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1700 to 1710

1700

born ..... Mary Delany ..... of the Granville family. At the age of 17 she married Alexander Pendarves but the marriage was not happy and she turned to her own resources for enjoyment, cultivating her intellect and tastes. In 1724 her husband died and she left Cornwall for London and in 1743 married Dr. Delany, a marriage which was an extremely happy one. After his death she spent a lot of time with her friend, the duchess of Portland and attracted the attentions of George 111, who, after the death of the Duchess, conferred on her a house in Windsor and a yearly pension of £300.  She was a good musician, a clever painter and was peculiarly skilful in imitating flowers in cut paper, sometimes putting a real leaf or plant by the imitation which could not be detected. She died in 1788 after a brief illness leaving correspondence which threw much light on the mode of life among people of quality in the 18th century

1703

born ..... Maria Leczinska .....  Queen Consort of Louis XV of France, daughter of Stanislaus, King of Poland. She was still a child when her father was driven from his throne and they wandered about from one refuge to another.  Whilst they were living near Weissemburg a messenger arrived from Louis XV with a proposal of marriage to Maria and the wedding took place in Fontainebleau in 1725. Although she was not very attractive to look at Maria possessed taste and had various accomplishments that befitted her new station in life and she patronised both literature and the fine arts. The features of her disposition were her gentle nature and maternal instincts and she bore eight children although several died before she did. It is thought that these losses hastened her own death in 1768

1706

born ..... Gabrielle Chatelet-Lomont - Marquise du  neé Gabrielle Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil .....  French mathematician, physicist and philosopher whose chief work was her translation into French of Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica. She learned Latin and Italian with her father and in 1725 began to study mathematics and the physical sciences.  In 1733 she became the mistress of Voltaire although she was married to the Comte du Chatelet-Lomont who was away enjoying a military career. Voltaire lived with her at her husband's estate and together they set up a laboratory and studied the nature of fire, heat and light. She died in childbirth in 1749

1707

born ..... Marie Salle ..... daughter of a tumbler who became one of the most prominent dancers of her time. She made her debut as a dancer in 1718 and in 1721 appeared for the first time in the Opera in Paris. She was a pupil of Francoise Prevost who was unfortunately jealous of her and stopped her from advancing too rapidly. Marie was an intellectual and a reformer in dance, discarding cumbersome clothes and dancing in muslin with her hair down and wearing no ornaments. She retired in 1740 and many of her reforms were adopted by her successors and the reformer Noverre agreed with her precepts. She died in 1756

1708

born ..... Eleanor Coade ..... at Lyme Regis in Dorset. She moved to London to open a manufactory for artificial stone, a process supposedly discovered either by her father or her husband. Little use had been made of it commercially until she set about making it popular. It was an instant success and only first class modellers, designers and sculptors were used. They exported to many countries including Poland, Russia, the West Indies and America and in 1809 the firm executed the great west window of Exeter Cathedral. When Eleanor died in 1796 her daughter Eleanor (1732 to 1821) succeeded her and carried on with the business until her own death at the age of 89 years. They are both buried in Bunbill Fields and many of the figures, monuments, statues, plaques and ornaments survive to this day and are still as good as when they were first made ..... and .....

born ..... Hannah Glasse .....  Englishwoman and cook whose book The Art of Cooking Made Plain and Simple was probably the first guide to cooking and meal planning written for the English housewife. In 1751 it reached a 4th edition, a 10th edition in 1784 and remained in print until 1824. She was born in Holborn, London, married and had eight children but four died in infancy. Her other books include - The Complete Confectioner (1770) and The Servant's Directory or Housekeeper's Companion. She was also a ' habit maker' to the Princess of Wales in Covent Garden. She died in 1770

1709

England ..... the first women's magazine edited by a woman and the first to contain articles on different topics was The Female Tatler inaugurated in July by "Mrs Crackenthorpe" the pseudonym of the notorious Mrs Mary de la Riviere Manley (1663 to 1724). In October of this same year she was arrested for libel for her scandalous work Secret Memoirs and Manners of Several Persons of Quality . Similar intimate revelations in the magazine caused it to be indicted as a nuisance by a Grand Jury and this verdict seems to have effectively altered the character of the magazine. The article in question was Mrs Manley's revenge on society for the unhappy life she had led since being drawn into a false marriage by her cousin John, who was already married. She slandered whigs and persons of note and although she was arrested escaped punishment. She wrote other scandalous memoirs and several plays and in 1711 succeeded Swift as editor of the Examiner ..... and .....

died October 9th  ..... Barbara Villiers ..... former mistress of Charles 11 " who fell ill with the dropsy which swelled her gradually to a monstrous bulk " . A great beauty in her day, Charles lavished titles, lands and gifts on her. She was wildly extravagant and self-indulgent and when he created her Baroness Nonsuch and gave her the palace of the same name, she had it knocked down and sold the materials, at a profit of course. She had many children and Charles acknowledged most of them as his own but once, when he quite justifiably refused to recognise one, as yet, unborn infant, she threatened to dash the child's brains out when it was born. The King had to apologise ..... and .....

born ..... Elizabeth Petrowna ..... Empress of Russia. She was the daughter of Peter the Great and Catherine 1 and in 1741 headed the party that deposed the young Tsar Ivan V1. She became Empress and ruled until her death in 1762. Elizabeth set about re-establishing the institutions which the Czar Peter had originated and she also had brought to trial several counts and other distinguished foreigners. Their possessions were confiscated and they were banished to Siberia. For some time she carried on a war with Sweden but this was ended by the Peace of Abo and much of her reign was occupied in fighting Frederick the Great. Elizabeth was indolent, extremely licentious and also very superstitious and was for the most part governed by her favourites but she was loved by her subjects and given the name of the Clement. She founded the University of Moscow and the Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburgh. Her nephew Peter 111 succeeded her ..... and .....

born ..... Hester Bateman ..... English silversmith who married  John Bateman and had five children. When he died in 1760 she took over his business and in 1761 registered her own hallmark H.B. Her two sons helped her in the business and her shop became known for its elegant domestic silver coffee pots, tea pots, spoons and other tableware. She also produced some church plate and presentation pieces and is know regarded as one of the greatest 18th century silversmiths. When she retired in 1790 her son Peter and widowed daughter-in-law Anne carried on the business for many years. Hester died in 1794 ..... and .....

born ..... Selina, Countess of Huntingdon ..... Queen of the Methodists, who was a formidable patron of the evangelical revival of the 18th century although the achievements of the Wesleys obscured her fame. She was married to Theophilus, 9th Earl of Huntingdon and turned their home into a centre of religious life where even the servants were made to be very religious. Her main aims were however, the improvement of the upper classes in their religion and she managed to convert some. Chapels and fashionable spas were restored or built and the Chapel at Bath reflects her work. When her husband died she was left his fortune and gave money to many causes and assumed leadership of the Calvinist elements among the Methodists. She gained a personal following and the connection grew to include over seventy chapels, mostly in the south. She founded the college at Trevecca in 1768 to provide trained, godly pastors (this is now at Cambridge) and a mission in Sierra Leone was founded after her death in 1791

1710

born ..... Marie Anne Fiquet du Bocage neé Le Page ..... French poet and playwright born in Rouen. Her play Les Amazons, performed in 1749 at the Comédie Francaise was the first work by a woman to be seen there for many years