Ancestor Index
Site Note Susan recently discovered this cartoon style engraving when she visited an exhibition at Hay (on Wye) during the Literary Festival (2003). There are various editions of this satirical print in existence - one, found here appears reversed and with a wiped background. Whilst the picture may be dated as 1810, it is posssible that the actual drawing was executed at an earlier date. Dresses in this style were very fashionable at the time of the Regency and were made of muslin or of similar lightweight material. The garments were sometimes dampened with water so that they were forced to cling to the form of the wearer's body. Equally 'hugging' on a windy day, Gillray appears to have rejoiced in this opportunity to accentuate the qualities of the said style and material. It may be taken as read that the later, Victorian, generations found such diaphanous excess to be wholly inappropriate and that ancestral images such as this would have been consigned to the deepest recess of the family attic - if not to the drawer of some patriarchal desk. The picture is a representation of the 'three Graces' (Brilliance, Joy, and Charm) - here, named as three Ladies of the family Tollemache. Having married John Manners - but as his widow, .Louisa became Countess Dysart in her own right in 1821. She succeeded her brother, Wilbrahim, the 6th Earl who had himself inherited at the age of sixty. Their mother was Grace Carteret - daughter of John, Lord Carteret, 1st Earl Granville. She married Lionel Tollemache in 1729. Lady Jane Halliday was born Jane Tollemache and was sister to Louisa and Wilbrahim and so a daughter of Grace Carteret Tollemache. In 1773, Wilbrahim
- a principal patron of the portrait artist,
Joshua Reynolds, married Anna Maria Lewis,
daughter of David Lewis of Malvern Hall,
Worcestershire. There were no children of this
marriage so he placed his hopes of an heir on
Lionel Robert Tollemache, the son of his dead
brother, John, who had been killed in a duel.
John had married Briget Lane Fox. Lionel Robert,
however - an Ensign in the Grenadier Guards - was
killed at the Siege of Valenciennes in 1793 at
the age of eighteen. When Wilbrahim died in 1821,
he is known to have left his property on the Isle
of Wight to his nephew, Francis Halliday - his
sister Jane's younger son, born in about 1776.
Wilbrahim had another sister, Frances,
who was unmarried and who shared many seasons
with him on the Isle of Wight after the death of
his wife. He was heartbroken when Anna Maria died
and grieved for many years, refusing to stay at
Ham House ... The Lady Grace in the cartoon obviously could not have been Grace Carteret because of the dates. The Ladies would have to have been Louisa Tollemache/Manners, later Countess Dysart (d 1840), her sister (pictured) Lady Jane Tollemache/Halliday (b: 1750 d: 1802), and Louisa's daughter, Louisa Grace Manners/Tollemache (b 1777 d 1816, m 1802 Aubrey Beauclerk, 6th Duke of St Albans). It would make sense that "Louisa Grace" might be called "Grace" rather than "Louisa", to avoid the complication of two Louisas in the family. It must be stated, however, that the Kensington Gardens reference is to 1810, Louisa became Countess Dysart in 1821 and Gillray died in 1815. Additionally, Lady Jane Halliday - according to LDS IGI - died in 1802 at Southampton, having been married originally to John Delap Halliday in 1771 - a curious melding of dates and a remarkable feat of manifestation for the above to have been a genuine representation of the three women being blown about in Kensington Gardens in 1810! Might the wording be the comic work of some family member at the date of picture framing and were these Tollemaches actually the originals for Gillray's drawing? Based on the date of Lady Jane's death, it would have to have been drawn by 1802. Perhaps there was an original flaw in the dating. If it had been drawn in 1801 instead of 1810, it would have made perfect sense. If any family members - or Gillray experts - have theories, please come forward!
NPG D12947
By way of a curious family 'aside', there was a trading ship named 'The Lady Jane Halliday', owned by Sir Richard Neve. The vessel became the target of a robbery whilst tied up in England. A dock worker by the name of William Blue was sentenced to seven years transportation - to Australia's Botany Bay - by a court in Kent in October, 1796, for stealing 20lbs. of raw sugar (worth about 8s) from the ship.
In 2003 Susan (Tollemache) Miller attended a large Tollemache family reunion in New Zealand and writes as follows: "The Tollemache family reunion of 1st March 2003 was held in Auckland, New Zealand, at the family home of the grandson of Lyonel Tollemache (this ancestor's full name spells Lyonel the Second) who emigrated to New Zealand towards the end of the 19th century. In 1897, he married Winifred Frances Anderson (1873-1955). They had eleven children: Dora, Tom, Celia, Adrian, Saxon, Ethel, Lionel, Archibald, Vivien, James and Ruth. In 2003, one of these siblings is still living. At the reunion I met many of my first cousins, in some cases for the first time since the 1960s when we attended each others' weddings and our children's christenings. Now, many of these children brought their own families. Over one hundred descendants of Lyonel Tollemache came to the reunion. Although most of the family have made their homes in New Zealand some are living abroad in the UK, in America and Australia. It was a beautiful summer's day and we were in a lovely New Zealand garden; everyone mingled and enjoyed themselves. We all had a great feeling of belonging."
In the tradition of the gardens of Ham House, Richmond - former seat of the Dysarts - and of Helmingham - it seems that the creation of magnificent gardens continues to be a forte of the family Tollemache. The 2003 Chelsea Flower Show - popular and well-attended and now a London summer institution in its own right - saw a Tollemache garden amongst the winners.
Susan adds, "The garden was designed by Xa Tollemache from Helmingham. The lawns were on two levels with a small stream and waterfall flowing through. The planting was arranged around the lawns, soft mauves and blue flowers against the old wall. It was lovely. It won a silver gilt medal, but we preferred it to some of those awarded a gold medal The garden was sponsored by Merrill Lynch. The BBC filmed the making of the garden. It took several months from first design to the building and growing and planting. I hasten to add that I don't know this lady but the family name always draws my attention." |
