1781 to 1790
1781
born ..... Lucy Aikin ..... daughter of the English author and biographer John Aikin. She was born at Warrington, England, but lived with her parents at Yarmouth and Stoke Newington until her father died in 1822. She then went to Hampstead where, with the exception of a short interval at Wimbledon, she spent the rest of her life. Lucy was a student of French, Italian and Latin and at the age of seventeen was contributing articles to magazines and reviews. Her first major work was Epistles on Women and in 1814 she wrote her only work of fiction Lorime, A Tale. Her reputation was gained however be her historical works published between 1818 and 1843 - Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth - 1818 ..... Memoirs of the Court of James 1 - 1822 ..... Memoirs of the Court of Charles 1 - 1833 ..... The Life of Addison - 1843 ..... Her conversation powers were remarkable and she was a graceful and graphic letter writer. For sixteen years - 1826 to 1842 she maintained a correspondence with the Rev. Dr Channing of Boston on religion, philosophy, politics and literature. In them she warmly praised the Whig aristocracy and defended with a certain degree of conservatism, English manners and customs. These were published after her death in 1864
1782
Greece ..... on February 27th a case was reported by the Monastery of Nikolskiu of a woman who had produced 69 children. In 27 confinements she had given birth to - 16 pairs of twins, 7 sets of triplets and 4 sets of quads. At least 67 survived infancy and almost all survived to their majority. Currently the world's most prolific mother is Leontina Albina who was born in 1925 in Chile and by 1980 had produced 44 children and was again pregnant ..... and .....
born ..... Caroline Bonaparte ..... youngest surviving daughter of Letizia Bonaparte who became Queen of Naples in 1808. In 1800 she married Joachim Murat and in 1806 they secured the titles of grand duke and duchess of Berg and of Cleves before Murat became King of Naples in 1808. She reigned as Queen until 1815, was ambitious and captivating and brought a brilliant court life to the Neapolitan palaces of Caserta and Portici. But her husband's loyalty to Napoleon began to waver and when he was executed in 1815 she fled to Austria and remained for a while at Frohsdorf and then Trieste, always under surveillance. She eventually settled in Florence where she died in 1839
1783
born August 7th ..... Princess Amelia ..... the youngest daughter of King George 111 who was born at Queens House, a building, which in 1825, emerged eventually from the hands of architects as Buckingham Palace. Two previous children born to the King had both died young and therefore much care was lavished upon her as she too was also very delicate. Her love affair with the Hon. Charles Fitzroy was certainly the most dainty of the Royal romances of the 18th century, but fate forbade her to marry the man she loved. Heritage of birth made the marriage impossible and she could not marry without the Crown's consent. The Royal Marriage Act of 1772 declared this and she knew that to ask her father's consent would be a complete waste of time. Her mother, the Queen, and others knew about her affair but the King was kept in ignorance. The only hope she had was a clause in the act which said " that if any member of the Royal Family, being above the age of 25, should persist in his or her resolution to contract a marriage disapproved of or dissented from by the sovereign, then such descendant, upon giving notice to the King's Privy council, which notice was to be entered in the books thereof, might, at anytime from the expiration of 12 calendar months after such notice given, contract such marriage, then such marriage should be good, unless both Houses of Parliament should, before the expiration of the said 12 months, declare their disapprobation". She was determined to avail herself of this clause. Eventually however in 1808, the King came to hear of her love affair and they had a terrible quarrel and this, the culmination of all her trials proved fatal. Her health broke down and she was found to have consumption. She still hoped against hope that she would be able to marry and presented her marriage petition to the Privy council but her time had run out. She died on November 2nd 1819 having made her peace with her father. In 1816 General Fitzroy married but the memory of Princess Amelia never faded from his mind ..... and .....
