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Collier, J (2014) A ‘blessed asylum’ or a utopian vision: the viability of a Protestant nunnery in early nineteenth-century England. PhD thesis. Bath: Bath Spa University. ResearchSPAce http://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/ This version is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Your access and use of this document is based on your acceptance of the ResearchSPAce Metadata and Data Policies, as well as applicable law:- https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/policies.html Unless you accept the terms of these Policies in full, you do not have permission to download this document. This cover sheet may not be removed from the document. Please scroll down to view the document. A ‘BLESSED ASYLUM’ OR A UTOPIAN VISION: THE VIABILITY OF A PROTESTANT NUNNERY IN EARLY NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND JACQUELINE COLLIER A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Bath Spa University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Humanities and Cultural Industries, Bath Spa University June 2014 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to say a huge thank you to Professor Elaine Chalus for her constant support and for her encouragement especially during the difficult moments while completing this dissertation. Always available for help and advice, her enthusiasm and energy have been a constant source of inspiration. I would also like to thank Dr. Anne Stott for her advice, her comments, her understanding and for her keen interest in my research. Dr. Brian Barber, formerly of Doncaster Record Office, and to the Davies-Cooke family who kindly gave permission and arranged for Lady Isabella King’s papers to be microfilmed. PhD colleagues for their support and for the lengthy discussions on Bath or any other topic… Mum for her practical support and for just being there when things were tough, even though they were probably tougher for her. My brother, Steve, for his painstaking proof reading and encouraging words. Dan, Sam and Will for putting up with my constant absence, for their unending and unconditional support, for their advice and practical help and for their total belief in my ability to complete this marathon. And finally — to Dad, this is for you, with love — wish you were here to see it. ABSTRACT In 1694, Mary Astell proposed the establishment of Protestant nunneries in England; in 1809, Helena Whitford reiterated the theme; yet, it was Lady Isabella King in 1816 who sought to put this radical idea into effect. A single, Irish, evangelically influenced gentlewoman, a younger daughter of the Earl of Kingston, she established the Ladies’ Association, a ‘conventual’ home for eighteen distressed gentlewomen at Bailbrook House in Bath in 1816, securing support for it from such influential figures as Queen Charlotte, William Wilberforce and Robert Southey. When Bailbrook House was sold in 1821, she relocated the Ladies’ Association to Clifton in Bristol, where its eventual failure in 1835 shattered her vision of establishing a national scheme of conventual homes that would benefit future generations of women. Limited attention has yet been paid by historians to the role elite women played in creating and managing philanthropic institutions in the early nineteenth century, particularly those aimed at assisting other women in an urban setting. Some historians of philanthropy, such as Frank Prochaska, have identified an ‘explosion’ of early nineteenth-century female activity; however, elite women’s charitable contributions have tended to be understood as rural, concentrating on family estates. Kim Reynolds, who has addressed Victorian elite women’s philanthropy in an urban setting, maintains it functioned simply as a strand of elite women’s work. This dissertation draws upon a previously unstudied collection of papers compiled and annotated by Lady Isabella King, which span the existence of the Ladies’ Association, in order to explore the nature of Lady Isabella’s involvement in this philanthropic venture and her understanding of her role. Thus it not only seeks to recover Lady Isabella as an important historical figure in the development of early nineteenth-century philanthropic ventures, something for which she was recognised by her contemporaries, but also to examine the structure of her unique experimental institution and cast some light on the sorts of women who became its residents. By doing so, it provides a case study in the development and practical application of a philanthropic ideal. It examines the ways that Lady Isabella, quite a conventional elite single woman, used her status, her location and her networks to create and maintain the institution for nearly twenty years. It provides a valuable