| This blog explores social attitudes in Jane Austen's time, discusses her novels, reviews forgotten 18th century novels, and throws some occasional shade at the modern academy. The introductory post is here. My "six simple questions for academics" post is here. Spoilers abound in my discussion of these forgotten novels, and I discuss 18th-century attitudes which I do not necessarily endorse. |
CMP# 222 Rich widowed aunts and disappointed legatees
Jane Leigh Perrot at the time of her trial When you are a country clergyman of modest means with a large family, prudence requires that you stay on good terms with your wife's wealthy relations. So it was with the Rev. George Austen, his wife Cassandra, and his wife's relatives, the Leigh Perrots. The Austens lived in expectation and hope of receiving an inheritance from the childless Leigh Perrots (see Brenda Cox's blog post for an explanation of the family tree and the monies involved). When Mrs. Leigh Perrot was arrested in 1799 for shoplifting Mrs. Austen offered to send Cassandra and Jane to keep her company while she was held awaiting trial but the offer was declined. (She was acquitted). When the Rev. Austen retired, he and his family moved to Bath--where the Leigh Perrots lived. And, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Mrs. Austen dissuaded Jane from looking for a publisher for her novels for fear that the Leigh Perrots wouldn't like it, but that is speculation.
The Austens were to be disappointed. When James Leigh Perrot died in 1817, he left everything to his wife. This happened near the end of Jane Austen's life and in fact, she believed the bad news set her health back. Mrs. Leigh Perrot lived on until 1836.
The Austens were not the only family to be disappointed by the last will and testament of a wealthy relative. The same blow fell--even more severely--upon authoress Eliza Kirkham Mathews, then Eliza Kirkham Strong. I will continue referring to her as "EKM" even though for this part of her story, she is "EKS." Faithful readers of this blog know I have written about EKM's life and her poetry and novels before. This is not because she has earned a significant place in the history of the novel. The only slight scholarly notice she has received is owing to her heroine in What Has Been, who tries to earn money by writing a novel. (EKM returns to this theme in a sub plot in Griffith Abbey). My affectionate interest in EKM first arose because I thought her poetry was maudlin, then I realized I had been too harsh on her because her life story truly was tragic. Now I'm hooked on delving up as much information as I can about her via the internet. I love a research rabbit hole. At any rate, here comes another sad chapter from EKM's life. It's easy to see how Eliza’s tragic experiences informed her writing...
The Austens were to be disappointed. When James Leigh Perrot died in 1817, he left everything to his wife. This happened near the end of Jane Austen's life and in fact, she believed the bad news set her health back. Mrs. Leigh Perrot lived on until 1836.
The Austens were not the only family to be disappointed by the last will and testament of a wealthy relative. The same blow fell--even more severely--upon authoress Eliza Kirkham Mathews, then Eliza Kirkham Strong. I will continue referring to her as "EKM" even though for this part of her story, she is "EKS." Faithful readers of this blog know I have written about EKM's life and her poetry and novels before. This is not because she has earned a significant place in the history of the novel. The only slight scholarly notice she has received is owing to her heroine in What Has Been, who tries to earn money by writing a novel. (EKM returns to this theme in a sub plot in Griffith Abbey). My affectionate interest in EKM first arose because I thought her poetry was maudlin, then I realized I had been too harsh on her because her life story truly was tragic. Now I'm hooked on delving up as much information as I can about her via the internet. I love a research rabbit hole. At any rate, here comes another sad chapter from EKM's life. It's easy to see how Eliza’s tragic experiences informed her writing...
Croan House, Egloshayle, Cornwall, in 1960, Country Life magazine, Vol 128 A disappointed legatee
EKM's mother Mary was a Kirkham, a large, respectable and landed family in Devonshire. She married George Strong, an apothecary/surgeon who must have been moderately successful but who fell on hard times before his death. And he was evidently the son of a tradesman--a reasonably prosperous tradesman, but still! You can imagine how that went down with the Kirkhams. It's rather like Mrs. Price in Mansfield Park.
Mrs. Strong's oldest brother Fraunceis Kirkham owned lands in Exeter and Cornwall, including Croan House in Egloshayle, which he acquired when he married the heiress Damaris Hoblyn in 1751.