born ..... Joaquina ..... foundress who was born at Barcelona in Spain. At the age of sixteen she married a lawyer Theodore de Mas. They had a happy marriage and eight children were born but by the age of 33 she was a widow. Ten years later she began the establishment of a community at Vich in Catalonia for nursing and teaching. It was called the Carmelites of Charity. The foundation soon prospered and spread and nurses were provided for both sides in the Carlist wars. In 1850 she was attacked by a slow paralysis which eventually left her helpless and speechless. She finally died of cholera at the age of 70 in 1854. In 1959 she was canonised and her festal day is the 28th August
Event ..... on May 31st the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in France finally admitted women after seventy seven years of an exclusively male membership. Among them were Adélaide Labille-Guiard and Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Le-Brun
1784
born ..... Dorothea Lieven ..... Princess and celebrated female politician who was the daughter of a
Russian general. She was the sister of Benkendorf, the Minister of Russian police during the reign of the
Emperor Nicholas. At the age of sixteen she married Count Lieven and accompanied him to Berlin where he was sent in 1812 as plenipotentiary of Russia. In a similar capacity he was sent to England in 1828 and she became a resident in London. For six years her salon was famed as the neutral ground on which leaders of all political parties could meet. When her husband was recalled in 1834 to Russia she took up residence in Paris and opened up her salon once again to celebrities of all kinds. After the revolution of 1848 she went to London for a period but once again returned to Paris but at the outbreak of the war between Russia and the Western powers she took refuge in Brussels. When peace was restored she returned to France and died there in 1857 after a short illness. For many years she had been an influence on European politics due to her talents as well as her position
1 1785
England ..... Dr William Wilhering bought a prescription from Mother Hutton, a biologist and pharmacist and the discoverer of digitalis as a treatment for heart conditions. He analysed its contents and arranged for the inclusion of digitalis in the London Pharmacopoeia. Since then the product and its discovery have been linked with his name rather than hers
1786
England ..... Mary Broad, aged 21, was convicted at Exeter of stealing a cloak and of street robbery with violence and was condemned to die, but the sentence was commuted to seven years in the penal colony of Australia. At the same time William Bryant was also convicted and sentenced. They were among the first lot of convicts to be sent by ship to the colony which was 12,000 miles away. They sailed on the Charlotte and during the eight month long journey she gave birth to a daughter whom she named after the boat. Four days after their arrival they married and a year later their son, Emanuel, was born. Famine swept through the colony in New South Wales and many made a bid for freedom including Mary and her family. They decided to try to sail to the island of Timor, 3254 miles away. On the night of March 28th 1791 they set sail in a boat with others which William had acquired through his job. They steered north along the eastern coasts of Australia, through mountainous and gale whipped seas, often unable to land because of hostile natives. They crossed the Arafura Sea and more than two months later on June 5th arrived at Kupang where they told the governor that they were survivors of a brig wrecked at sea. But the governor was suspicious and in September of the same year, when a Captain Edwards and some of the crew from the HMS Pandora reached Kupang, Mary and William were arrested. Along with the others they were taken, in irons, to Bratavia on the island of Java where William and their son Emanuel died. Mary and her daughter and the other convicts were then transferred to a London bound ship but the child died and in June 1792 on arrival in Portsmouth, the survivors were sent to Newgate Prison. Nearly a year later Mary was given a pardon through the insistence of the writer James Boswell ..... and .....