opportunity to examine a number of the problems she faced in establishing and running the institution, given the social and gendered milieu in which she was operating, and the strategies she employed to achieve her ends. I argue that Lady Isabella’s elite status provided her with the wealth and access to influential social circles to make a difference, that her single status added independence to devote time to her cause and while she was initially beset with self-doubts about her competence to author and manage the project, she gradually gained confidence as she developed ways to implement and manage the institution. At the same time the groundbreaking nature of the Ladies’ Association, the consequent public criticism and a growing discordant atmosphere among the residents of the institution lead to its closure in 1835. CONTENTS List of Illustrations 1 List of Abbreviations 3 Introduction 5 Historiography and Context 8 Sources 18 Chapter 1: Lady Isabella King Introduction 23 Family Background 25 The Making of a Female Philanthropist 38 Conclusion 58 Chapter 2: The Viability of the Ladies’ Association in the Context of Protestant Nunneries Introduction 59 The Intellectual Context 61 The Development of an Idea 76 Female Communities After 1835 115 Conclusion 118 Chapter 3: Strategies, Boundaries and Self-Doubts: Lady Isabella The Philanthropist Introduction 121 Enthusiasm and Self-Doubts 123 Strategies and Boundaries 126 Conclusion 141 Chapter 4: Bath: Cultivating Benevolent Connexions Introduction 143 Context of Support 145 Bath 154 Networks 164 Clifton 186 Conclusion 193 Chapter 5: The ‘Bottled Wasps’: The Residents of the Ladies’ Association Introduction 197 Distressed Gentlewomen 199 Selecting the Residents 202 The Residents 210 Discordant Relationships 223 Conclusion 241 Conclusion 244 Appendices Appendix 1: Family Trees 248 Appendix 2: Index of Trustees and Local Guardians of The Ladies 256 Association 1816-1836 Appendix 3: Table of Charitable and Evangelical Activity 260 Appendix 4: Index of Patrons And Patronesses of the Ladies Association 262 1816-1836 Appendix 5: Annual Report For Bath Penitentiary and Lock Hospital 1816 265 Appendix 6: Residents of the Ladies Association 266 Appendix 7: Siblings 271 Bibliography 272 ILLUSTRATIONS Plate 1. Miniature portrait of Lady Isabella Letitia King 4 Frontispiece; Percy Vere Turner, Charity for a Hundred Years: History of the Monmouth Street Society, 1805 – 1904. (Bath, c.1914). Plate 2. King House, Boyle, County Roscommon 26 Roscommon, County Council, King House, Boyle County Roscommon, http://www.roscommoncoco.ie/en/Services/Corporateservices/ Local_Representatives/ Boyle_Town_Council/Gallery-Boyle_Area_Photos/, 20th March, 2014. Plate 3. Map of Kingston Hall, 1912 27 John Clapison & Triona Mullaney-Dignam, Memories of a Vanished Mansion (Boyle, 2007), p.11. Plate 4. Rockingham House 28 Top: Watercolour by G.S. Repton of proposed north front of Rockingham House, c.1809 Bottom: Watercolour by G.S. Repton of proposed south front of Rockingham House, c.1809 Courtesy of Lady Dunn, John Clapison & Triona Mullaney-Dignam, Memories of a Vanished Mansion (Boyle, 2007), p.14. Plate 5. Lough Key & Castle Island 28 Rockingham Demesne, Lough Key & Islands – Rockingham Demesne Townland, Co. Roscommon http://www.celtic-knot- creator.com/townland/roscommon/rockingham-demesne2/, 1st May, 2014. Irish Archaeology, Castle Island, Lough Key, Co. Roscommon. Photo by Greg Clarke http://irisharchaeology.ie/2013/07/castles-and-abbeys- medieval-ireland-in-photos/, 1st May, 2014. Plate 6. A View of Part of the Grounds and Lake Scenery of Rockingham, Seat 28 of Lord Lorton James Arthur O’Connor (c.1792-1841) ‘A View of Part of the Grounds and Lake Scenery of Rockingham, Seat of Lord Lorton’Private Collection, Dublin Gorry Gallery http://www.gorrygallery.ie/catalogs/2011May.pdf, 15th April, 2014. Plate 7. Map of Dublin, 1798, showing the location of Henrietta Street and 31 Great Georges Street MAPCO Modern Plan Of The City And Environs Of Dublin 1798 http://dublin1798.com/dublin16.htm, 9th May, 2014. 1 Plate 8. 7 Great Bedford Street, Bath 51 Sales plan for St James's Square, Great Bedford Street & Park Street - Lots 81-247 - Plan No.4 pre-1872 http://www.bathintime.co.uk/image/422835/sales-plan-for-st-jamess- square-great-bedford-street-&-park-street-lots-81-247-plan-no-4-pre-1872 ,16th May, 2009. John Feltham, A Guide to all the Watering and Sea Bathing Places (London, 1815), p.25 Plate 9. Bailbrook House c.1830 104 Bath in Time image ref 11143. http://www.bathintime.co.uk/image/140480/bailbrook-house-c-1870, 9th January, 2008. Plate 10. Clifton c. 1850 with a plan of Cornwallis House and its grounds 106 Helen Reid, A Chronicle of Clifton (Bristol, 1992). Plate 11. View of Granby Hill from Windsor Terrace, Clifton, 1822. 107 Jennifer