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Westminsterresearch Long-Wellesley & Publicity: the Role of Celebrity in the Public Sphere WestminsterResearch http://www.westminster.ac.uk/westminsterresearch Long-Wellesley & Publicity: The Role of Celebrity in the Public Sphere (1788-1832) Roberts, G. This is an electronic version of a PhD thesis awarded by the University of Westminster. © Mr Gregory Roberts, 2020. The WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners. Long-Wellesley & Publicity: The Role of Celebrity in the Public Sphere (1788-1832) GREGORY P. ROBERTS Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Humanities UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER JUNE 2020 1 Long-Wellesley & Publicity: The Role of Celebrity in the Public Sphere (1788-1832) Abstract This thesis explores the relationship between celebrity and the public-sphere through a case study of the life of William Long-Wellesley (1788-1857). A junior member of the powerful and well-connected Wellesley family, Long-Wellesley married into the largest fortune in Regency Britain, became a Tory MP and enjoyed moderate success as an author. But he owed his celebrity status to public curiosity about his rakish and extravagant lifestyle. A study of Long-Wellesley’s celebrity history is important because it enables an investigation into the framework of the public sphere. In the second half of the eighteenth- century a new form of public sphere emerged, partly as a result of the rise of urban intellectual middle-class society in Western Europe, especially in England. It has been argued that the collective engagement of private people, coming together in a ‘public sphere’, resulted in the formulation of ‘public opinion’ for the purpose of acting as a corrective authority to the state. The general scholarly consensus has therefore argued that public opinion belongs to the political sphere. This thesis sets out to challenge that premise, and the assumptions that underpin it, by demonstrating that public opinion was more culturally derived, and found its inspiration in publicity. The parameters of the public sphere in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century were more broadly defined than the traditional political focus suggests. Instead, it will be established that audiences were stimulated through a wide variety of sources, including spectacle, novelty, and celebrity. This thesis aims to re-position celebrity in the public sphere, showing how it impacted upon public opinion. It focuses on the life of Long- Wellesley because he offers many examples of how celebrity was represented in Britain during the Regency period. His decision to create and distribute his own sensational narrative makes Long-Wellesley a worthy case study; not least because he was the chief purveyor of, rather than a helpless victim of, malicious rumour and gossip. He is a prime example of how non-political spectacle influenced public opinion and helped to change the moral climate. CONTENTS List of Illustrations i-iii Primary Source Abbreviations iv William Long- Wellesley – Family Tree v William Long-Wellesley – Timeline vi Acknowledgements vii -viii Author’s Declaration ix Introduction 1-64 Beyond Politics – Characteristics of the New Public Sphere c.1800 Chapter One 65-98 Repositioning Celebrity in Regency Britain (1788-1832) Chapter Two 99-149 Biography of William Long-Wellesley Chapter Three 150-192 Long-Wellesley at Wanstead: Celebrity Privacy versus Private Enjoyment Chapter Four 193-233 Long-Wellesley: Publicity, Parliament & Privilege (1812-1832) Chapter Five 234-281 Fighting for Celebrity: Long-Wellesley and Duelling in the Public Sphere Chapter Six 282-322 Long-Wellesley and the Pen: Writing for Celebrity Conclusion 323-330 Bibliography 331-350 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Page v – Long-Wellesley family tree, by kind permission of Geraldine Roberts. 2. Page 18 – BM Satires 2010 The Coffeehouse Politicians, anon (1733). 3. Page 26 – BM Satires 5176 A well-fed citizen going to his country seat at horn-sey, Robert Sayer (c1773). 4. Page 28 – BM Satires 8900 High-change in Bond Street, -ou- la politesse du grand monde, James Gillray (1796). 5. Page 32 – BM 1948, 0214.533 Age and Luxury, Johann Heinrich Ramberg (1788). 6. Page 48 – BM 1868, 0808.13494 English Liberty established, or a Mirrour for Posterity: John Wilkes / To the Gentlemen, Clergy, and Freedholders of the County of Middlesex, anon (1768). 7. Page 54 – BM S, 7.60 Vincent Lunardi Esq.r, Francesco Bartolozzi (1784). 8. Page 56 – Image on left: BM 1935,0522.1.137 An exact representation of Mr Lunardi's New Balloon as it ascended with himself 13 May 1785, Carington Bowles (1785); Image on right: BM Satires 6706, Love in a Balloon, anon (1784). 9. Page 59 – BM 1875, 0213.148 Vincent Lunardi Esq. His Dog & His Cat, Edward Hedges (1784). 