born ..... La Saragossa (Agostina) ..... Spanish heroine. In the defence of Saragossa against the French invaders in 1808 the 18 year old Agostina was conspicuous for her bravery especially in rescuing the wounded under constant fire and in nursing them without rest. The city surrendered after the death of 50,000 defenders in the second siege of 1808/9. She became a symbol of national pride, courage and liberty and was immortalised in poetry and in painting notably by Goya. She died in 1857
1787
born ..... Emma Hart Willard ..... pioneer in feminine education. In 1814, at Middlebury, Vermont, she opened her seminary for women to teach subjects which had previously been closed to them such as mathematics, philosophy, history and the sciences. Her 'Address, Proposing a Plan for Improving Female Education' which was published in 1819 was sent to Governor Clinton of New York and it attracted so much attention that it led to her founding another seminary in Troy in 1821. This offered the equivalent of a college education for women, sixteen years before Mount Holyoke, the first women's college, was founded. In addition to works on feminine education and texts for her school she published a volume of verse The Fulfilment of a Promise (1831). Rocked In The Cradle Of The Deep became extremely popular
1788
born ..... Mary P Rossiter (Mrs Harrison) ..... fruit and flower painter who was born in Liverpool. She was one of the most graceful painters of her time. In 1814 she married but her husband lost most of his money within fifteen years and with twelve children to support she turned to painting and the family moved to London. Here she joined some friends in establishing a new society of painters in water colours, the Institutea, of which she remained a member until her death in 1875. In France, during the reign of Louis Philippe, she was much sought after and was called the 'Rose and Primrose' painter. It was here that she met George Sand and many other celebrities. From 1833 to 1875 she exhibited and during her lifetime two of her works were purchased by the Queen
1789
France ..... on July 14th the French celebrated the storming of the Bastille which signalled the outbreak of the Revolution. Although it is a documented fact that Theroigne De Mericourt led the assault, her name is usually left out of the history books. She was born in Marcourt, Belgium in 1762 and left home early to escape her stepmother and in 1779 became the companion of an Englishwoman, Mrs Colbert. In London she became a singer, took many wealthy lovers and on her return to Paris made a fortune as a courtesan before going to Italy to train as a singer. It was in 1789 that she returned to Paris and became a women's organiser and leader and, dressed as an Amazon, she led the Women's March to Versailles in October. A year later she was forced to flee from the Royalists to Marcourt but she eventually returned to Paris in 1792. In 1793 she was publicly attacked and beaten by the women of Paris whilst attempting to protect the Girondin, Brissot and the shock of it affected her mind. She was arrested, briefly imprisoned and eventually sent to the asylum of Saltpetriere where she remained for the rest of her life dying in 1817 ..... and .....
in October the poor women of Paris marched on the royal palace of Versailles in an attempt to force Louis XV1 to create a newer and fairer government. According to tradition, his queen, Marie Antoinette, on being told that the women outside were hungry and had no bread, said "Qu'ills mangent de la brioche" which was popularly translated as 'Let them eat cake". There is no evidence that she ever made this remark but the story was widely spread around at the time and after her execution and it was held to typify either her stupidity or her callous indifference to the sufferings of the poor. The first reference to the phrase was in the 1760s when Marie was still a young girl and it was used in a story which was being told about an uncaring princess. It is possible that one of France's revolutionaries deliberately ascribed the remark to Marie ..... and ....
born ..... Marguerite Power, Countess of Blessington ..... born in Tipperary in Ireland she became a famous writer and salon hostess. At the age of fifteen she was forced to marry the sadistic Maurice St Leger Farmer in order to clear her father's debts but after three months she ran away. He died in 1817 and she then married the Earl of Blessington. They moved to London and she achieved instant success running a dazzling salon in St James's Square. They also travelled a lot but by 1829 his fortune had vanished and she left him, returning to London with her lover, the Count d'Orsay. They lived openly together for the rest of her life. He was her step-daughter's husband. She became a professional writer to support her family in Ireland and to maintain her own lavish life style but despite her success she was continually in debt and to escape arrest in 1849 she fled to Paris with her lover where she died in the same year…. "love in France is a comedy, in England a tragedy, in Italy an opera seria and in Germany a melodrama"
1790
born ..... Sophia Dawes - Baroness of Feucheres ..... English adventuress who graduated from the workhouse to the French court through being the mistress of the last Prince of Condé. She was born on the Isle of Wight and became an officer's mistress, a servant in a brothel and then mistress to the Prince. She received an excellent education through him and in 1818, after being taken to Paris, was provided with a military husband who was appointed aide-de-camp to the Prince and then created a baron. He thought Condé was her father and at the court of Louis XV111 she became very popular until her husband discovered the true nature of her relationship with the Prince and he left her. When Louis was told she was banished from his court. However with a bequest of 10m francs from Condé she was accepted at the court of Charles X in 1829. The Prince hanged himself the following year and Sophie eventually retired to London and died in 1840
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