An Elite Female Philanthropist in Late Eighteenth Century England: Mary, Marchioness of Buckingham and the Refugees of the French Revolution

Abstract

Recent academic studies on aristocratic Georgian women as political hostesses, confidantes and campaigners have highlighted their ability to influence the course of events; their philanthropic peers, however, who initiated the process of reform, remain underexplored. The life of the Anglo-Irish Catholic Marchioness of Buckingham, who married into the Protestant Whig Grenville family, will be used as a lens through which to examine continuity and change in noble philanthropic practice in late eighteenth-century England. Her charitable activities will be placed within the broader context of traditional elite support for local communities. By showing that Lady Buckingham was empowered by her Catholicism and her status, the thesis will demonstrate that the organised philanthropy of the Victorian age had its roots in the Georgian era and was not the exclusive preserve of middling-sort Anglicans, as the literature has tended to imply.The thesis will show that refugees of the French Revolution brought English aristocrats face to face with the consequences of disruption to the social order. The upheaval induced anxiety amongst the aristocracy and made them seek ways to justify and secure their status; it also gave opportunities for women to develop their organisational and practical skills by introducing new objects for their concern. Lady Buckingham, acting in concert with her husband, increased the scope of her benevolent activity by providing support to emigres who all shared her religion, and many of whom were of her gender and status. Her increasing awareness of her own capabilities was accompanied by a growing consciousness of the influence she could exert.