The Remarkable Lushington Family. David Taylor

Baillie.

      40. Lovelace Byron 62 ff. 53–54. Bodleian Library.

      41. Ibid., ff. 55–56.

      42. Maria Edgeworth to her mother, October 15, 1818. Maria Edgeworth. Letters from England, 1813–1844.

Chapter 3

       The “Mourning Bride”

      On Sunday, May 6, 1821, Stephen Lushington’s niece Louisa, just back from Malta with her father Sir Henry, called upon the Carr family at their London home to meet her future aunt.

      We went today to call upon Miss Carr, (& her family) Uncle Stephen is going to be married to, a most horrible visit for her poor thing!, to come in and be stared at and criticised by all her future relations, however, she bore it very well, her countenance is very sweet, her features pretty, & her manners particularly pleasing, her complexion is bad; I see nothing particularly delightful in the rest of her family . . . One of Miss Carr’s sister squints very much, & I most unluckily am very apt to squint myself, when I am talking to anybody possessed of that accomplishment, which looks as if I was mocking them.¹

      Sarah and her mother returned the call the following day and Louisa wrote:

      We congratulated Miss Carr upon her having borne our visit so well yesterday, but she says she was miserable, she thought she would never have taken courage to come in. She certainly is a very sensible girl, for she said was very glad I was Dr Lushington’s niece.²

      Anna Barbauld received the news of Sarah’s engagement with a tinge of sadness at the prospect of her change of name. She wrote, “My dear Sarah Carr, so let me call you, once more, by that name which, both Christian and Sirname [sic], has long been so dear to me.”³ Sarah and Stephen accepted an invitation to visit the Edgeworth family in Ireland. Maria later wrote to Sarah expressing her thanks for the visit:

      

      We all thank your dear father and mother for bringing Dr Lushington here, and making us acquainted with him who is to make your happiness. We could not rejoice with our whole hearts in your marriage as we do, if we only knew by hearsay that the happy man is fully deserving of the prize, and every way suited to you and beloved by your dear parents.⁴

      Queen Caroline

      Lushington’s growing reputation in areas of matrimonial law following the Byron affair led to his involvement in another cause celebre when he was appointed as one of the team of lawyers to represent Queen Caroline in the matter of her divorce from George IV.⁵ In 1821, a Bill of Pains and Penalties was introduced into the House of Lords to deprive the Queen of her title and to dissolve her marriage to the King. It has been called “one of the greatest political sensations of all time.”⁶

      The marriage of Caroline of Brunswick to the Prince of Wales in 1795 had been a failure almost from the start and the couple parted after only one year. It was alleged that the Queen had committed adultery with one of her servants, a man named Bergami. Leading counsel for the Queen was Henry Brougham he asked his friend Lushington to act as her advisor in matters of civilian law. The flamboyant spendthrift George IV was not a popular monarch and there was a good deal of public support for the Queen who was considered a wronged woman. Lushington took full advantage of this. He complained of the serious and numerous insults and indignities that had been heaped on the Queen during the proceedings and was accused by his opponents of trying to stir up popular support for her. Lushington spoke on the Queen’s behalf in the House of Commons on several occasions. He supported a parliamentary motion to postpone the King’s coronation and, shortly afterwards, he introduced a motion to support the return to Queen of a valuable service of silver plate which her husband had given her.

      Lushington eventually replaced Brougham as the Queen’s principal legal advisor and he remained close to her throughout the whole troublesome and very public affair (figure 5). A gossipy confidant of the Marquess of Buckingham wrote:

      Lushington, I hear, now very much presides over the councils of her Majesty; in many respects he is well calculated to please her, for he is good-natured and obliging in his demeanour, rash in his advice, and a lover to excess of popular applause. He is everywhere with her now; airs with her, assists her in receiving addresses, &c.⁷

      When plans were being made for the King’s coronation, Lushington made clear his belief that any attempt to keep the Queen from the event would be highly improper. Despite this the Queen was not invited to attend the event. Nevertheless, she set out in her carriage for Westminster on the day of the coronation but, on arrival at the Abbey, she was refused entrance.

      Shortly after this event, the Queen was taken ill and died. Lushington, as one of her executors, was at her bedside at the moment of death. Unfortunately, for him and his fiancée, the Queen died the day before their wedding. Lushington wrote, “My situation was truly painful. You know I was to be married that very morning—Wednesday. I could not, for various reasons, postpone it; so, having taken 2 hours rest, I went to Hampstead was married, and immediately returned to town.”⁸

      Immediately after the Queen’s death, Lushington wrote to the Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, informing him of events and then went to secure her property and papers at Brandenburg House, her London home.⁹ This task occupied him until three o’clock the next morning.¹⁰ He then rushed back to Hampstead to marry Sarah.¹¹ The events of that day were recorded by Louisa Lushington:

      We got to Frognal, at a little before nine where we found all the party assembled, poor Uncle Stephen looked so tired, he had been at the Queen’s death-bed, and did not leave her house till past two in the morning, Miss Carr did not know for certain when she got up whether she was to be married to day or not; immediately after the ceremony (which I thought very, very awful) we returned to breakfast and Dr L—was obliged to go to town to meet L[or]d Liverpool at twelve o’clock; Mrs Lushington had particularly wished to go away from the church door, but everything happened contrary to her wishes, nevertheless she bore all with good humour & good sense, and tho’ she was very much agitated behaved extremely well. Dr L—returned at two o’clock, and then they set off to go into the country sixty miles off where they are afraid they have only time to stay one day. It poured torrents the whole day long and nothing could look more wintry, & gloomy than it did. I don’t think a wedding a very joyful thing.¹²

      As soon as the wedding ceremony was over, Lushington returned to London to meet the Prime Minister who, much to his relief, told him that the government would defray the funeral expenses of.¹³ Lord Liverpool suggested to the King that the Queen might be buried at Windsor or at a private ceremony in Westminster Abbey.¹⁴ However, the Queen had expressed her desire to be buried among her ancestors in Brunswick, Germany, her birthplace. Unfortunately, such were the extent of Stephen’s responsibilities in the matter, he had no choice but that both he and his bride of one day would have to accompany the coffin on its journey. What should have been the couples’ honeymoon was instead spent traveling to Germany with the funeral cortege. This resulted in Sarah being named the “Mourning Bride.”¹⁵ Joanna Baillie wrote, “We have had a dismal wedding at Mrs Carr’s, which I trust will nevertheless prove a happy one. The bride is gone to attend the poor Queen’s funeral, with all her bridal bravery laid aside for sable weeds.”¹⁶

      The lawyer and leader of Whig society, John Wishaw wrote to a friend:

      You may have heard of Miss Carr’s marriage to Dr Lushington, the day after the Queen’s death. She is of the party of Brunswick, and is called the “Mourning Bride.” It is singular that Dr Lushington was never before on the Continent, though of an active turn, and a great lover of fine scenery. I have strongly advised them to return through Holland.¹⁷

      Transporting the Queen’s coffin presented considerable problems. The government and the court were keen for this to be done as quickly, and with as little fuss, as possible. However, because public support favored the late Queen, efforts were