George and Mary Kirkham Strong named their first-born son George after his father but their second son was named Francis Kirkham Strong. Fraunceis Kirkham died in 1770 leaving Eliza’s Aunt Damaris a wealthy widow with a carriage and a houseful of servants. No doubt her sister-in-law Mary Kirkham Strong hoped that some of that wealth would find its way to her own family, especially after her husband George's business failed and the family sank into poverty. The last will and testament of another of Mary Kirkham Strong's siblings gives us a glimpse into the troubles of the Strong family. When Elizabeth Kirkham died in 1781, she left legacies of one hundred pounds to a niece and nephew. But her sister "Mary Strong, wife of George Strong, apothecary," received an annuity of five pounds per year, to be placed "in the hands of my said sister," for the rest of "her natural life." The other relatives could be entrusted with their entire inheritances, but the money was to be doled out to Mary. One certainly suspects that Elizabeth wanted to prevent Mary's husband George getting his hands on it, or perhaps it was to protect it from George's creditors.
Damaris Kirkham survived her husband by almost 25 years, dying in March of 1794. By then Mary and George Strong had also died, their sons Francis and George were dead, and their daughter Mary was dead, leaving Eliza (EKM) alone in the world. Eliza, then 23 years old, wrote a pleading letter to the executor of her aunt’s will. I discovered this letter in the Cornwall (Konsel Kernow) archives and have transcribed it below:
She addresses a "Mr. Tremayne" and she mentions a "Mr. Tincombe," who is another one of her uncles, married to her Aunt Henrietta Kirkham Tincombe.
EKM's mother Mary was a Kirkham, a large, respectable and landed family in Devonshire. She married George Strong, an apothecary/surgeon who must have been moderately successful but who fell on hard times before his death. And he was evidently the son of a tradesman--a reasonably prosperous tradesman, but still! You can imagine how that went down with the Kirkhams. It's rather like Mrs. Price in Mansfield Park.
Mrs. Strong's oldest brother Fraunceis Kirkham owned lands in Exeter and Cornwall, including Croan House in Egloshayle, which he acquired when he married the heiress Damaris Hoblyn in 1751.
George and Mary Kirkham Strong named their first-born son George after his father but their second son was named Francis Kirkham Strong. Fraunceis Kirkham died in 1770 leaving Eliza’s Aunt Damaris a wealthy widow with a carriage and a houseful of servants. No doubt her sister-in-law Mary Kirkham Strong hoped that some of that wealth would find its way to her own family, especially after her husband George's business failed and the family sank into poverty. The last will and testament of another of Mary Kirkham Strong's siblings gives us a glimpse into the troubles of the Strong family. When Elizabeth Kirkham died in 1781, she left legacies of one hundred pounds to a niece and nephew. But her sister "Mary Strong, wife of George Strong, apothecary," received an annuity of five pounds per year, to be placed "in the hands of my said sister," for the rest of "her natural life." The other relatives could be entrusted with their entire inheritances, but the money was to be doled out to Mary. One certainly suspects that Elizabeth wanted to prevent Mary's husband George getting his hands on it, or perhaps it was to protect it from George's creditors.
Damaris Kirkham survived her husband by almost 25 years, dying in March of 1794. By then Mary and George Strong had also died, their sons Francis and George were dead, and their daughter Mary was dead, leaving Eliza (EKM) alone in the world. Eliza, then 23 years old, wrote a pleading letter to the executor of her aunt’s will. I discovered this letter in the Cornwall (Konsel Kernow) archives and have transcribed it below:
She addresses a "Mr. Tremayne" and she mentions a "Mr. Tincombe," who is another one of her uncles, married to her Aunt Henrietta Kirkham Tincombe.
