Lavinia Fenton
What I love about Greenwich is that whatever cliche you care to mention, we have an example of it somewhere. Lavinia Fenton is 18th Century 'actresses' personified (child prostitute to duchess with a spot of acting in between) and it's very pleasing to know that she once walked at least one or two of the streets we know today (no - not that kind of walk - by that time she was most definitely in "respectable" mode.
There is, of course, as with all stories of this nature, a questionable lineage. She was brought up by her mother's husband, but it's unlikely he was her real father - that honour probably going to a sailor (see what I mean about cliche?) called Beswick.
These were saucy days - where London was a dangerous and exhilarating world full of coffee houses, silks, satins, grand buildings - and footpads, murderers, cozeners, whores, drinking and gambling dens. She became a child prostitute (there were hundreds, perhaps thousands of filles-de-joie in those days - it's worth taking a peek at a copy of the slightly later quarter-million seller Harris's Lists of Covent Garden Ladies which was literally a catalogue of hookers - what they looked like, where they lived and what they would do, including 'specialities' of eye-popping inventiveness - any notions of genteel history fly right out of the window...) but really made her (stage) name as an actress.
As Lavinia Fenton she played Monimia in Thomas Otway's The Orphan in 1726 at the Haymarket Theatre, and then moved onto Lincoln's Inn Fields where she joined a theatre company and became quite a starlet - mainly with the gentlemen. It wasn't that she was particularly beautiful, but she was vivacious (why aren't people described as 'vivacious' any more?) had a good figure and could sing well
Her big moment came with the still-performed (though more often as the inspiration for Brecht/Weil's Threepenny Opera) Beggars Opera by John Gay. No one was interested in any of the other poor sods in the show - all the notices raved about her portrayal of Polly Peachum and she became almost synonymous with the role.
Audiences went mad, buying up all the souvenirs they could - mezzo-tint drawings, 'biographies' - and the lyrics of her songs printed on ladies fans (I wonder if they have one in the Fan Museum..?)
There was one fan in particular, of the supporter-variety, Charles Paulet, who became really obsessed. The fact that he was the 3rd Duke of Bolton probably made the attention a bit more palatable but he was hardly a catch looks-wise. Much older than her, in Hogarth's painting of a performance of the show, he is the creepy bloke watching her intently from the box in full stalker-fashion. The flesh crawls even more when you know that this particular performance was taking place in Newgate Prison.
It was the talk (though hardly scandal - everyone was at it) of the town but she knew which side her crumpets were buttered and, after several revivals of the show, she moved in with him. He married her as soon as his wife died. They had three illegitimate children.
So what's the connection with Greenwich? Well, she survived her husband and came to live at Westcombe House. This is not, of course, John Julius Angerstein's Woodlands; it was an earlier building. I think there's a painting of it in The Spread Eagle restuarant. She spent the rest of her life living grandly as a Duchess, and when she died was buried in St Alfege's Church. I'm not sure where her grave is; I assume it's in the crypt with Thomas Tallis and General Wolfe, but if anyone knows for sure, I'd like to know.
We don't have any real reminders of her in Greenwich, which is a shame - a nice statue of her as Polly Peachum would be a welcome feminine addition to a largely masculine bunch of sculptures here - but there is, inexplicaby, a Rua Lavinia Fenton in Sao Paulo and a Lavinia Fenton suite in a hotel in Basingstoke.
Labels: Greenwich People, Mostly-Accurate History
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
08:32
7 Comments:
What fascinating stuff! - Courtesy of Highfill, Burnim and Langhans (A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actress, Musicians etc etc 1600-1800): Her first conquest was 'a Portuguese Nobleman' when she was about 17; and she hit the boards a year later as a 'Gentlewoman who never appear'd on any Stage before'. Her Polly Peacham was so succesful that she immediately retired, at the ripe age of 20.