10. Page 99 – Portrait of William Long-Wellesley, c.1814 – courtesy of Parade Antiques, Plymouth. 11. Page 108 – BM Satires 15859 Good Humour, William Heath (1829). 12. Page 116 – Portrait of William Long-Wellesley aged 16 (1804), courtesy of Stratfield Saye Preservation Trust. 13. Page 126 – Armorial crest of the Pole Tylney Long Wellesley family c.1812, author’s collection. 14. Page 131 - BM Satires 12800 Saluting the R____ts Bomb uncovered on his birthday, August 12th 1816, George Cruickshank (1816). 15. Page 135 – Advertisement for the Wanstead House Furniture Auction (1822), author’s collection. i G.P. Roberts: Long-Wellesley & Publicity: The role of Celebrity in the Public Sphere (1788-1832) 16. Page 150 – Wanstead House, the seat of Wm Pole Tylney Long Wellesley, anon (1815), author’s collection. 17. Page 151 – Map of Wanstead Park (1813), adapted from E.R.O. TB/39/1. 18. Page 160 – A birds-eye view of Wanstead by Johannes Kyp (1713), author’s collection. 19. Page 161 – View of the front façade of Wanstead House, taken from Colen Campbell’s Vitruvius Britannicus (1715). 20. Page 163 - Lord Tylney and His Family and Friends at Wanstead House, Essex by Joseph Nollekins (c.1740), courtesy of Fairfax House, York. 21. Page 167 – BM Satires 11744 Princely Piety or the worshippers at Wanstead, George Cruickshank (1811). 22. Page 169 – BM Satires 11747 The Disconsolate Sailor, or Miss Long-ing for a Pole, Charles Williams (1811). 23. Page 174 – Catherine Tylney-Long’s Buffer Zone around Wanstead Park, adapted from E.R.O. TB/39/1. 24. Page 176 – BM Satires 11947 Townsend the umpire of love, or the Poled Scott hunted off after a long struggle, William Heath (1812). 25. Page 179 – Table of prosecution witnesses at Rex v Long-Wellesley (1813), taken from E.R.O TB/39/1. 26. Page 182 – Physical characteristics of the New Park used in evidence, adapted from E.R.O. TB/39/1. 27. Page 184 – Table of defence witnesses at Rex v Long-Wellesley (1813), taken from E.R.O. TB/39/1. 28. Page 187 – BM 1878, 0112.239 A View of Wanstead in the County of Essex, George Robertson (1781). 29. Page 190 – The creation of Blake Hall Road (1817), adapted from E.R.O. TB/39/1. 30. Page 193 – William Pole Tylney Long Wellesley engraving c.1824, author’s collection. 31. Page 210 – English County Map showing Wiltshire constituency, created by author. ii G.P. Roberts: Long-Wellesley & Publicity: The role of Celebrity in the Public Sphere (1788-1832) 32. Page 213 – Wiltshire election Poster (1818), author’s collection. 33. Page 236 – Mary Evans Picture Library 10042031 Duelling with Pistols, anon (c.1820). 34. Page 242 - BM 1853, 0813.107 Mr Pulteney's Duel with Lord Hervey, anon (1731). 35. Page 245 – Duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, after a painting by J. Mund (1804), in the public domain. 36. Page 253 – A table of Long-Wellesley’s duelling activities 1811-1853, created by author. 37. Page 256 – Detail from Princely Piety or the worshippers at Wanstead (see image 21). 38. Page 268 – Portrait of Heaton de Crespigny, taken from Kelmarsh Hall and Gardens, Northants. 39. Page 282 – BM 1882, 1209.360 A scene in the Court of Chancery, John Doyle (1829). 40. Page 299 – BM Satires 15443 The effects of a Blithe W riding on a long pole, Isaac Robert Cruikshank (1827). 41. Page 302 – BM Satires 15442 Vice and profligacy, extinguished by equity, George Humphrey (1827). 42. Page 306 – Cutting from The Times, courtesy of British Library Newspapers. 43. Page 308 – BM Satires 15929 A Bright Thought, John Doyle (1829). 44. Page 317 – Portrait of Merrick Shawe, image taken from www.bonhams.com – this miniature was sold at auction for £6600 on May 25th 2011. 45. Page 323 – BM Satires 16352 Long expected come at last. Or the only Besom of reform, published by S.W Fores (1830). iii G.P. Roberts: Long-Wellesley & Publicity: The role of Celebrity in the Public Sphere (1788-1832) PRIMARY SOURCE ABBREVIATIONS This thesis relies heavily upon two key primary source documents, and therefore deserve early clarity. HIRAM STEAD COLLECTION (Stead) Hiram Stead Collection (Newham Heritage and Archives) comprises of two scrapbooks containing press cuttings and other print ephemera relating to Wanstead House, with a focus upon William Long-Wellesley. The larger volume (un-named) will be referred to as ‘Stead’ in the footnotes. The smaller book, entitled Some Material on Wanstead House, will be cited as ‘Stead, Wanstead’. WANSTEAD HOUSE LETTERS (Long-Wellesley MS) This collection of over 1000 documents, stored in four boxes at Redbridge Information and Heritage, loosely relates to Wanstead House between 1750 and the 1870s. It contains four bound volumes of correspondence plus 24 envelopes stuffed with loose paperwork. Because the bulk of these records relate to Long-Wellesley, his wife, and children this resource will be referred to as ‘Long-Wellesley MS’.
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