| Knowing you are the executor of the late Mrs. Kirkham of Croan; an Orphan Legatee impressed with an idea of yr Benevolence, and [honour?] presumes to address you, -- Mr. Tincombe sometime since informed me that my Aunt Kirkham had in her Will, bequeathed to my late revered Mother, sixty one guineas, my sister, and self 20 each; as Heiress to both, am told I can claim these legacy’s. I trust [?] this is legal, as I am poor, --a hundred guinea’s would to me be of infinite service, were I rich, never would I intrude on Mr. Tremayne but poor and an Orphan, I appeal to his humanity and flatter myself no objection will be raised to this claim. I never offended my Aunt – yet she left me, the niece of a much-loved husband, less than her servants, this astonishes me as I have heard her benevolence was unbounded, believe me Sir I do not repine, my Sainted Mother was a bright example of patience, she taught me to be submissive to the Will of Heaven, in her steps I would fain tread, -- I trust Sir you’ll peruse with an eye of Christian Humanity the request of an Orphan—And “may that Being who is a Father to the Fatherless, reward you for it.” –I am Sir with every good wish, yr humble Srvnt, Eliza Kirkham Strong.  |
It looks like EKM pleaded in vain for the legacies intended for her late mother and sister. On the outside of the letter, a clerk jotted a note that £20 was remitted to Eliza, in keeping with Damaris Kirkham’s will. Or perhaps it was an additional £20, over and above the £20 she had already been given. The relevant section of Damaris Kirkham's will reads:
| “Also give unto my Sister in Law Mary Strong widow of George Strong Surgeon late of Exeter the sum of fifty guineas to be paid at the end of six months after my decease and I also give twenty pounds to each of her two Daughters Mary Strong and Elizabeth Strong to set them up in some Business the said twenty pounds to be paid to them each one year after my decease.” |
Lucky legatee: Rev. Henry Hawkins Tremayne (1741-1829) A measly twenty pounds apiece “To set them up in some Business”? Clearly Auntie Damaris believed that Mary and Eliza should resign all pretensions of belonging to the genteel class, despite being Kirkhams on their mother's side. Like EKM's frosty Mrs. Elton in What Has Been, Mrs. Kirkham thought that Mary and Eliza should get busy with their needles and become milliners or seamstresses.
The late lamented Damaris Kirkham
Damaris Kirkham bequeathed monies to dozens of people to purchase mourning clothes and mourning rings in her memory. She left forty pounds to be distributed amongst the poor of Elgoshayle. She gave her carriage-driver, who had a large family, a small yearly annuity. Her housekeeper, footman, dairy maid, gardener and housemaid got, so far as I can make out, five or ten pounds apiece along with the said monies for mourning clothes. In a codicil, she also left some furniture to her housekeeper. So yes, the widow Kirkham definitely had a closer and more affectionate relationship with her servants in Cornwall than she did with her sister-in-law or her nieces. There were no keepsake mourning rings for the Exeter branch of the family, either. The loss of her own sons and daughter in childhood did not incline her to be generous to her nieces.
Eliza's mother may have been thrown off by her family when she made her imprudent match to a man of undistinguished pedigree. Or, for all we know, her brother Francis had already stepped in to help the Strong family just as Sir Thomas Bertram helped the Prices in Mansfield Park. Perhaps they felt they had done enough. Perhaps a rift arose later. Or perhaps Mrs. Kirkham was just not interested in her late husband's side of the family and only felt close to her own family.
At any rate, an 1867 history of Cornwall explains that Damaris Hoblyn “[m]arried Francis Kirkham, Esq., of the Cornwall Militia; and having buried her husband and all of her children, she bequeathed his and other estates to her cousin, the Rev. Henry Hawkins Tremayne."
Croan House passed down through the Tremayne family for several generations and still stands today. The Rev. Hawkins was already well-to-do, thanks to the death of his older brother and his marriage to an heiress. He was not a blood relation of the Strong family of Exeter, and may have felt no connection with them. EKM made her feelings clear about rich people who wouldn't help their poor relations in What Has Been.
Jane Austen's family always insisted that her characters were not portraits of real people. I have trouble believing that she resisted that temptation. Perhaps Fanny Dashwood of Sense and Sensibility and Lady Denham of Sanditon are partly based on real, disagreeable, rich relations.
The late lamented Damaris Kirkham
Damaris Kirkham bequeathed monies to dozens of people to purchase mourning clothes and mourning rings in her memory. She left forty pounds to be distributed amongst the poor of Elgoshayle. She gave her carriage-driver, who had a large family, a small yearly annuity. Her housekeeper, footman, dairy maid, gardener and housemaid got, so far as I can make out, five or ten pounds apiece along with the said monies for mourning clothes. In a codicil, she also left some furniture to her housekeeper. So yes, the widow Kirkham definitely had a closer and more affectionate relationship with her servants in Cornwall than she did with her sister-in-law or her nieces. There were no keepsake mourning rings for the Exeter branch of the family, either. The loss of her own sons and daughter in childhood did not incline her to be generous to her nieces.
Eliza's mother may have been thrown off by her family when she made her imprudent match to a man of undistinguished pedigree. Or, for all we know, her brother Francis had already stepped in to help the Strong family just as Sir Thomas Bertram helped the Prices in Mansfield Park. Perhaps they felt they had done enough. Perhaps a rift arose later. Or perhaps Mrs. Kirkham was just not interested in her late husband's side of the family and only felt close to her own family.