Poor girl got a lot of ragging, though: a fake ad appeared in The Craftsman for the anti-publication by subscription of a list of her admirers: i.e. you could pay hush-money not to be included... According to Horace Walpole she married a second time, to an Irish surgon, and cut her illegitimate sons out of the inheritance.
Cor - thanks for that, Donovan!
Oh how we love it when you go all historical on us Phantom.
Trinity did the 'Beggars Opera' at Blackheath Halls a couple of years ago - what a cynical piece of work it is!
Not quite sure that she married a second time - hasn't been mentioned in the family and I am a descendant from one of the "illigitimate three !"
This entry is not entirely accurate. There is no evidence whatever that Lavinia Fenton was a "child prostitute", apart from a scurrilous pamphlet published about her when she became famous.
Her mother may have tried to set up a liaison with a mysterious "Portuguese nobleman", but Lavinia's eyes were on the stage, which she joined when she was seventeen. She had a career of two years' apprenticeship before being given her starring role at the age of nineteen as Polly Peachum in "The Beggar's Opera", in 1728.
The production was a brilliant success for all concerned, including Thomas Walker who played Macheath -- it is nonsense to say that the other performers were ignored. Tom Walker became as popular among the swaggering young blades of the Town as Tom Cruise did after "Top Gun". The play itself remains one of the best- loved in the theatrical repertoire -- Brecht's rip-off version "The Threepenny Opera" is Marxist drivel, enlivened by Kurt Weill's music.
As for the Duke of Bolton, he was a middle-aged man, unhappily married, when he attended a performance and promptly fell in love with Lavinia. The performance depicted in Hogarth's painting took place in Lincoln's Inn Theatre, not in Newgate prison -- that was the setting for the scene in the play.
After 62 performances as Polly Peachum, Lavinia left the stage for good, and became the Duke's mistress, with a legally-binding allowance. They were happy together, and as a family, with the three sons she bore him. The Duke bought Westcombe House in Greenwich -- one of the four local houses built by Vanbrugh -- as a country retreat for them both. They lived together for twenty-three years, and when his wife finally died, he married her and she became the Duchess. She was the first actress ever to marry into the aristocracy, and the only one during the whole of her century, so her accomplishment as an actress, mistress and wife was exceptional, not a "cliche".
After the Duke's death, she inherited Westcombe House, along with the rest of his disposable property. The title and the main estates went to his brother.
She later took up with a young surgeon named George Kelly, who became her lover, or as a gossip of the time said, "she reverted to Pollyhood." But she certainly did not marry him. In Lavinia's last illness, Kelly prevailed on her to alter her will in his favour, including Westcombe House. However, her three sons had already been well-provided for by their father. Two of the three sons became clergymen; the third followed her father's profession and became a naval lieutentant.
Lavinia is buried in the crypt of St Alfege's Church, which was filled in during the nineteenth century. There is no memorial to her in the church itself. There is a town called Peacham in Vermont, named after her character, when "The Beggar's Opera" became popular in the colonies.
There should be a memorial to Lavinia Fenton in Greenwich. Perhaps a statue in the lobby of the theatre would be suitable? If so, we hope that her story is remembered fairly and accurately. As one of her acquaintances wrote: "She was very accomplished, was a most agreeable companion, had much wit and strong sense, and a just taste in polite literature." Greenwich should be proud of her.
Have really enjoyed reading all of these comments about our beloved Lavinia - the surmised (because certain facts we can never know 'ahem'), the accurate, and the inaccurate based on rumour - which is what makes her so fascinating. Everyone was talking about htis rags to riches girl who probably just wanted to be respected for what she loved doing, and had a comfortable happy family life as a bonus.
What I'd be really interested in, is finding out if 'annonymous' who wrote here in May 2009 that he/her is a descendant of one of the 'illegitimate 3' - because we (me and a friend) are doing some research on Lavinia, and to be able to interview one of her descendants would be AMAZING!!
And I agree with all of you, we need a Polly statue to adore just like London did back in 1728 :o)
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