duke of Kingston, in 1770. She was tried and convicted for bigamy in 1776, the surgeon Caesar Hawkins having testified to the birth of her son by Hervey. She left England immediately and lived thereafter in Paris, St Petersburg and Rome.
Title engraved above image.
Printmaker from British Museum catalogue.
Later state, with text added below image. For an earlier state lacking this text, see National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG D32146.
Date of publication based on date of newspaper citation below image.
Text below image: Then the Duchess was brought into court attended by her chaplain, physician, apothecary, & three maids of honor. Morning post, May 16, 1776.
"Price 1 sh."--Lower right, below image.
Temporary local subject terms: Medical: Syringe -- Apothecary -- Medows, Philip, 1708-1781.
Temporary local Medical Library subject terms: Apothecaries -- Clyster.
Tipped in after page 16 in an extra-illustrated copy of: The trial of Elizabeth duchess dowager of Kingston for bigamy, before the Right Honourable the House of Peers ... London : Printed for Charles Bathurst, in Fleet-Street, MDCCLXXVI [1776].

Provenance

Maggs; May 1926.

Extent

1 print : plate mark 32.3 x 40.1 cm, on sheet 34.1 x 40.9 cm

Extent of Digitization

This object has been completely digitized.

Language

English

Collection Information

Repository: Lewis Walpole Library
Call Number: Quarto 53 C46 776
Collection Title: After page 16. Trial of Elizabeth duchess dowager of Kingston for bigamy, before the Right Honourable the House of Peers ...
Collection / Other Creator: Bristol, Elizabeth Chudleigh, Countess of, 1720-1788.
Collection Date: London : Printed for Charles Bathurst, in Fleet-Street, MDCCLXXVI [1776]