At any rate, an 1867 history of Cornwall explains that Damaris Hoblyn “[m]arried Francis Kirkham, Esq., of the Cornwall Militia; and having buried her husband and all of her children, she bequeathed his and other estates to her cousin, the Rev. Henry Hawkins Tremayne."
Croan House passed down through the Tremayne family for several generations and still stands today. The Rev. Hawkins was already well-to-do, thanks to the death of his older brother and his marriage to an heiress. He was not a blood relation of the Strong family of Exeter, and may have felt no connection with them. EKM made her feelings clear about rich people who wouldn't help their poor relations in What Has Been.
Jane Austen's family always insisted that her characters were not portraits of real people. I have trouble believing that she resisted that temptation. Perhaps Fanny Dashwood of Sense and Sensibility and Lady Denham of Sanditon are partly based on real, disagreeable, rich relations.
Church of St Petroc, Egloshayle, Derek Harper Fiction imitates life
And yes, I noticed that EKM uses the possessive apostrophe "S" when she should be using the plural. I am also surprised that she uses the same idioms and ideas that dominate her poems and her fiction--poetic language and resignation to the will of God.
In a short postscript to her letter, EKM told Mr. Tremayne that she was going to London "in a few days." She doesn’t explain why, but one assumes she planned to make the rounds of the publishers with some manuscripts, or a collection of her poems. Her interactions with publishers are referenced in What Has Been and Griffith Abbey.
EKM's first book of poetry, published by subscription (i.e. crowdfunded by benevolent people), came out the following year. Most of the subscribers are from Exeter, and a few are from Cornwall, including Lady Molesworth, the owner of a stately home near Elgoshayle, but "Tremayne" does not appear on the subscriber list. The Tincombes bought three copies.
Eliza Kirkham Strong met Charles Mathews in Swansea while she was working as a schoolteacher. They were married in September 1797 and lived mostly in Hull and York, until her death in 1801.
Janeites lament that so many of Jane Austen's letters were destroyed after her death--but in comparison to many obscure authoresses of the period, we have an absolute treasure-trove of biographical material. At least, by identifying EKM as a niece of Fraunceis and Damaris Kirkham, I have filled in her family genealogy on her mother's side.
In her fiction, EKM gave herself the inheritance she was denied in real life.
Previous post: Who wrote Griffith Abbey? Next post: Book Review: The Standing Stone on the Moor
And yes, I noticed that EKM uses the possessive apostrophe "S" when she should be using the plural. I am also surprised that she uses the same idioms and ideas that dominate her poems and her fiction--poetic language and resignation to the will of God.
In a short postscript to her letter, EKM told Mr. Tremayne that she was going to London "in a few days." She doesn’t explain why, but one assumes she planned to make the rounds of the publishers with some manuscripts, or a collection of her poems. Her interactions with publishers are referenced in What Has Been and Griffith Abbey.
EKM's first book of poetry, published by subscription (i.e. crowdfunded by benevolent people), came out the following year. Most of the subscribers are from Exeter, and a few are from Cornwall, including Lady Molesworth, the owner of a stately home near Elgoshayle, but "Tremayne" does not appear on the subscriber list. The Tincombes bought three copies.
Eliza Kirkham Strong met Charles Mathews in Swansea while she was working as a schoolteacher. They were married in September 1797 and lived mostly in Hull and York, until her death in 1801.
Janeites lament that so many of Jane Austen's letters were destroyed after her death--but in comparison to many obscure authoresses of the period, we have an absolute treasure-trove of biographical material. At least, by identifying EKM as a niece of Fraunceis and Damaris Kirkham, I have filled in her family genealogy on her mother's side.
In her fiction, EKM gave herself the inheritance she was denied in real life.
Previous post: Who wrote Griffith Abbey? Next post: Book Review: The Standing Stone on the Moor
Clifford, H. Dalton. “Far From the Madding Crowd,” Country Life, July 28, 1960, pp 196-197.
Polsue, Joseph. A Complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall: Compiled from the Best Authorities & Corrected and Improved from Actual Survey ; Illustrated. United Kingdom, W. Lake, 1867.
The Kirkhams family was laid to rest in St. Petroc churchyard. The church bells of this ancient church inspired a Cornish folksong, "The Ringers of Elgoshayle."
Polsue, Joseph. A Complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall: Compiled from the Best Authorities & Corrected and Improved from Actual Survey ; Illustrated. United Kingdom, W. Lake, 1867.
The Kirkhams family was laid to rest in St. Petroc churchyard. The church bells of this ancient church inspired a Cornish folksong, "The Ringers of Elgoshayle."
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